Posted on 08/03/2008 7:34:26 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that.
A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind.
Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way of fried sparrows, grilled snake and turkey vulture schnitzels.
The locals insist that Western visitors shouldn't be put off the food on sale on this street - after all, it is mostly 'conventional' Chinese cuisine and great for lunch or dinner.
Indeed, even though dog meat is off the menu for competitors during the Games - they'll be filling themselves up with high-protein drinks and masses of carbohydrates - tourists can still sample dog brain soup or dog liver with vegetables.
As the official Beijing travel guide points out, Westerners should not turn up their noses at these dishes.
'While you might consider things eaten in China to be distasteful, you must bridge the cultural gap and look at it with an open mind,' it advises.
And an open mouth come to that - for as the guide also points out: 'There have been times of severe famine (in China), even as recently as the late Sixties, when tens of millions died of starvation in the Great Leap Forward. Back then, you would have been glad to have had what's on today's menu.'......
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Just another reason not to visit Beijing.
Are the insects considered meat or dairy?
MMmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm..Deerishis
Kissing my appetite goodbye.
Any chance of some beef with broccoli and an eggroll?
Actually this was a great place. Clean, inexpensive. You can select the food you want cooked and watch them cook it. Don’t have to eat what you see in the pictures. 40 some booths and it’s your choice. We called it food street.
$10.00 if you do the Sea Horse kabobs.
I have to say they certainly lay out an impressive spread. The critters look great, just not edible.
No thanks, shrimp fried rice will do fine.
Come on, all of you! I double, no TRIPLE DARE YA!
I've heard before thats why the chinese will eat anything that walks,flys,or crawls, century's war and famine
Other then eating dog whats the difference,I Have heard the old timers talk eating possum, and then there are "Mountain Oysters"
I’d have to bring my own food...
Good grief. Possum has long been a staple in the south, along with hog nuts.
Spare me boy, you’ve no knowledge of which you speak.
I’d try some of it. Maybe not dog brain soup, though.
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