Eating on Campus

Contrary to popular belief from previous blog posts, pig brain is not a common food here. We’ve only had it at that one restaurant. Other than that, food has been absolutely delicious! We mostly eat at the graduate student dorm right next to the guest house on campus. It is a very short walk, and they take cash on the second floor. It is more like a food court than a cafeteria, in that you shop at different food stands that have specific specialties like rice, stir fry, dumplings, soup, etc. Food mostly costs between 7 and 15 yuan, so $1 to $2.50 for a meal. I have yet to finish a meal, as there is SO much food. In the evenings, two of use will order one meal and split it, and still have more than enough! I’ve thought about bringing the leftovers home for another meal later on, but have ultimately decided that for $1, I would rather have it fresh and hot the next day rather than microwaved.

Noodles and dumplings are among the most common foods. Dumplings come in many different shapes and sizes- from gigantic dumplings where one of them makes a full meal, to tiny steamed dumplings. The ones you see here are my favorites. I think they are filled with pork, but I’m not really sure, and I don’t want to know if they are something that would make me stop eating them.

There are also many different noodle dishes, often including soup, or fried like lo mein. They can contain any number of things including meat, eggs, and vegetables, and depending on what you order, they are sometimes spicy, and sometimes less spicy.

Available, but not quite so ubiquitous, are dishes that come with rice, and while we also are not exactly sure what they are, many are delicious! One that is a favorite is similar to orange chicken, but may be pork instead of chicken, and might also not involve oranges… Again, I just don’t ask. Most dishes come with meat, and my biggest complaint is that everything is fried and there are not enough vegetables. This is part of what makes it delicious!

The teachers here have different strategies for ordering food. Some take pictures of menu items with their phone, and then show that to the shop owners. I mostly ask a student who is standing in line at the stand where I want to eat, and they help me order either whatever I want, or if I’m feeling adventurous, I ask them what they like the best, and they usually order me whatever they are having. Most of the students here speak enough English to help me out, and I have never had anyone get upset with me for asking for help. Many of them are anxious to practice English, so we have a chance to visit while the food is cooked. Today this strategy resulted in a delicious soup with “Huge noodles” and a small amount of beef. The only time this did not work out well was when I ended up with a soup with 5 different kinds of tofu in it. It wasn’t bad, but I just don’t really prefer tofu in any of its many forms.

I’ve also had some different kinds of fruit here, including lychees, and dragon fruit yesterday. Lychees are very sweet and juicy, and while the dragon fruit was dramatic in coloring, it was sort of bland and mildly sweet.

We’ve eaten at a few places off campus, including a Japanese place that some students took us to this week, and my Spanish students want to go to a Spanish restaurant next week for lunch, so we’ve had a bit of a chance to explore and try some different foods, and all have been more normal, and much tastier than the pig brains!