Eating American

By Li Mang
Translated from the Chinese by Zhang Wenxian

The first time I ate breakfast at Mr. X's house, I saw Mr. X pour out some cereals, then add honey and milk to his bowl.  I was so confused: How can we eat it?  It's really the kids' stuff!  Mr. X read my mind.  He winked at me saying, "We don't cook breakfast and lunch.  Help yourself!  You can eat anything you find in the refrigerator.  Just stuff your stomach so it will not cry out loud."  He opened both the refrigerator and cupboard, showing me the contents.  There was oatmeal, crackers, bread, jams, cheeses, ham, tuna in tins, and all kinds of fresh vegetables from his garden.

I loved to eat the oatmeal bread with nuts and ham.  However, my stomach always cried out as soon as I had eaten.  "It's not Chinese food, no way!"  What a shame!  To take care of myself, I had to change my eating habits, turning breakfast and lunch into eating three times before dinner.  I finally got used to it after my stomach lost track of time.

Dinnertime was another story.  On the table was a beautiful tablecloth.  A pair of candles shone in the soft light.  The table napkin and silverware had their own special places.  Pieces of green leaves and wild flowers that Mrs. X usually placed on the dish added sentimental delicacy.  But with regard to the food, everything fell into three categories:  meat, cereals and vegetables.

In my opinion, the meat in American markets is tender but the way it is cooked makes it not very tasty.  Most Americans don't have the patience to enjoy meat with bones in it.  They slice the chicken breast, either roasted or fried with sauce, and eat it with little or no salt.  It was terrible the way fish was handled.  The head and tail were cut from a nice big fresh fish and only the body was left. It was steamed without any sauce.  Then at the dinner table salt and pepper were added to suit one's taste.

The cereal content was a spoon of rice, a roast potato, a roll of noodles, or a couple of ears of sweet corn.  The corn was really delicious; however, to my disappointment it was served with butter.  The last category was vegetables.  The first time I went to an American supermarket and saw vegetables and fruits, I was surprised at their sizes.  I thought that American soil was some sort of agricultural wonderland.  One piece of celery was big as three fingers.  A cherry was as big as a Chinese apricot.  However, after a careful examination, I found out their tastes were not that great.  It's said that because of high labor, transportation and marketing costs, they were usually picked up by machine before maturation.  I assume that if they mature naturally and manual laborers were used, they should taste as delicious as in China.

It was very simple to cook vegetable at Mr. X's home.  Everything was steamed except tomato and cucumber.  Though the taste was dull, this method avoided having a kitchen that was a mess of smells and oils that come with Chinese food.

Doctrine of Cooking and Etiquette

I was invited to dinner many times by different families while staying in the United States.  Unlike in China, where only newcomers study cookbooks, American housewives, young or veteran, always work from recipes.  Chinese look at recipes only to get ideas; Americans work from recipes as if they were engaged in a chemical experiment.  To cook pancakes, for example, they would have to first measure the flour and water.  The cooking doctrine was strictly upheld in each family.  This extreme went from family to society and becomes the wonder of American fast food.  Wherever and whenever you see the big yellow M, you know that's the standardized, mechanized, and modernized McDonald, which would produce hamburg with exact same weight and taste.

To dine out at restaurants, you went for delicacy of services.  Proper dress was usually required, especially for those high-end restaurants.  Soft melody flowed around; a tiny baby might be seen sleeping in cradle.  It was very beautiful.  For cheerful tots, waitpersons would bring high chairs designed especially for the safety and convenience of young children.  In seafood restaurants, dark lobsters swam in a large glass container.  When cooked, they turned into an attractive red color.  The waiter would give each customer a plastic napkin and a set of special tools.

The most awkward moment for me was eating noodles in a public place.  The etiquette was not to make a sound while eating noodles.  The custom was to use a fork and roll the noodles, lift and send them into mouth.  Absolutely no giant sucking sound! Americans just could not bear the sounds produced when we drink tea and eat noodles.  However, there were some occasions that in my opinion were not that civilized.  For instance, some ladies would suck every finger in public after they finished dinner.  I was not sure whether the food was really that finger-licking good or if it was sexy to do as some Hollywood stars!

Compared to restaurants, the mood in most local bars was friendly.  Business usually starts to pick up in late evening.  Rock and roll music was so loud it was hard to bear.  But I like to sit down at the bar and watch the waitress doing her magic.  Her voice was friendly.  She worked like a dancer to blend and mix all kinds of alcohols and drinks.  It's fun!  Customers knew each other most of the time.  Mr. and Mrs. X told me quite a few stories about people at the bar—who got together, who separated and so on.  A farmer came to talk with us. He had both good and bad news.  They chatted about the harvest and the business.  He then invited Mr. X to buy his sweet corn and chicken from his store.

For lonely people with some money, bars were really good places for social contacts.  On the other hand, if you choose to live alone and enjoy yourself in America, no one would likely to bother you either.  Now more and more young, urban Chinese begin to go to bars to get some relief from the craziness of modern life.  I guess everyone likes to relax somehow after a day of hard work.

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