Zhangjiajie, China

Hi everyone and welcome to 2015! I’m going to start the year off with some posts recapping my overseas vacation. I began my trip in Zhangjiajie, a prefecture known for its UNESCO World Heritage Site, beautiful natural scenery, and indigenous culture. Hunan cuisine is one of the Eight Great Cuisines of China and by going to the northwestern part of the province, I got to try some good food.

The Tujia people are an ethnic minority from the area. My days were spent being led around by my lovely Tujia guides visiting caves, lakes, and mountains; seeing displays of minority culture; and being fed well. While there, I found a diet substantiated with eggs, mantou (steamed buns), and mushrooms. They were there at every meal! I wasn’t complaining though; I’d always wrap a few mantou in a serviette at breakfast and stuff them in my pocket for a hiking snack later on in the day. Without further ado, here are a few things that I tried while in China!

There is no scramble, no sunny side up, no 63o egg here. Just a plain omelette, maybe a little salt. Eaten with rice, it makes for a simple meal and under the circumstances, it was also an important one. I had just done a 2 hour walk through a cave with more steps than I could count and was scheduled to do a hike through the recently discovered Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon which also contained the steepest steps I’ve ever done in my life. Protein is very important and egg is a way to get it without weighing yourself down.

Zhangjiajie’s January average of 0-3 degrees meant that I was bundled up in thermals, down jackets, scarves, neck warmers, and beanies with earflaps. The hot pot present at most meals was like a fluffy goose down jacket for the soul; boiling hot broth sometimes with vegetables or chicken. Often eaten at the beginning of the meal, it warmed up my insides when the wood-burning heaters were not enough.

Separately, I love mushrooms, tofu, and bamboo shoots. When they’re sliced and stir-fried together… Yum. I especially liked the firm tofu with the slightly thick sauce full of mushroom flavour. It was brought out and placed on a portable burner to keep it warm, not that it would take long to finish. I managed to eat almost a quarter of the bowl before anyone else tried it.

Occasionally there would be a plate of small crumbed and deep fried fish at meals. Predictably, those were finished faster than you could say “xiexie”. I made the mistake of getting a fish as soon as the plate was brought out and biting into it. In my lack-of-fried-food fuelled haze, I hadn’t entertained the thought that they might’ve been fresh from the fryer. Although delicious, probably a mistake I will never make again.

Hunan cuisine differs from Sichuan cuisine in its type of spiciness. While Sichuan cuisine has a numbing spiciness, Hunan cuisine is the burning type. There’s no flower pepper here, just straight up chili. It’s not uncommon to see diced chilis as a garnish for steamed fish so you have to be careful if you don’t like your mouth being on fire. Chilis get into the crevices so even a spoonful of delicately steamed fish and rice won’t save you.

I have to remind myself not to eat too many mantou and leave some for everyone else. Whoever came up with this combination has my thanks. Plain buns with condensed milk might seem like an unlikely combination to the uninitiated but I promise you, it’s not as weird as it sounds. You might even find that you really like it.

Dry braised pork belly and white radish fills the cavity in this log-shaped serving dish. I haven’t had a dry braise in quite a while and I didn’t really like it. While it looked great in the log, it tasted kind of dry, stringy, and heavily spiced. One bite was enough for me to decide that I’d have a better time eating the white radish.

A meal is not complete without vegetables. In this case it’s a plate of chopped young green beans stir fried with mince, soy sauce, and a handful of sliced cloud ear fungus. Sometimes it can be difficult to get adequate fiber when you’re vacationing so beans are a welcome sight.

There is nothing quite like finishing a meal and stepping out into the cold, fresh air. I had quickly learned to enjoy the fresh air in the scenic areas and mountains because once I entered the cities, it was replaced with heavy wood-fire tinged air. I guess that’s the downside to getting a nice smokiness to food.