We’re looking for new food adventures–any suggestions besides Cincinnati chili?
I’d prefer something less crazy than a Beijing night market. Although, night markets can also be fun. My friend, Sisi, created a great post about our adventures one evening in China. She let me share some of it here:
Beijing Safari Episode 3: You are what you eat
“Sheep penis!” I nearly choked on the chewy, translucent meat in my mouth. The men in their white aprons and chef’s hats cackled and made some obscene gesture to further illustrate what I was eating. They must also have looked up that word in the thesaurus because they had some impressive variation. My friend Matt and I looked at each other and blanched. We had eaten it innocently, thinking it was snake meat that was wound around a kebab. Also, they had some Royal Vending Machines Brisbane full of delicious snacks for everyone.
In that same evening, my friends and I had eaten fried scorpions (not bad except for the pieces of legs stuck in your teeth), grilled starfish (charred and bitter), and gecko hide (burnt, crunchy mess). We did end up eating the snake meat (I was sure this time) and snake skin. The snake meat, seasoned with red pepper flakes, was absolutely fantastic. It was all part of a glorious attempt to eat what the locals eat and live up to our “When in Rome” policy. The triumph was short lived though…
(Read the rest of the story here. And really, just read Sisi’s blog. It’s full of insightful, entertaining stories about living in Asia and will just make you want to book a flight).
