What's for dinner?
The lunar new year is the most important Chinese holiday and, of course, the Chinese (being similar to the French and the Jews in this respect as in many others or so the Chinese like to suppose) celebrate the great event with a special meal.
On New Year's Eve this year in a bid to escape from the never ending fireworks, we were on a plane to Melbourne along with 500 Chinese tourists. China Eastern Airlines is not famed for its food. The Chinese are, however, notorious for snacking at every opportunity. They arrived on board carrying huge suitcases. I had thought they were trying to avoid the queues at baggage control but it soon became apparent that what they had in the overhhead lockers was their food supply for the journey, their time abroad, and a few extras in case the plane crashed and they were forced to live in the wild before being rescued.
First to emerge were the sunflower seeds. Anyone who has done long journeys in China will know that the buses or train floors are always littered with sunflower seed shells and the plane soon followed suit. After that, the smell of tangerines filled the air as someone passed around the crate they had brought with them. A more pungent aroma followed. Could it be that someone was eating fish? I peered over my seat expecting to seem some dried fish when my head turned as I heard a loud crack. The man infront of me had started to break up a large and seemingly recently cooked crab. Legs were duly passed over our heads and the cracking, swallowing, crunching followed by the inevitable sifting and spitting echoed all around. Needless to say, as we landed some hours later, the sound of eating had been replaced by the even less dulcet sound of puking.
When you land in Australia, you have to fill out a form declaring any food you are carrying with you. I negleted to mention the packs of raisins I had for the children but I could see the diligent Chinese ticking the relevant boxes. At customs, rather than being waved through, a huge line of Chinese were unpacking their bags and bringing out their food supplies. After a 12 hour night flight with two children, this was not a happy sight. I must have looked desperate. A customs official came up to us: " do you have any food with you?" "er, yes, some raisins for the children". "OK, no worries, head this way" he said waving us through a side exit. A few days later, we saw a report on the news "delays caused at airports by Chinese New Year holiday makers". They are always searched because they always carry food. This was one situation where I was very grateful for racial discrimination.
We returned to our lane to find that the locals had also been celebrating. Some months ago, the guy who sells rubbish for recycling adopted a stray dog. The puppy as he then was, was cute and recycling guy carried him around with him in his bicycle basket. The puppy grew and ran wild in the local lanes but returned to our lane to be fed and in due course, became a smallish dog. We found out today that recycling guy had been planning to kill and eat the dog for Chinese New Year but a neighbour had found this rather distressing and had purchased the dog for 500 Y (£35) thereby saving its life and, presumably, giving recycling guy enough money for an excellent dinner.
On New Year's Eve this year in a bid to escape from the never ending fireworks, we were on a plane to Melbourne along with 500 Chinese tourists. China Eastern Airlines is not famed for its food. The Chinese are, however, notorious for snacking at every opportunity. They arrived on board carrying huge suitcases. I had thought they were trying to avoid the queues at baggage control but it soon became apparent that what they had in the overhhead lockers was their food supply for the journey, their time abroad, and a few extras in case the plane crashed and they were forced to live in the wild before being rescued.
First to emerge were the sunflower seeds. Anyone who has done long journeys in China will know that the buses or train floors are always littered with sunflower seed shells and the plane soon followed suit. After that, the smell of tangerines filled the air as someone passed around the crate they had brought with them. A more pungent aroma followed. Could it be that someone was eating fish? I peered over my seat expecting to seem some dried fish when my head turned as I heard a loud crack. The man infront of me had started to break up a large and seemingly recently cooked crab. Legs were duly passed over our heads and the cracking, swallowing, crunching followed by the inevitable sifting and spitting echoed all around. Needless to say, as we landed some hours later, the sound of eating had been replaced by the even less dulcet sound of puking.
When you land in Australia, you have to fill out a form declaring any food you are carrying with you. I negleted to mention the packs of raisins I had for the children but I could see the diligent Chinese ticking the relevant boxes. At customs, rather than being waved through, a huge line of Chinese were unpacking their bags and bringing out their food supplies. After a 12 hour night flight with two children, this was not a happy sight. I must have looked desperate. A customs official came up to us: " do you have any food with you?" "er, yes, some raisins for the children". "OK, no worries, head this way" he said waving us through a side exit. A few days later, we saw a report on the news "delays caused at airports by Chinese New Year holiday makers". They are always searched because they always carry food. This was one situation where I was very grateful for racial discrimination.
We returned to our lane to find that the locals had also been celebrating. Some months ago, the guy who sells rubbish for recycling adopted a stray dog. The puppy as he then was, was cute and recycling guy carried him around with him in his bicycle basket. The puppy grew and ran wild in the local lanes but returned to our lane to be fed and in due course, became a smallish dog. We found out today that recycling guy had been planning to kill and eat the dog for Chinese New Year but a neighbour had found this rather distressing and had purchased the dog for 500 Y (£35) thereby saving its life and, presumably, giving recycling guy enough money for an excellent dinner.
posted by The Heywoods at 4:11 pm
