Some provinces are rice based; others noodle based. There are dozen of types of noodles, including the famous hot dry noodles in Wuhan. I had these spicy dry noodles for breakfast with my T.A. my last day in Wuhan. When I say spicy, I mean spicy in a way that most Americans can hardly compute. The Mexican food you eat in Tucson might seem spicy to you. Take my word for it, you haven't had spicy until you've been in China. This is a double-whammy in that water is virtually never served at a restaurant table (unless you're in a Western style place).
Nonetheless, I can make a few general statements about Chinese food. There is plenty of food in China. One-sixth of the people on this earth live in China, and China has enough food to feed them. That is not to say that no one goes hungry. In the U.S. there is plenty of food as well, but still some Americans go hungry at least some of the time. Availability of food and access to it are not always the same.
So, without question there is enough food. Because refrigeration is not as common and available as in the U.S., most foods are served fresh which means that, to a large degree, meals are not pre-packaged, frozen, or preserved. This makes Chinese food very nutritious in many ways. Many food products are locally grown and purchased daily. Because Chinese food requires lots of preparation (chopping, cleaning, sauce making, etc.), many people eat out regularly. It's cheap to eat out in China, and because both parents usually work, it's handy as well.
Chinese people as a rule do not eat alone. In China, as best I can tell, you don't do anything alone. If you try to eat alone, someone will try to fix that (*see footnote below). Chinese people eat at large round tables, and they share a whole variety of dishes. The American idea that Alicia orders steak, Meredith orders pork chops, and Kent orders shrimp, and each diner eats his own order is unknown in China.
What you won't see on a Chinese table? Bacon and eggs, waffles, pancakes, butter (never saw it once except on China Eastern Airline), bread (not a Chinese product), cheese (Chinese don't really like it, especially the smell), water, salt and pepper (never on the table and never detected salt in the food), coffee (only in Western style restaurants), salad with raw vegetables, iced drinks, diet drinks, wine as you know it in the U.S., cocktails, and dessert (Chinese people can't imagine eating such sugary products except for beautiful cakes for special occasions).
What will you eat in China? Rice, noodles, yogurt, peaches, apricots, fried lotus root (** see note below), beautiful vegetables of all kinds and descriptions, many of which will be new to you. Excellent TsingTao or Snow beer, Chinese tea (not like at home), Sprite, and Coke. Virtually nothing is served raw; everything is cooked.
Nothing is served plain. Everything has a sauce or an oil-based coating*** or is deep fried. The dishes are spicy and tasty with a wide variety of spices and herbs. However, so much oil is a little difficult for Americans who are accustomed to plainer food. This is especially true at breakfast.
To a novice diner in China, breakfast, lunch and dinner appear to include the same foods. Our group had the most trouble with breakfast, because it looked and tasted like dinner. I am sure Chinese people know exactly what dishes make this breakfast. For example, in the morning there is "porridge" which most of my students eat everyday. It is a milky watery liquid with white rice in it and perhaps a little sugar. It's the Chinese equivalent of cereal and milk. But at breakfast, there are also cooked cucumbers with an oily coating, chopped peppers, and meat dumplings. Even though breakfast was included at no charge at the hotel, most of us bought breakfast foods at the supermarket: Australian oatmeal, Chinese peach or apricot yogurt, coffee, bananas or other fresh fruit.
Dishes with meat or fish invariably have lots of bones. Chicken, beef, and pork are chopped differently so almost every bite has a bit of bone in it. This bone problem makes it a little tricking when eating with chopsticks. Most restaurants do not have silverware as an option (Western style only). You always know when the meal is over because watermelon or some other fruit is served. Many Chinese people do not talk while eating dinner. They eat.
At first people in our group were very careful about what they ate and drank. After a few weeks, everyone had found numerous dishes they liked. The only rule no one violated was drinking the water. Bottled water only is still a good rule in China.
As in most other parts of the world, if you just need a taste of home, you can take a taxi to KFC (all the side dishes are tweaked Chinese style), MacDonald's, Starbucks, and any other American take out.
*In a country with so many people, and in my case, so many traveling companions and students, sometimes you just need a little alone time. One Sunday I purposely took a taxi by myself at 3:30 in the afternoon to a nearby restaurant called Mr. Mai's. I went at 3:30 because no one in China eats at 3:30. They eat at 12 and 6 or thereabouts. I was thrilled to find Mr. Mai's completely quiet and empty. I was the only customer. This is an unheard of outcome in China. There was enough oxygen in the room, all for me.
I ordered a SALAD, my first since I'd been in China. Mr. Mai's was the only place we ever found a salad, and I felt completely confident eating it. I ordered a beer (which I never drink at home) because you have to drink something. The food comes, and I'm enjoying eating alone.
Then Walter and Nicholas sit down with me. Walter has some financial interest in this restaurant although the primary owner is a Chinese woman who also has a restaurant in NYC. She's in New York this week, so Walter is in the restaurant regularly, checking up on things. I've talked to Walter several times before. He's a Brazilian businessman about my age.
With him is his friend Nicholas, a handsome Greek businessman. Both Walter and Nicholas live near this restaurant. They sit right down and order lunch too. Seeing someone eating alone just won't do in China. Although I am disappointed to have the silence interrupted, we have a lovely interesting lunch. Walter pays for all the lunches (or writes them off as the case may be).
After an hour and a half conversation, I excuse myself to go hail a cab. Nicholas insists that he will get a cab for me, and he walks me out. Before getting the cab, he invites me to dinner at the Ramada a few miles away. In the U.S. that might not be a great invitation. Here the Ramada is a 28 story 5-star hotel with a revolving Western style restaurant on the 28th floor, akin to the Space Needle restaurant in Seattle. Now here's the rub. Many choices in life are "forced" choices: it's either this or that but not both. Today it's a question of what I value most? Silence or Australian steak and a cocktail? At first blush, it's a toss-up, but then steak edges out silence.
** The lotus plant has many uses in China. In a city like Wuhan which has two huge rivers and an enormous city lake, there are many lotus ponds. The lotus plant is like a giant waterlily with gorgeous white and pink blooms and leaves that a small animal could ride on. To harvest lotus root, the ponds are drained and the farmers wade around in the remaining mud to find the lotus roots which are then dug up. The root is sliced cross-wise and deep fried. It makes a tasty dish. If I had salt, it would be even better.
***We think the oil that's on everything is a rapeseed product (canola oil). Rapeseed is grown for the production of animal feed, vegetable oil for human consumption, and biodiesel. China and India are two of the largest producers of rapeseed oil. Rapeseed was the third leading source of vegetable oil in the world in 2000 (after soybean and palm oil).
