Chongqing food

Chongqing fish soup

I cook with a wok, a small saucepan, and a rice cooker, that’s it.  Ovens are not part of the Chinese kitchen.  Some PCVs convince their schools to buy them a small toaster oven because they have a cooking club as a secondary project.  I occasionally have students or teachers over for dinner, but cooking has never been a priority for me and I’m actually a terrible cook.  

I am not even trying to learn how to cook the local Chongqing food because it’s ridiculously spicy hot and they use lots of oil, numbing pepper, and MSG.  Most people LOVE Sichuan or Chongqing food; it's nothing like the Chinese food we get in the US.  

Overall, the Chongqing diet has lots of wonderful fresh vegetables, which are varied, plentiful, and cheap.  I’ve never seen so many different types of mushrooms!  All parts of the plant are used: roots, stems, leaves, and flowers.  All that stuff we Americans trim off and throw away gets used.  I have a new appreciation about not being plant wasteful and I’m changing my ways.

meat-free beans and rice mixed with nuts and dates,
I buy this on campus

Meat is expensive, but it's in most dishes for flavoring at least.  It’s chopped up into very small pieces, usually with the bone still attached.  All parts of the animal are eaten, all parts, including the blood.  My American sensitivity finds this shocking and revolting.  The meat is very fatty and now people are worried about meat safety with the recent discovery of rat meat passed off as lamb.  I avoid meat.  I think I might have a vegan diet now.  

Food safety is always on my mind.  Everyone  in the US should be concerned too because last year the US imported 4.1 billion pounds of food from China.  Is the Agriculture Department confident this imported food is safe?  Will food from China be labeled and easily identifiable?  Are the American people even aware of the ubiquitous food safety problems in China?  

fried rice
does eating with chopsticks help us eat less, eat slower?

Even with food safety concerns, I still eat out several times a week, usually at one of the campus restaurants where I can get dishes to go.  The local Chongqing food has lots of fat and oil and rice is eaten at nearly every meal.  I wonder how the Chongqing people stay so thin; I rarely see someone overweight.  My students say it’s because Chongqing is the mountain city and everyone walks.  True. 

during a class activity

The girls are obsessed with being thin and it’s a frequent topic in formal speeches and daily conversations.  If their friend has gained weight, they say something about it; 
telling someone they’re fat or they’ve gained weight is socially acceptable.  
Several Chinese people have explained this to me, but I still don’t understand why it’s ok.  Being super skinny is considered beautiful.  I've heard about girls who do unhealthy things to be stick thin, but most of my students look very healthy.

Clothes shopping is a challenge for me because by Chinese standards, I'm a hard to find XXL!  I can find clothes that fit at some western stores, like H&M.

they are so cute

As much as possible, I cook for myself at home and I'm trying unfamiliar grains and vegetables.  It's been trial and error, and if I make something terrible, I try to eat it anyway.  I miss having an oven, but it's not so bad.

rice cooker failure: trying to make steamed buns,
...as bad as they look, uck!

success, sort of: corn tortilla