Whether it is Chinese or foreigners, to change their own inherent ideas, out of their comfort zone to try new things, is not an easy thing.
Recently just the new tea market, not long ago received bamboo leaves green custom tea, so I took to the office to colleagues early adopters. A few old outskirts of the whole process of my tea, looking at the cups of tea buds erected, are issued a tut exclaimed sound. I told them that watching tea is like red wine in the same fragrance, is a very important part of Chinese tea culture.
But when I put the tea on the tea side to ask them to taste, they hesitated to take over, smell and smell, that is, dare not mouth to drink. Because in their knowledge, the tea should be tea powder, tea bags.
And in front of this cup of water, full of mysterious magic of the oriental atmosphere, the United States is the United States, but really want to swallow the stomach, but a little reluctantly difficult.
I have repeatedly insisted that they are drinking green tea is the pursuit of fresh, the Chinese people like to use the spring every year the most fresh tea friends, the so-called “new tea friends.”
Out of courtesy, they sip a few mouthfuls, put on the side. At get off work, everyone’s desk is still full of a cup of tea.
For me, in the “promotion” of Chinese culture suffered such a defeat, is not the first time.
Once and chat with colleagues, a few people boast that they like to eat Chinese food, I said to them, you eat Chinese food is not really Chinese food, but after improved American Chinese food, no one in China to eat, next time I take you To eat real lunch.
Watching them look fascinated, I suddenly came to the momentum. The next day at noon, I took the gang to a very authentic Sichuan restaurant, the couple of lungs, garlic white meat, boiled fish, boiled pork and ants on the tree.
Such as dishes on a plate on the table, my colleagues face expression is slowly becoming surprised. They raised their chopsticks carefully, carefully holding the dishes into their mouths. Although the courtesy kept saying that delicious, but their stomach can not lie, eat for half an hour, most of the dishes are still full of a plate.
I could not bear the heart of the Zuo Zongtang chicken and sesame beef. Watching them relieved and rejoice in the two American Chinese food the most common dish swept away, I could not laugh in my heart.
In cities like New York, everyone advertises their willingness to accept new things. They exaggerate themselves to love Chinese food, love Korean food, love Nepalese cuisine – love any country’s food, and even chopsticks are all master basic skills. But many people do this, in fact, only to meet their own social vanity, for them, to accept the Chinese food is also limited to improved to meet their taste of American Chinese food only.
Those who have been to the United States probably know how American Chinese food is all about. There are more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, more than the McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King, and the streets of the big city are almost everywhere. If you drive the road, even in the most desolate remote corner, you can see the Chinese restaurant Like a lighthouse as tenaciously stands on the roadside, these Chinese restaurants are mostly Chinese immigrants to open a small family restaurant. I found the Chinese Restaurant in the map, the results of dense.
The most famous dish in the Chinese restaurant is the Zuo Zongtang chicken I mentioned above. The name is actually misleading, its real name is General Tso’s Chicken, meaning “left the general’s chicken”, the left general is the Qing Dynasty generals Zuo Zongtang. This dish is a large piece of peeled chicken wrapped in flour, fried after pouring thick sweet and sour sauce, taste sweet and sour, taste a bit like cuckoo meat. In addition, there are sesame chicken and dried tangerine peel chicken, taste almost the same.
American cuisine is the most common side dishes broccoli, meat is generally chicken and beef, which was born two other American Chinese food: broccoli fried beef and broccoli fried chicken. Here with the “fried” a bit inappropriate, because the so-called fried, in fact, nothing more than the meat cooked pour soup, as broccoli, followed by the American habit, almost born.
In addition, there are chicken, beef and shrimp and several other combinations of vegetables, but nothing more than green pepper, peas and mushrooms. The taste of all these dishes is similar.
Americans do not eat pork, so the restaurant is almost no pork, but some of the Chinese restaurant will provide pork, of course, taste and China’s pork is completely different.
There is also a dish of hibiscus eggs, is the eggs and vegetables mixed with fried, according to the different tastes of customers will add beef, chicken or shrimp, plus a do not know how to get out of the thick sauce dipped in eating. The taste of each restaurant is very different, the main difference is that the sauce, some restaurant modulation sauce taste pretty good, although the taste is peculiar, but very delicious.
There are a lot of starch thicken the sticky egg soup, hot and sour soup is also very common.
Americans eat Chinese food, there is a very important tradition, checkout staff will give each person a signature cake, made with eggs and flour, taste a bit like a roll of eggs. Opened after the inside of a small note, one side wrote a inspirational “soul chicken soup” and lucky numbers, the other side will have a Chinese word, accompanied by English explanation. No one knows how the signature cake in China does not exist in the United States, but it is certain that the person who came up with the idea a few decades ago was a genius because the little trick was in the midst of an early American Chinese meal Can not do it
These little Chinese restaurants do not have anything to do with each other, but each looks very similar, like a chain of restaurants, almost all have the same store, the same style of light box signs and high repetition rate of the name.
The menu also looks like.
And even the storage box are almost exactly the same, often seen in the US drama.
In a sense, the tens of thousands of Chinese restaurants in the United States is the US version of Shaxian snacks – positioning low-end, low prices, shop a lot, style unity, and are singing a loyal hymn.
Accepted high American Shaxian snacks are fast food, not the orthodox Chinese food. Tea in the Chinese food culture occupies an important seat in the United States is not high acceptance However, to see my colleagues left, almost did not move the bamboo leaves blue, I will not feel disappointed. Difficulty is a common phenomenon, not to mention the impact of two kinds of food culture. Really unique are all personality, and whenever the luxury is the need for time, such as once a year only new tea.
So I would rather this cup of early spring green tea, still rooted in the root of the tea buds and mysterious fresh oriental green, so that foreigners curious and hesitated, and even temporarily “despise”, do not want it to quickly meet the habit of foreigners and become tea powder, Tea bags, soft lying on a lump, not the original essence of God, and then also with other tea bags to compete.
