Chinese food is becoming more and more popular in the United States
Most Americans like to eat Chinese food. From the perspective of New York City, where the author currently lives, Chinatown on Manhattan Island and Flushing, Queens, have basically become the world of Chinese restaurants. If you are here for the first time, and you accidentally see the appearance of the Chinese restaurants here, and then smell the aroma of Chinese food wafting all over the street, you may think that you are walking on the food street of Donghuamen in Beijing. Of course, most of the diners here are Chinese, and occasionally you can see "foreigners" with yellow hair and white skin, looking confused at the purely Chinese menu. However, there are also many familiar “foreigners” who prefer to eat in Chinese restaurants where Chinese people gather because they believe that the Chinese food here is “authentic.” When the author first arrived in New York, a friend treated me to spicy hot pot in a restaurant owned by Sichuanese. Before I sat down, I saw many "foreigners" "rinsing" the food until their mouths were full of red oil. I muttered to my friend: "Is this a store that specializes in foreigners?" Then a handsome guy nearly two meters tall stood up next to me and said to me in Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent with a smile: "This is the United States. You They are foreigners.”
However, if you think that the “mass base” of Chinese food in the United States is only in Chinatown, you are totally wrong. Inviting customers to a Chinese restaurant for dinner is a decent way of socializing for many Americans, and it is also an economical way for office workers to make a phone call and order a delicious Yangzhou fried rice at noon.
Americans dare not eat China’s “whole snake feast”
My friend Makosky is an out-and-out “Chinese food fan.” Because of business, he goes to China many times a year. Over the years, his brother has eaten all over the country, both north and south, and inside and outside the Great Wall, so he has learned a lot of tricks.
According to Makowsky’s observation, northern Chinese men like to drink spirits like vodka when eating, while southerners seem to be too delicate and use baby cups to sip unidentified beverages collectively known as tea before meals. , and whether you want it or not, the waiter will bring you a large pot of tea without any explanation. These dining rules are completely different from Americans. Americans like to drink ice water when eating, and usually only drink tea or coffee after eating. Makosky was confused at first and asked the waiters to bring ice water in restaurants in different cities. Most of them replied that they didn't have ice water. Only one more clever waiter immediately put a bottle of mineral water into the freezer of the refrigerator. A few minutes later, Sure enough, he was given "ice water". Makowsky said that at least at this point, Chinese restaurants in the United States have basically "followed the local customs" and every restaurant will prepare sufficient ice water.
When it comes to the richness and deliciousness of Chinese food, Makosky is of course full of praise. It’s also crab. Depending on the local tastes, Chinese food can make Cantonese stir-fried crab with onion and ginger, Shanghai drunken crab, and Sichuan spicy crab. Americans, on the other hand, pour Vancouver crab and Maine lobster into boiling water. Cook it medium-cooked and eat it with mustard and other condiments. Although it tastes good, it always feels a bit monotonous. However, Makoski has never been interested in the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs that the author has recommended many times. He said that "old American" grown men have impatient tempers. How can they appreciate the enjoyment you southern Chinese enjoy chewing a small crab for half an hour?
In fact, like many Americans, although Makowsky likes Chinese food, he still rejects some special "exotic" dishes. For example, eels, sea cucumbers, blood clams, spicy belly shreds, hot kidneys and so on. Once, when he went to Zhongshan, Guangdong, a friend mysteriously said that he would treat him to a Chinese meal that he would never forget. He swallowed his saliva and waited with anticipation until he sat down at the table. When he saw it, he was dumbfounded. "Full Snake Feast". He said that in order to cover up his fear that day, he had to drink hard and refuse to eat food. As a result, he was extremely drunk. He couldn't tell what the snake tasted like, but he believed that his friend was right. This was an expensive "full snake feast" , which truly made him “unforgettable for life.”