The Sequel of Chinese Cuisine,etc
The Sequel of Chinese Cuisine,etc
As one who likes to be charge of one’s own life most of the time, I found the first few days in England extremely dissatisfying and intimidating. I didn’t know where to get what I want, and even lost the clue of what I wanted now and again. The first time I went to Sainsbury with my friend’s mother while she kept asking what I fancied, I was overwhelmed by the variety of choices on the aisles.
Take bread and cheese for example, for each you have one whole aisle of types to choose from; and you also have a whole aisle of ready-meals, which is quite unique, to pick and choose. So if I hadn’t experienced culture difference from interacting with people that time, going to the supermarket gave me a glimpse of the diet aspect of difference between China and England.
I remember when I was in Shanghai with my friend he used to complain the lack of
variety at our local supermarket, stating that even if he wanted to cook he couldn’t get ingredients he needed. That time I couldn’t know what he really needed: the non-existed ingredients or a bit more patience and adaptability? But now
after living in this country, I found that maybe I was too hard on him. Sometimes after living in one foreign place too long, you started to miss what you were
used to and enjoyed back home.
Anyway, whether I will miss what is available in China, at the moment I am enjoying the food variety around. I even already have a list of my favourite: Cornish
Pasty, cheese cake, bread toast with baked beans, cheesy fish pie, varied fruit
types of smoothie, curly potato chips with tomato ketchup, and so on and so forth. If I didn’t enjoy food in those fancy western-styled restaurants in Shanghai, I am enjoying myself now. And I like the informality of breakfast and lunch here. Except for evening tea, you can have whatever you like irrespective of the
preference of others in the house.
But then to be fair I can’t say which one is better essentially. They are just
different. I remember when my sister and I went home during Spring Festival, my
parents would wait till midnight in order that the whole family could have a reunion dinner. There was a strong sense of bonding and intimacy in it. I guess it
all depends on how you look at it. Maybe one’s sense of reunion dinner is just
as strange as that of the other’s do-as-you-want, depending who is the observer.
But as one who happens to have the experience both, I hope I can appreciate the
positive sides of both. The other day my friend’s father said jokingly “C, you
can make out to be a nice European” when I told him I was quite comfortable with food here. I think he was right overall. Over the past month I have adapted myself to the taste and style of food here. Well, maybe except one aspect: I don’
t have a sweet tooth to appreciate the variety of dessert such as American
donut and carrot cake, which usually served after evening tea. But I don't think
that’s something worthy to be trifled with.
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