Leo Cheng

I love spring rolls, but I absolutely hate egg rolls. Egg rolls are the worst bastardized food as far as I'm concerned. It's think doughy skin and awkwardly large size is so far from the original crispy delight that it should be a crime to call it Chinese.

However, the difficulty mostly came when no matter which way I ate it (actually, everyone at the table had this problem), I spent most of my time trying to separate little shards of bone from the meat. Whether it was on the plate or in our mouths, bits of bone found their way into every bite, because of the way it was cut. We actually gave up on the dish before we'd finished it because we were all so tired of dealing with these bone bits. Yeah, I see what you're saying. I think it's one of those things that, if you grew up doing it, it's no problem. But if you've never done it before, then it can get tiresome. It's like Chinese fish dishes. They're almost always served whole, and using your mouth to feel out the bones is what Chinese people do. I find using one's mouth to feel out Chicken bone splinters to be part of the dining experience. This way, I get to taste the bone marrow, which is quite tasty IMHO.

I would use my hands and nibble off the bone. I think it's perfectly okay to use one's hands in a Chinese restaurant. For smaller pieces, I'd put the whole thing in my mouth, and chew slowly and carefully, feeling the meat for bones with your tongue. This is a skill that many Chinese have mastered (like peeling shrimp in your mouth).

Thanks for sharing your view Ben. I agree that it's not worth one's energy to dwell on the negativity of others. The thing that's great about this thread is that Chinese culture shares a great deal with other traditional cultures in the enjoyment of an entire animal. As we all know, food is much more than just sustenance. It takes a lot of creativity to turn what appears to be an unappetizing animal part into a delicious treat! That's why I love pig's ears!

Were you referring to my other post in "Only a Chinese would eat it? No, I'm not offended by this or the other thread at all! I'm sorry if I gave that impression! Both thread have been very informative. I'm very happy to be part of eGullet! You guys are very cool!

As much as I enjoyed reading the posts, and learning that the Chinese aren't the only ones who eat all parts of the pig, and other less common animals, this thread does bring up something that I worry about: Giving people a reason to make fun of Chinese culture If you're Chinese, or Asian for that matter, you've probably encountered racist jokes where they' made fun of the dog eating and penis eating habits of "your people". I'm always offended by those jokes because they are meant to mock Chinese and other Asian people such that it makes our cultural heritage inferior. When I encounter such jokes, I would point out that I would never even think of eating a dog or an animal penis. And growing up in a first generation Chinese immigrant family, I have never heard my parents suggest that we eat a dog or a penis. Eating exotic animals certainly does exist in our culture, but by emphasizing the exotic, aren't we just setting ourselves up for ridicule? Judging from the cosmopolitan and adventurous bunch we have here at eGullet, I doubt that anyone would be that racially insensitive. However, the thought did cross my mind. Of course, reading about snout as a delicacy in the South gives me ammo to fire back at the racists. [Edit] Just to make sure....I'm not implying that I was offended at all. I'm just voicing a concern, which I thought some of the Chinese members here would understand. Perhaps I've hijacked the thread a bit....sorry about that. I do enjoy the eGullet group and hope to learn more from you guys.

I echo everyone's view that it depends on when you came to the U.S. (or any other cheese eating country). I immigrated when I was seven, and my first experiences with cheese was also the Kraft processesed stuff. It's the kids who picked it up from the supermarket because that was what their peers were eating. My parents never touched that stuff.

The first thing that I thought of were raw vegetables. Traditionally, Chinese don't appear to have been real big on salads. ← I agree with sheetz on that one. Raw vegetables have a major "yuk" factor for traditional Chinese. I was quite bewildered when I first came across Chinese Chicken salad.

Traditional "Soul Food," the cuisine of the African American slaves, would use the castoff pieces like pig ears, trotters, and tripe. ← That's interesting sheetz. I know tripe and ham hocks are still eaten. But correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never heard of any American, including African Americans that still eat pigs ears regularly today. Pig's ears are sold regularly at my local Chinese market. They even sold them cooked (red braised style) and thinly sliced.

How about pig's ears? I don't know of any culture that eats them. In the U.S., they're sold as dog chow. I love them, by the way.

Leo: Welcome to eGullet! Your ping ying is probably better than most of ours. ← Thanks hzrt8w! Actually, I had to look up the ping ying. I earned Chinese (Mandarin) in Taiwan so it was "Zhuyin Fuhao" aka "Bopomofo". I was born there, but left when I was seven. I spoke Mandarin at home, so I'm pretty fluent verbally. But because I didn't have enough characters memorized, I fall into the functionally illiterate category when it comes to reading and writing Chinese. I do know the basic characters for meats (pork, beef, fish, etc), but I'm often left with the embarrassing situation asking the waiter to read the Chinese menu item for me, just to confirm what I ordered! Sometimes this works, and sometimes they look at me strange. I'm glad to be part of eGullet. I've been reading your posts for a long time, and I finally decided to upgrade my membership. Leo

I like my pidan dofu salad with soy sauce and cilantro. As far as rou4 song1 is concerned, I've never mixed that in. I do like rou4 song1 mixed with xi1 fan4 (rice porridge). The rou4 song1 soaks up a bit of the porridge moisture creating a nice texture. Hope my ping ying was good enough. Leo