Fifteen years old, the first time I went far away, took a car to Shangqiu, changed trains, stood overnight, arrived in Shanghai, my eyes were full of gold stars, my stomach was sour, I ate rice and fritters, and the strange smell of people was crowded between my teeth. Eat raw fried again, at first glance, I thought it was a water-fried bun in the county, and I thought that I should not be wrong, it was nothing more than a small size, a bite, almost spit it out, why do you still put sugar in the filling? How sweet is it to eat?
The first time I went to Guangzhou, I walked around a few streets in the morning, looking for soy milk fritters, but there were none, and I was laughed at by local friends: It's really hard to find, because there are too many delicious foods.
The first time I went to Chengdu, I started to have a fever after eating hot pot, and then I went to Leshan and Ya'an, I had no appetite, I felt numb when I smelled chili, and my friends packed delicious river fish from a local restaurant, and I didn't bother to move my chopsticks, for several days, I thought the most delicious was a ramen restaurant, at least, the soup was not red.
I don't know when I found that I had completely changed, and when I went to Shanghai, I not only fell in love with raw fried, but also specially found this dish, accompanied by rice wine; When you arrive in Guangzhou, Cantonese cuisine must be eaten to a great extent; Not to mention Chengdu, when you have time, go to the fly restaurant, risk vegetables, brain flowers, hoof flowers... What makes me reluctant is the tenderness of spicy and fresh fragrance.
The reason for this change in taste buds is that there are indeed more acceptable tastes, and they are no longer too limited to regions. The second is to be able to accurately find the real local delicacy, which is especially important, food is not an empty concept, but a tested word of mouth, to be specific to each store. For example, if foreign tourists come to Jinan, if they buy a cold oil spin at the attraction, they will not feel anything delicious, and if they go to Xiao Nie, catch a few while it is hot, the feeling is very different. Looking for Lu cuisine, going to the wrong place, you can only eat the greasy of the nine turns of the intestine, stir-fry the waist flower, but find a famous store like Kuishengju, it is very different. The roast duck, which must be booked in advance, is better than many famous restaurants in Beijing.
Including in Jinan, if you are familiar enough, you can also find most of the special foods from other places. Whether it is Sichuan cuisine or Huaiyang cuisine; Cantonese cuisine, or Hui cuisine, has corresponding stores, the taste and origin are not too different, and even some snacks, better than the origin. For example, oil-splashed noodles, I have eaten countless times all over Shaanxi, no more appetite than the Yan Jihe on Chaoshan Street, but unfortunately it is such a store, unlike the Anhui noodles in Shijiazhuang, which is more "authentic" than eating in Anhui. I also recommended a friend who had lived in Xi'an for many years to eat, and an hour later, he sent me a photo.
Those special foods that do not have a particularly clear region, Jinan has a lot of them, I am most familiar with Luoshuiju, and Hubei, Jiangsu crayfish practices are different, Sheng Sheng created a lobster faction, sweet and spicy taste is difficult to replace. No wonder there are perennial queues on Jingshan East Road, and recently opened a new store in Yunquan Center, I have been there twice, although on the third floor of the mall, there is still a queue at the door.
Even the characteristics of hometown can be found in Jinan. Within a radius of one kilometer of my home, there are two or three single-county dried mutton soup, although it is not as authentic as in my hometown, it is enough to warm the stomach and intestines in winter, and one also sells freshly beaten baked cakes, using a lime paste stove, although the baked cakes are thinner than in the hometown, but when eaten hot, it is still full of wheat aroma. Heze Power Plant Erbannoodles, the first store opened in Jinan, is also at the doorstep, and the peanut toppings are quite distinctive; There are also the Zhuang bun and paste porridge in Yuncheng, which I went to as soon as it opened; The year before last, some fellow villagers also opened a "Cao County Famous Food", selling chowder, as well as roast beef and lamb stacks, but unfortunately they could not stick to it.
Of course, if you return to your hometown, there is naturally a purer taste: in the morning in the thick peppery flavor of Suji fish soup; noon in a steaming spoonful of chowder; Late at night in a bowl of Ma Laosi ramen sprinkled with diced celery...
The various steaming bowls during the New Year, the usual large pieces of roasted whole sheep with bones and meat, out of that county town, can no longer be found.
However, today's logistics and transportation are quite developed, I want to go back, that is, half a day, and I have lived in Jinan more than in my hometown county, this inclusive city has a taste of home everywhere. Su Dongpo said that this peace of mind is my hometown. Although I still don't forget my original intention in eating, Jinan's mouth is also enough to make me feel at ease.
Even, no matter where you are, every time you eat a special delicacy, you will have the illusion that there is a taste of home, even though you have never eaten it in your hometown.