Whether you’re a foodie or a picky eater, it’s important to know what kind of foods you might come across in another country. If you live in a city like Shanghai, Beijing, etc., you have access to pretty much all of the foods and Chinese food you’re used to, but you’ll also find some that may seem weird foods to you (including monkey brains…).
Warning – If you’re a picky eater, you may not want to look at these dishes. And don’t worry, you’ll be able to find plenty of food that you like in China, these are just some of the more interesting dishes.
A few Chinese dishes to familiarize yourself with:
(whether that’s to hunt them down to try or to avoid them completely)
Thousand-year-old eggs
These look very different from their freshly hatched counterparts, with the egg white resembling glossy, amber Jell-O. Etched into the eggs’ shells are snowflake-like patterns created by fungi. The yolk is a hard ball, colored dark gray or green. Thousand-year eggs are typically sliced and served alongside soft tofu or congee porridge, or on their own with pickled ginger root.
Scorpions
Scorpions are not a traditional Chinesefood … not at least in most parts ofChinaanyway. In cases where scorpions are consumed, it could be for medicinal value in Chinese medicine.
Fried spider
After the spiders are deep fried with a little salt and garlic, the locals eat themin a similar way to how you’d eat a crab. They pull off the legs and then suck out the meat, or spider flesh, that comes with them, which is very little, and then they tackle the head and body. The abdomen, the big fat portion at the back of the spider, is not desirable, as it is mostly a brown, bitter slush, containing organs, eggs, andwaste.
Balut
Balut isslimy, yellow, grey, and something you likely wouldn’t put in your mouth unless you’rethe adventurous kind. A balut isn’t even an egg really, it’s the fertilized embryo of a duck, and you can actually see the underdeveloped chick.
Learn more about living in China
Duck heads
Duck’s head is a Chinese snack made by adding spices and herbs to a stir-fried duck head. It is a popular dish in many parts ofChina, including Wuhan and Shanghai. One duck’s head store claims that the snack “helps your brain power”. It’s crispy and issaid to be a healthy Chinese food with no known health drawbacks.
Stinky tofu
This was first eaten by a monk named Zhu Yuanzhang, whose family was very poor. One day, he was very hungry and found some old tofu left in someone’s home. Not caring whether it was cooked or not, he stuffed it in his mouth and never forgot the delicious taste of this tofu. Needless to say, stinky tofu has a strong smell because the tofu is actually fermented; the proteins in the tofu are decomposed by an enzyme called protease.
Snake soup
Most commonly eaten in Hong Kong, especially during the winter to warm up, this soup is considered somewhat of a gourmet dish. The soup is served withshredded snake inside. Many say it tastes like chicken.
Roasted street pigeon
Thisis an entire street bird threaded on a stick, dipped in a marinade for flavor, and roasted.
Monkey brains
Monkey brainsis a dish consisting of, at least partially, thebrains of some species ofmonkeyor ape. However, this is avery raredish that is considered extremely cruel by the vast majority of Chinese. Monkey brains have traditionally been eaten in parts of China and South East Asia because people believe they will be imbued with ancient wisdom.
