I've only been to China once (Guanzhou), but it was very hard to find vegetarian food. Everything everywhere seems to have duck or pork in it. The variety is definitely lacking compared to Europe or North America.
The weird thing about Chengdu is that they don’t have kungpao chicken, which is actually just Beijing-style Sichuan food. You can have inauthentic Chinese food even China.
I'd vote for roadside BBQ mystery meat on a stick (?? shaokao), but street food in China is quite regional. For me, a Shandong-style steamed big bao (savoury, not sweet dough) stuffed with all the things hits the spot.
It's somewhat common, and is sold as an appetizer at many non-Americanized Chinese restaurants I've been to. Unfortunately, not too many of those around if you're in certain areas.
I live in an area in Toronto that is very chinese (chinese supermarkets, chinese mall, even chinese doctor offices - you can pretty much live normally here without speaking a word of english) and my impression of restaurants in the area has been that rather than it being a dichotomy in terms of "american" vs "chinese" chinese food, the dichotomy is that chinese cuisine is extremely diverse compared to north american fare. You can go to a west chinese restaurant and get food that looks like afghan food, or go to a northern china place and get a mind-bogglingly spicy fish stew. There's dim sum, hong kong style cafeterias, szechuan, shanghai-style, and the list goes on and on and on. And a lot of it is quite accessible food without organs or chicken feet.
My wife tells that me that in china, you get diversity even in north american chains: pizza hut there is apparently considered "fancy food" and you can get all sorts of interesting things from KFC or mcdonalds.
While travelling around China and speaking none of the local languages I resorted to either pointing at other peoples food or picking random items on the menu. I had learned how to ask for rice and beer so that worked well with what was usually a bunch of random but very interesting and tasty dishes.
One day while in a border town in the south near Laos, my wife and I were in a suitability weird and humid restaurant with a slow ceiling fan keeping us a bit cool. On the only other occupied table sat a bunch of police with what looked like the local police chief due to the hat on his head but otherwise naked torso. They were just getting drunk so we couldn’t point at food and order. We asked for a menu. I pointed at 6 random things. They gave me a funny look. I then asked for 2 beers in Chinese. They confirmed “two beers?” with an inquisitive look. I confirmed. Then I asked for rice and remembered how to ask for spicy cucumber, a delicious side in china I had come to love. Eyebrows were raised.
Shortly thereafter out came two beers, spicy cucumber, and 6 mocktails in tall sundae glasses with umbrellas and curly straws.
The police table almost died laughing. Good times :)
What's drunk food in China, I wonder. Anyone?
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