China Chinese Food By Angie Pinchebeck

Angie對加拿大的中國菜深惡痛絕，從而很害怕前往中國，害怕吃中國菜。然而當嘗到中國本土的中國菜，才知道地道的中國菜是如此的令人垂涎三尺，從此改變了對中國菜的偏見，愛上了地道的中國菜。可見地道與不地道的差別是多么大呀！

“I hate Chinese food.”

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that those were my words once upon a time. It was my flight from Bangkok to Guangzhou—my very first time in China. I had signed on to live and teach in China for one year， but for some reason I had failed to remember one very important fact: I hated Chinese food.

As a Canadian of non-Chinese descent[血統]， I had a very clear idea of what Chinese food was: cheap， sort of tasty sometimes， and very greasy[油脂的]. Chinese food in Canada just isn’t very good. It’s not delicious or healthy or attractive in any way. I panicked and woke up the friend who was on the plane with me.

“Kaare! Kaare! Wake up! I hate Chinese food!”

He looked at me， confused for a moment， before replying， “But this is China Chinese food. It’s different.” He then immediately fell back asleep. China Chinese food? What did that mean? I had no idea. But I decided to trust him and let it go.

Over three years later， we walk into one of my favourite restaurants here: The Pink Table Sichuan. Okay， that’s not actually the name of the restaurant， but we (my friends and I) call it the Pink Table Sichuan because the tablecloths are pink， they serve food from Sichuan Province， and we have no idea what the real name of the restaurant is. This is a bad habit from our early days in China. We couldn’t actually speak or read Chinese yet， so we would just make up the names of restaurants: There’s the Mao Restaurant which serves food from Chairman Mao’s home province， Hunan; the Milk-Tea Place which serves amazing Hong Kong-style milk tea; and the Pink Northern with， again， pink table cloths， but this time serving Northern food.

Our names aren’t really that creative， but they get the job done.

And after three years of going to these places， I’ve realized something: there is no such thing as “Chinese” food. China’s a big country. In population， it’s massive. And it’s old. Five thousand years by some claims. That’s a long time to develop localized cuisines. Plus， there are some fifty-five official minorities in China， all of which have different styles of food. In fact， if I mention any village， town， city， or province， almost any Chinese national can tell me what kind of food that place is famous for. The food here is amazingly diverse. And not only that， it’s also a big part of Chinese culture. Meals are not to be eaten alone. As each dish is often too large for even one person to eat， the whole system makes it almost impossible to eat with less than four people. This is not a lonely society and the food culture reflects that.

Back at the Pink Table Sichuan restaurant， we settle into our seats. We place our order for qiezi bao (spicy eggplant hot pot)， mapo doufu(mapo tofu)， ganbian sijidou (dry fried green beans)， and zhangcha ya (tea-smoked duck). There are four of us today， a small meal. As we begin to eat I am reminded of my flight over and the complete reversal[顛覆] my opinions took after my first bite of China Chinese food. I’m going to miss it when I go home; I love Chinese food.