Text/Wu Xuanli
In my Chinese classes in Colombia, I often introduce students to Chinese delicacies: the exquisite chic of the Erlong Juju beads, the grandeur of the Full Han Dynasty, the Buddha jumping off the wall, the palm of Mapo tofu, and so on. After I played a video introducing Chinese food culture, the students had to grind hard and soft at me in each lesson, constantly lobbying: "Dali Li, if you want to say that this diet class is the most important thing to practice, when will we also practice it?" ”
The American boy who lived next door had long been a captive of the Chinese rice I made, what ginger spinach, ginger steak, spinach tofu, fried fritters, buns... Each one is a heavyweight sugar-coated shell. When making buns, I dare to put anything in: eggs, cabbage, onions, loofahs, carrots, meat, green onions... In any case, there will be no horror scenes described in martial arts novels, and personal toenails will be eaten while eating.
My students hadn't eaten much Chinese food, and I was so much better than theirs to cook that I would compare my table of food with the leftovers of american lads, and then pretend to be shocked and ask him, "Oh my God, look, this is the meal you eat, how incredible!" He said to himself, "This is food for the dogs." Actually, whenever someone asks me "Do you like Colombian rice?" "Why don't you learn to cook Colombian rice?" At that time, I want to say, lonely people, where will you know that Chinese food is the first class in the world?
Every Saturday, our Chinese rice will appear on time, casually make two small dishes, without any seasoning, the American guys will eat very exaggerated. I sometimes deliberately upset him and told him that I forgot to wash my hands after going to the toilet while I was cooking, and he didn't mind at all. Once, when I was eating fish, I saw a piece of fish scale shining, and I remembered that I forgot to scrape off the scales before making fish. How could I make him aware that my dishes were so unprofessional? The chopsticks I was going to catch the fish quickly turned a corner, picked up a piece of chicken, and told him that the fish is good for the brain, he has used his brain too much these days to make up, and the whole fish belongs to him. He happily sent the whole fish to his stomach, praised it, and finally pretended to be very surprised and asked me: "Were you a michelin three-star chef before you came to Colombia to teach Chinese?" I laughed darkly and thought, "What about Chef?" I've never been in the kitchen in My country. "And, without baking powder, the steamed buns I steamed were hard enough to kill people, but it didn't matter, in his opinion, the buns in the hard state were also delicious, and he had decided that his next travel destination was China."
I know that most of the students are genuinely interested in Chinese culture, but some good people actually ask me very rudely: "Do you eat dog meat Chinese?" "I would answer him that some places are just for others to eat, not for the masses. In the eyes of South Americans such as Colombia and Europeans and Americans, dogs are human friends, and eating dog meat is very cruel and incomprehensible. In fact, most Chinese also think so, we do not eat dog meat, but in some parts of the country, due to customs and habits may eat dog meat.
One student asked me, "Do you Chinese eat rats?" "God, I never seem to have heard of anyone eating rats. But then a southern student told me that there were people in his hometown who did eat rats, but that rats were specially raised.
Another girl asked me, "Do you Chinese eat monkey brains?" I replied, "It's not a monkey brain at all, it's a dish called 'Braised Monkey Head,' and the ingredient is Lion's Head Mushroom— a mushroom that's shaped like a monkey's head. We Chinese like to combine diet and romance, and the translation is not handled well when translating the name of the dish, and the literal translation is translated, so you mistakenly think that it is monkey brain. "I don't know if this paper-wrapped fire can convince them, because I know that some people are cruel to eat monkey brains, terrible!" I asked her, "You have so much violence in Colombia, does that mean that everyone is a criminal?" Besides, the minority can never represent the majority, and I think most Colombians are very friendly. My rhetorical question left her speechless.
One of the students who learned Chinese the best was polite and asked me in a roundabout way, "What meat do you Chinese eat?" "Actually, he wanted to ask me if I Chinese eat dog meat or anything like that, but it was inconvenient to ask directly. I told him, "We have all the meat and vegetables you see in Colombia, but we don't have the meat and vegetables that are very common in China, but Colombia doesn't." What shocked me was that colombian supermarkets actually sold animal organs, livers, lungs and so on, it was so terrible, I never ate it. "I'm not lying either, because I don't eat animal organs myself.
