I'm finally sick of the food here. It's taken me a while, but it happened. To start with, the Chinese food in America is a joke compared to what they actually eat in China. Last night, I ate what was probably the most treif part of the most treif animal on Earth: a pig's hoof. I thought I was ordering duck. That's what it looked like in the picture. Don't ask me why; I'll explain later if you ask me, but it doesn't matter. It was very sticky, and fatty, with very little meat. I guess the flavor wasn't bad. In fact, it was better than a lot of the food here in China. There were metatarsal bones (larger and fewer than a dog's), and some smaller tarsals, with lots of cartilage surrounding them, and claw-like, hoof-like hoof parts. That's when I knew! ugh! Still, I had to try it. I promised myself I'd try anything when I came here. But honestly, the pigs hoof was the first food I have had here that I could so severely not get over the thought of eating that I couldn't just enjoy it for what it was. That, in and of itself, was a sad moment, because I have always thought of myself as a person who can eat and enjoy literally anything they eat.
Last week, Wonder and I went out for dinner, and he told me that I just must try the century eggs. The smell was something to get over, but the taste and texture was amazing. I thought they were delicious. I must have had about four or five slices. We had other dishes too, which included pigs' kidneys, and sheaps' liver, both cooked with vegetables in an unbearably spicy sauce. The sheep's liver was good and reminded me of haggis, though I've only tried the canned variety so far. The pig's kidneys were...well...pig's kidneys...the parts of a pig that process it's urine. There's not much more I can tell you about them beyond that. They totally were what they were.
So, the next day, I wanted more century eggs, so I went back and ordered a plateful and ate the whole thing and nothing else with it for dinner. During the night I woke up, and was ill, but then I went back to sleep. The next morning I got up and was still ill, but I went to school anyway. Then after my second class I felt so bad that I went home. That evening, when I shat them out, they were completely unchanged from the way they were when I had swallowed them!
I think that during the fermentation process, whatever it is they do to them with the lye and whatever, it kills everything, including the enzymes that break them down. I don't think there was anything really wrong with them. I think the problem was that I ate them alone. I don't want to dissuade anyone from trying them. They are, in fact, a delicacy. Just be sure to eat other stuff with them.
I, personally, probably will not be able to eat them again. I had the same experience with kumquats. When I first had kumquats, I was like, "wow, this is different. I want more!" So I bought two packs of them and ate them all in one go. What I believe happened was the acid from the kumquats was so strong, that it, combined with my stomach acid wore away the mucosal lining of my stomach, which allowed some bacteria to enter and cause an infection. I had gastritis for over a week from that, and it was so painful, I have not been able to eat a kumquat since. I know my greatest sin is my gluttony and I pay for it over and over again. Now, all I want is a god damn steak or a hamburger, and some potatoes in any non-Chinese form. I feel very ashamed now. As I once read in another person's blog about China, "you've done China, when China's done you." And I've been had.
No comments:
Post a Comment