liuzhou

Yes probably. But I think the idea is to cut down plastic use as much as possible. Plastic is now running around in our bloodstream and everywhere from the Arctic to Antarctica. I don't think anyone is claiming this will work in every application, but it could in many.

Edible Food Wrap Developed From Algae and Cinnamon Compound May Be the Food Packaging Solution We Need Interesting idea. Maybe?

Although the kebabs above are known throughout China, the dish which most people rightly associate with Xi'an is this, even if they have never actually eaten it. Image by NNU-1-05100104 from Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license*. 羊肉泡馍 (yáng ròu pào mó), literally 'sheep meat soaked bread' is a stew containing lamb or mutton in a lamb broth with torn up bread (馍 - mó) and noodles. A hearty, filling dish which is very welcome in Xi'an's bitter winter. Usually served with pickled or raw garlic and chilli sauce. Recipe here. There is an alternative, less common version which uses beef instead - 牛肉泡馍 (niúròu pàomó). The best place to try this is in the Muslim Quarter. * To my surprise, I don't seem to have a picture of the dish, despite having eaten it literally hundreds of times. I would have gone out to the local Xi'an restaurant and had some for lunch, but we are in our 5th day of appalling non-stop monsoon rains. I'll replace the Wikipedia picture with one of my own later.

Caterpillar wars: time to pick sides in battle of Colin v Cuthbert

What amused me most was all the idiots in the comments who didn't realise that the reference to the "17m-wide stove" was deliberate hyperbole!

North and west. Xinjiang is China's westernmost province, bordering various 'stans'. - Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It also borders Mongolia to the north and Tibet to the south. The local language is more Turkic than Chinese. Great food! 船儿 (chuàn ér) is the common name in Beijing where they liked to stick 'er' on many words.

Yes. By Plazotta of Germany.

New toy arrived today. I'm sure it will get used.

Just noticed this post. They are rather short for cooking chopsticks. Mine are 16½ inches long. I don't get the 'tongs' reference. I've never seen them used like tongs. Can you clarify, please?

Linguine with mushroom and summer truffle sauce.

Probably the one Xi'an food that people throughout China have eaten, whether they have actually been to the city or not, is 羊肉串 (yáng ròu chuàn). They are sold in night markets everywhere in the country - China's most ubiquitous street food. They are lamb/mutton kebabs. Who doesn't like food on sticks? When I lived in Xi'an there was nothing I liked better of an evening than to go out, either alone or with friends and find a street stall selling Yang Rou Chuan. They weren't hard to find. See the last Chinese character in the name which looks like a kebab! They are available in some restaurants, but are more commonly found as street food. Bite size pieces of mutton (fatty tail meat is the prime choice) are threaded on sticks and grilled over charcoal while being sprinkled with cumin and chilli. They will omit the chili if you are not a spice lover. Me, I ask for extra! It is astonishing how many of these you can get through on a warm summer evening in the open air, washing them down with a cold beer in good company. Some stalls sell only these; others also offer alternative meats such as beef or chicken and also sheep offal. Due to Xi'an's large Muslim population, pork is rare. Outside any of Xi'an's universities is a good place to look for kebab stalls and they are often cheaper than in the touristy Muslim Quarter. I regularly ate them for a year at the same stall beside Northwest University near the South Gate of the wall. Cheap and cheerful.

Yeah, you can use it pretty much as you would rice. When I could get it, I usually used it in salads.

Yes, cucumbers are a rare exception. The smacked cuke is very common (although I know people who won't touch it). I've eaten donkey in Beijing but never seen that salad or any other. Interesting.

Fried fresh hand-pulled noodles with chicken, purple napa cabbage, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander/cilantro, Chinese chives, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.

Well, some people eat sushi; others are terrified by the very idea. I'd say it's still a small minority who do eat it. I have friends, otherwise adventurous eaters, who have refused to go to sushi places with me. (Although, as I also mentioned before, there is strong evidence that sushi originated in China and was imported to Japan.) Yes, it's largely a hygiene and parasite issue. "Night soil" is still used in rural areas, although not so much as even 20 years ago. I'm not sure that's a good thing - chemical fertilisers are taking its place. People do wash everything very, very carefully - meat, vegetables, rice etc are all scrubbed before cooking.

Something in Xi'an cuisine which may seem more mainstream next. However, it is far from mainstream in China. The Chinese generally don't eat raw food of any description. They consider it deadly poison! I often horrify friends by wolfing down raw food. Raw oysters have them running. But there is an exception. Tiger salad (老虎菜 - lǎo hǔ cài), literally 'old tiger vegetable' is one of very few dishes served raw in China, It is a simple salad. In fact, there are two versions of this dish. One is from the far north-east of China but the Xi'an version actually comes from China's westernmost province of Xinjiang, China's troubled Muslim province. It lies on what was the ancient Silk Road which started or ended in Xi'an depending which direction you were travelling It consists of a mix of strips of cucumber, carrot, daikon, onion, coriander leaf/cilantro, etc, tossed in a spicy chilli dressing. The strips of vegetable are thought to resemble the stripes of the tiger, hence the name. I often have this with my rou jia mo, when I'm in Xi'an. The refreshing, crisp salad perfectly complements the sandwich. Xi'an Tiger Salad

Ah! Sorry. I thought I had translated it. I normally do. Now edited.

That was my point. I don't see anything else potentially off-putting.

It might sound off-putting, but a Xi 'an favourite is 凉皮 (liáng pí) - literally 'cold skin', another noodle dish. In this type, the noodle making method is somewhat unusual. They are made from flour (wheat or rice) mixed with lightly salted water to make a dough. So far nothing unusual. The dough is then rinsed again and again with more water until all the starch is removed. The rinsing water is reserved and when all the starch has been extracted, the dough is discarded or used in another application (see below). The starchy water is rested overnight. The starch settles to the bottom and is collected, with the clear water being discarded. The starch is then spread out into a layer to make a 'skin' and steamed until it sets into a sheet. It is then cooled and sliced into thick noodles. The noodles are always served cold, often from street side carts (and Xi'an can be bitterly cold in winter). They are mixed with various vegetables including bean sprouts, cucumber, carrot, daikon radish, peanuts etc and covered in a spicy sauce. The discarded dough is often used to make seitan aka wheat gluten which is also frequently served in the dish.

U of Guelph investigates buttergate and suggests culprit could be higher levels of palmitic acid

You can put any guess in, but that one is nowhere near. I'm not going to elaborate and call down the 'off-topic' police.

The Chinese noodle dish whose name doesn't exist - BBC The dish is not new. It was just recently renamed. I lived in Xi'an in 1996-97 and the biáng name didn't exist then. Some restaurants still sell it under the old name - 油泼扯面 (yóu pō chě miàn). And here is the Chinese "character" in question. It is just a marketing gimmick.

Xi'an is my favourite city in China for food. Not my favourite Chinese cuisine*, but favourite city. I lived there for a while in the 1990s and have returned many times since. It is almost bang in the centre of China, was the Tang dynasty's capital and was the starting point of the Silk Road. As a result, it has absorbed and developed its cuisine from all over China and beyond. Also, it has a large Muslim population which has hugely influenced the cuisine. Luckily, I have an excellent Xi'an restaurant near my home owned and staffed by Xi'an natives so I don’t go without. I'll try to post as much about its many dishes as I can. * That is Hunan cuisine – especially in the west of the province.