Today I will share my experience with a highly disgusted food, especially in the western world—— Ingredients In Traditional Sichuan Hot Pot.
Before I went to China, I already knew about “freeky“ food Chinese people ate, some of my freinds would ask me the question,” Do Chinese people really eat animal innards?”they all made a disgusted face after hearing my answer,” Yeah”. That was where my fear of eating animal innards came from.
During the first three years in China, I made an approach to refuse every dish I considered “freeky” however ,things started to change when my family went to Chendu—— world famous for it’s special ingredients for Hot Pot.
First decision my parents made when we landed was to find a place for hot pot, of course I tried to protest but it was two against one, I told myself that I wont touch anything on the table. The rich smell of hot pot seasoning was unignorable even from a few hundred meters, I could see the faint silhouettes of groups of people sitting outside around small plastic tables, steam rising from their bubbling potts meeting up to form a huge plume of it hovering mid-air,” Now, Sarah that’s called life!” my dad chuckles.
When we ordered, my parents made sure they had every dish I had on my “disgust-list”: Cattle tripe, Duck intestines, Pig’s brain…………….. When the waitress saw the look on my face she said,
” Young lady, spiciness and innards are the keys of life in Chendu.”
“Sure” I replied, sounding not so convincing.
We didn’t have to wait long, soon we had a pot bubbling in front of us, I watched as the steam streamed up, eventually finding it’s way into the the plume of steam. When we waited for the food, I noticed that the chopstickes they used are two times longer than nomal. When our dishes were served, I soon found out why, It distances our hands to the boiling liquid when we dipped our food into the pot. My parents tried their best to convince me to “At least try” but I drew my line, I only ate the meat . But, the most fatal weakness of humanity is curiosity, after some time, I gave up, my parents watched as I gingerly picked up a peice of tripe dipped it in seasoning and took a small bite, at first it was pipping hot, it’s honeycombed surface brushes against your tongue bringing the aroama right up your nose, it’s crunchy but not dry at all, completely different than what I had in mind. I thought it would taste fishy, but it tastes exactly like the seasoning—— scrumptious indeed. I had just unlocked the door to a new world. The waitress walked past smiling,” You found your key didn’t you?”
That leaves me with another challenge to conquer : Pig’s brain.
Reminds me of my first year and a half in China. I was in Sichuan, mostly in Chengdu, and we ate hotpot several times a week. I doubt it is very healthy but I was in ‘When in Rome…’ mode, and the spice is fantastic! I discovered that it doesn’t really matter what you put in the hotpot – pig’s brain, tripe, horse’s stomach, chicken gizzard, lettuce – it all tastes the same. I just avoid eating the animal guts because I don’t like the rubbery texture and prefer the green vegetables on the basis that they taste pretty much the same but are healthier.