Today my group tried traditional Chinese food at the Joy Luck Chinese Buffet in St. Louis, Missouri, and I can honestly say that these types of foods prove to me time after time that I am too absorbed into my American shell. From what I have experienced in my life, I thought real Chinese food was what you found at an ordinary restaurant buffet. However, even though there is food for the numerous buffet options, it does not automatically make it Chinese food. As my friend put it today, “It is Chinese food with an American touch to it. It is the American version.” I loaded up my plate with french fries, fried donuts, chocolate pudding, mini cake slices, and egg rolls. Honestly, I felt a little ashamed of myself for going to a Chinese restaurant with the goal of trying a full meal of traditional food and instead submitting to the Americanized buffet.

The fact that the buffet is there and includes some American things actually raises questions for me. In China, is it common to find American food? Have the Chinese adopted some of it as their own? How do Chinese chefs feel about serving American food in their Chinese restaurants? Seeing how different the Chinese culture is from my own, I really wonder how these people perceive us. Do they look at our food and think to themselves, “Wow, this stuff is really different.” I also wonder if there are classes that are offered to students in China that allows them to travel around as we are to try different cuisines. Is the American cuisine well known down there and is it studied at all? 

I will say that the way real Chinese food is prepared is way different than that of American food. To start, we had actual heaters built into our tables. When our servers brought out the food, they placed the pots on the burners and turned them on. Almost at once, the juices inside the pots bubbled and filled with heat. We were given a pair of chopsticks and numerous options for food and were instructed to place the food we wanted to eat in these bubbling juices. Waiting for approximately two to three minutes for each item to be soaked, everything was ready to be eaten. Our three meat choices included lamb, pork, and beef. They all came out in raw form, so the soaking process is very necessary in order for it to be healthy to eat. 

Even when I was doing my research on Chinese food and culture, I did not run into the fact that there were heaters built into our restaurant tables. Usually, at any other restaurant, the waiters do not bring out the food until everything is already hot and ready to go. I tried eating with chopsticks, but I failed at it. As soon as I tried to break them apart from each other, I accidentally broke them in half instead. I tried my friend’s pair, but I was unsuccessful at the movements in order to have a firm grip on the food. I am happy that I at least tried, though. I used silverware for the rest of my meal, so I am grateful that the chefs are thoughtful about how some people may not be as experienced in using them.

We have a friend in our group that is from China, so he was able to guide and direct us about how the culture is and how to use chopsticks. He commented that the food that was brought out first was very traditional, so he was impressed in that area. 

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Book Review: The Joy Luck Club

I know next to nothing about Chinese history, and was excited to read this book. The Joy Luck Club was founded in San Fransisco in 1949 by four Chinese women, who would gather to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. The book takes you into the thoughts of these women as they tell stories of their lives in China, as well as the lives of their American born daughters.

China was not kind to these women; one woman, in order to escape the conquering Japanese, carried her twin daughters until she was dizzy with dysentery and could not take care of them anymore. She moved to American with no idea what happened to them. One girl’s mother was pushed into prostitution, and became the third concubine and forth wife to a wealthy man and shunned by her family. Many of these women wore hard shells on the outside, and suffered on the inside. They expected great things of their daughters, who were born with everything they could ask for.

The daughters fascinate me – most of them become opposite of what their mother’s wanted, and pushed their mother’s away. The mother’s wanted their children to have Chinese values, to use their freedom to become something, to stop complaining and make something of themselves; I found their daughters to be stubborn, and somewhat self-centered. It was also hard to have a relationship with their mothers, when their mothers did not understand American ways.