One girl even asked me, "Is there any soup in China?" Oh my Goodness! Is this kind of question still needed to be asked? China, which has thousands of years of food culture, actually has no soup? "Of course there is, and our soups are varied, not only delicious, but also extremely nutritious." Even the soup in their Colombian restaurant is always put on two potatoes, or two corn, and occasionally put a little meat to make the "lonely" them drink with relish. She continued: "When my dad went to China on a business trip to eat at a restaurant, there was no soup. I replied, "That's because your dad didn't order soup!" "Where is the free fresh soup under the heavens?"
Someone else asked me, "Is Chinese very edible?" I replied: "When entertaining guests, we always prepare more meals to show the hospitality of the hosts and express the welcome and respect for the guests." "Unlike the Colombians, guests are always served with salty rice with a chicken leg and some lettuce, or by boiling a bowl of noodles with a little meat on top.
Another student asked me, "Do Chinese make a loud noise when you eat?" I retorted to him: "Different countries have different cultural backgrounds, not only in China, but in the whole of Asia, because the food is different from Western food, there is generally a little sound when eating, such as when eating noodles." But this is normal in Asian countries, and it is not a very loud and exaggerated sound, and I have no sound at all when I eat. And in Japan, if the guest does not make a sound or makes a small sound when eating noodles, the host will be angry because he will think that the guest will find the noodles unpalatable and not give the host face. ”
Finally, I said to the students, "It's time for you to travel!" Travel allows you to broaden your horizons, interpret the world from different perspectives, and understand different foreign cultures with different eyes, so that your vision and mind are getting wider and broader. Some people in this world have staple foods fried bananas, corn and potatoes, and some people's staple foods are rice and noodles. What is unacceptable in the eyes of one person is natural in the eyes of another; There is no absolute right or wrong in the culture and customs of different countries. The more you see, the more you will be able to accept the different three views and the different ways of thinking derived from them! ”
Then, I offered to invite everyone to eat fried sauce noodles, and the students danced happily, and I was secretly proud because a "conspiracy" was about to be staged.
That weekend, I made fried sauce noodles with the students. First and then the noodles, because the Colombian noodles are completely different from the Chinese noodles, there is no need to pull at all, I had to be patient, roll the dough into a roundworm-like thing, and then simply call it "roundworm noodles". The students asked me what I meant, and I laughed and didn't answer, saying only that you should remember Chinese name. Finally, tired of rubbing, I simply pinched a piece of noodles, casually kneaded into a small piece, shaped like Italy, and then pinched again, it became the United States, and the students were elated and joined the team of kneading maps. Finally, the roundworm noodles were cooked along with the maps of the countries.
When the meal was over, I said, "Everyone must eat while it is hot, and whoever eats it to the end will brush the bowl." The boys devoured and purred and ate. The girls complained, "You're so unsmiling!" "Now you should understand why I invited them to eat fried sauce noodles, because eating fried sauce noodles is the easiest to make a sound!" Some of the students had a lot of food on their lips, and the gentlemen and ladies of yesteryear had disappeared without a trace. A few of the boys ate loudly, and I deliberately reminded them, "Be careful, you can't make a noise when eating." They replied, embarrassed, "It's so fragrant, no way." A girl said to me, "Teacher, the boys have turned into pigs." As soon as the words stopped, she made a loud belch, and everyone laughed. I said, "This is the product of different cultural backgrounds, and we should understand and respect each other." ”
After eating, I joked with them: "Do you know what kind of meat we just used to make sauce is?" ”
"It's pork." Students said.
"No, it's rat meat. Don't you often clamor in class to eat rats? I said.
They were stunned...
I went on to say, "Just kidding. ”
It's funny to think about, as far as my noodle level is concerned, no one in The country will be willing to taste it, but there is such a market here, and my vanity has been unprecedentedly satisfied.
Not long ago, a student said to me at the end of the oral test: "Dalili, the last time you made fried sauce noodles, I was sick and absent, I heard that it was delicious, when will you make up this lesson for me?" ”