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Published: June 12th 2016
Hey everyone!
Before setting off for my year abroad, I was a little wary about living in major cities for the year. I was afraid that they would all be like New York City: dirty, smelly, and overcrowded. Most of them were. But during my time living in these cities (Seoul, Taichung, Beijing, and Shanghai) I discovered that there are definitely benefits to living in major cities that can make them worth suffering through the dirty smelliness of major cities. One such perk (and arguably the biggest one) is the food, which is what I want to talk about here.
Shanghai in particular was amazing when it came to food. When Americans talk about Chinese food, most people are thinking about what is a very Americanized version of Chinese food: orange chicken, General Tso's, sweet and sour soup, sesame chicken, beef and broccoli, etc. In reality, Chinese food is much more diverse than many people think. In a very broad sense, each of the cardinal directions has a stereotyped flavor profile. In Chinese, this is 南甜北鹹東辣西酸. That is 南甜 (Nán tián - South sweet), 北鹹 (běi xián - North salty), 東辣 (dōng là - East spicy), and 西酸 (xī suān
- West sour). Of course this is a very general guideline, and I believe is a more traditional flavor profile , as nowadays there is definitely more movement of culture within China. This is especially true with the major cities. For example, the North is also considered to eat more noodles, whereas the South supposedly eats more rice. However, my experience was exactly the opposite. As you can see from the pictures, I ate primarily noodles this last semester while I was in Shanghai, whereas when I was in Beijing I ate more rice dishes.
The great thing about living in a modern city like Shanghai was the huge variety of foods that I had access to. I ate Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Singaporean, American, and even Mexican food, as well as foods from all different kinds of Chinese cultures and cities: Xi'an, Beijing, Sichuan, and Halal, just to name a few. And I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Chinese food is crazy cheap. On average I probably spent around $4 for a full meal, and the most I spent on any one meal was probably $15 on hotpot, which bought enough food that I was completely
Rice noodles in sizzling bowl
Kind of like hotpot, you get a bowl of rice noodles (at top of picture) and lots of little veggies and stuff to put into the brothstuffed and my friends and I were unable to finish all of the food.
As I said before, and noticed as I was attaching the pictures to this post, I ate a lot of noodles this past semester in Shanghai. I don't think it's because I like noodles more than rice, but Shanghai offered so many delicious types of noodles that it was usually easier to find something for everyone at the noodle shops. My personal favorite kind of noodles were 牛肉麵 (Niúròu miàn - beef noodle soup), which is admittedly one of the simplest and cheapest types of noodle available. You can find them at any Halal restaurant, and they're typically around $2. I know some people think it's too bland (it's noodles in a pretty simple beef broth with a couple thin slices of beef and a bit of cilantro), but I like to add a few drops of 辣椒醬 (Làjiāo jiàng - chili sauce) to make them a little spicy. It's not a fancy dish, but I tend to like simpler foods. I would also like to mention that if you go to China and are worried about food safety (which is a legitimate worry, as
regulations in China are much more lenient and most restaurants have poor or unsatisfactory ratings, although really they're usually fine), Halal is a good food option as their religion dictates they have cleaner kitchens and stricter food safety standards. These restaurants are usually family-run, and recognizable by the layout and designs. Most also have very similar menus and pricing, which depending on the dish can be comparable to street food pricing (but is so much cleaner than street food). Seriously, don't eat Chinese street food until your stomach has had a chance to get used to Chinese food unless you have an iron stomach, because recently street food vendors have begun using gutter oil (which is exactly what it sounds like), and is understandably not good for you.
Anyways, enjoy the pictures (which unless otherwise noted were taken in Shanghai), and I hope they encourage you to take a trip to China, if only for the food (no judgement if you do)! Anyways, it's been fun sharing my travels over the past year, and thank you to anyone who has read any of these posts; I really appreciate you! Happy travels to everyone, and until next time!
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