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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Which western food item is most baffling for Chinese?
I don't mean a dish here, just a single item or ingredient.
The other day I bought radish at the local market and had 3 people ask me how one was supposed to eat it. They genuinely had 0 clue.
Today I ate toast with a Chinese person. He seemed baffled as how to eat it and by the look on his face, why to eat it. This was definitely not concidered food in his opinion.
I've seen Chinese people struggle - physically and conceptually - with a sandwich. Watching overseas Chinese students grapple with a footlong Subway has got to be one of the most entertaining ways of spending lunch hour.
Took my wife out for Italian food. She freaked out when she saw the price of pasta at 70 kuai for a plate of pesto cream pasta.
"NOODLES COST 8 KUAI!"
For an Aussie it's the same food item that baffles those of all other counties. Our beloved Vegimite. Not one person could get past the 1st bite.
Also had loads of fun watching a few of my friends tackling some Sergents meat pies I brought with me with chopsticks.
I brought a sandwich toster with me as well as pasta and sauce and some cereal varieties.
I have now got a few deciples of toasted cheese & ham sangas, spag bol and honey wheats and coco pops, but many of those who tried did not care for any of them.
GuilinRaf:
Vegimite sandwitches are real? I thought that was just made up for a "Men at Work" song....
MissA:
Oh no! They are real, and they are awesome! Sadly unappreciated by the rest of the world - "oh, you're not eating that sh!t again?" is the usual comment from my partner.
once had fun back in the states watching Chinese exchange students try to figure out a French dip sandwich. you know, the ones where you dip the sandwich in that "au ju" (Im not french, cut me some slack on the spelling). When I asked for some I was served only the sandwich (by the exchange student cafeteria server) and then she asked me seperatly with a disgusted look on her face if I also wanted the "soup."
Two students I know came to my apartment once, where I mentioned cereal. I had asked for milk earlier, and one of them brought me little milk boxes, which in this case are not helpful. They didn't know what cereal was, so I showed them the box. The little translator in their phone didn't help them. Even with a picture of the cereal in milk on the box, they didn't understand. The only reason I didn't show them is because I had already eaten breakfast, but even then, I am sure they would be confused.
I also think that almost anything that is supposed to be eaten with your hands also confuses Chinese people. I went to Pizza Hut, which is one of only 2 known foreign restaurants in this city, where they ordered pizza, chicken wings, fried breaded shrimp, and onion rings. All of those foods are generally eaten with your hands, and I had to explain to them that it was ok to do so. I didn't even want to attempt eating any kind of chicken leg or wing with chopsticks again, I failed miserably the last time I tried. The one man still ate everything with a fork and knife, which I think is ok for the pizza, ridiculous for the chicken wings. It was fun to watch my friend stab one with a fork.
A chocolate shake. I mean a real one with milk and chocolate ice cream mixed together. I guess you're not supposed to drink cold milk without some sort of bread. Maybe they just have trouble digesting dairy.
Moon Pies... I passed them out during my first moon festival here. Between the look, the sweetness, and the fact it wasn't a moon cake; their heads almost exploded.
French snail…… the snail...
Hated cheese the first time I ate it, now, I can just eat cheese without anything...
DaBen:
Maybe around you snail are uncommon, but I can't sit on a plastic stool on the side of the road drinking a beer without at least one table around me with a bowl snails. And on a side note, those things are really hard to hold with chopsticks and suck out just the right amount of snail meat (since even the locals see the back half as being too unclean).
That spaghetti is called "spaghetti" and not "noodles", and that you eat it with a fork.
Watching a Chinese colleague attempt to eat a wasabi pea the other week has actually been one of the highlights of this year... which tells me I need to get out more.
The baffling bit seemed to be 'why on earth would you eat this?'
I think the biggest item that causes the greatest confusion here would be avocados. They've only recently been available outside of specialty shops (in Shanghai anyway - now a lot of street vendors have them), but noone seems to know what to do with them.
Also, maple syrup. I brought back a bunch from the US to give as gifts and saw a lot of people adding it to their tea.
meat (which is not bone) and well aged, cheese and different types, sour cream (I see baked potatoes), beets, sandwiches
Cheese is definitely a big one, why would you eat it? How do you eat it? Oh, why is that one not yellow? (after seeing lot's of Cheese), why do they taste different? why can't you just use any cheese on pizza? all questions my wife has asked me about Cheese and I could go on.
Another one is Jacket potato (baked potato), In the Jusco (Dongguan) there is a Jacket potato stall (say's from England but I'm skeptical) they actually have a sticker on the table that instructs you how to eat it, I'm not making this up!, and at the end it says "You can even eat the skin!" IMO the skin is the most tasty part of it yet most Chinese simply discard it with the excuse of "it's been in the ground" or "it's dirty", maybe but it's been washed and I'm sure either baking it in the oven at 230C for 1-2hrs has killed the bacteria, same for nuking it in the microwave has the same effect!
I made a Christmas pudding for my wife and her sister one year (meaning I chucked one in the microwave) and the moment I opened it and my wife got a smell of it, the look of excited expectancy drained quickly from her face and she threw up. She has since expressed an obvious bafflement at why anyone would put such food in their mouth.
Hugh.G.Rection:
Now my wife LOVES Christmas pud, or at least she did when we were in England, ...........or was it just the heavily spiked Brandy sauce?
mArtiAn:
Actually i'm not a fan of the pudding 'or' the sauce. The whole thing was a present from my mum in England. I should have sent it back.
I would hazard a guess that a full donner kebab with garlic mayo and chilli sauce would be a bit much, especially eaten by hand.
mArtiAn:
I would kill a complete stranger for a donner kebab with garlic mayo and chilli sauce right now. I would kill them in cold blood.
In my experience it's Mexican food.
I have taken many people...from factory managers to just friends to the best Mexican food I have had outside of SoCal in Shenzhen and they have struggled big time while they pretended to like it...it was obvious they didn't.
Have you ever seen a local eat sour cream..cheese and guacamole all in one bite? Bring a camera.
They are horrified that we don't eat loaded nachos with a fork and knife.
Hugh.G.Rection:
dude, I struggle with Mexican food, and I'm a Brit (honest). It's not the physical eating of it, just the taste, (or lack or). I love spicy but I don't enjoy Mexican spicy, (or at least the American version). Although I do like that warm thing like a rolled up pancake.
thedude:
I agree it's an acquired taste but I think it must be the exact opposite of Chinese food.
TedDBayer:
I don't like Mexican, except for salsa, and not even in Mexico, hate lizard. Taco Bell gives me the runs. So do other fast food places, depends on what I eat.
nuking a beef & bean burrito and eating it with French's mustard.... lol... now that is a serious munch !!
*keeping with the Mexican food theme,,, even though this is a totally Americanized idea of Beaner food...
roast beef, served rare. It makes them gag as they never serve beef rare or less than fully cooked.