Missing Real Chinese Food

Have you eaten already?” is a popular greeting among the Chinese. When I came to the U.S.A., I began to miss Chinese food very much because it’s delicious and I am more familiar with this food than with the food I have found here in America. It has been a favorite part of my life since I was a little girl. Still, I find it hard to eat American food, and I try to eat many new kinds, but Chinese food is still my favorite. My transition to the United States has been difficult in many ways, especially because Chinese food here is so different.

Preparing, serving, and eating certain foods in China have a special meanings and places in our culture. A good example is that for a Chinese birthday dinner, in my family, everyone eats long noodles and birthday cake. Eating long noodles means a long life, and the birthday cake baked in a circle makes our family hope we live together in happiness. In a Chinese wedding, there is feasting on freshly prepared dishes. At my brother’s wedding, there was feasting from morning until midnight for three days. We ate freshly butchered chicken, fish and crabs that were brought alive to the kitchen, just before preparation. After dinner on the first day, everyone ate eggs cooked in tea, which signifies the hope that my brother and his new bride would have a kid soon, as the hen created eggs. However, since my arrived to the U.S, my family would not practice these traditions in America.

Now that I live in Chicago, I can’t find real Chinese food because there is little choice in the grocery store, and too much frozen food. Also, it’s hard to find fresh crab, fish, and the cookies and candies that I like. I like to eat in restaurants, but I don’t especially like the American style of Chinese food. It is not real Chinese. I only like a few restaurants which make delicious but expensive food. In the morning, Chinatown restaurants only serve buns stuffed with cold meats, red beans, and eggs. In China, foods are hot, more varied, and cheaper. I shop at supermarkets, but almost all foods are frozen, shipped and kept here over a long time. Grocery shopping in Chinatown is available. However, the stores are small and expensive, and seafood is not fresh because of the long time it takes to ship it from China.

Since my family is not here in America, I now have to cook Chinese American food on my own, such as kung pao shrimp, sea food rice, or egg rolls. For example, one night, when I was cooking dinner at home, I really wanted Chinese meatball soup, but since I have not cooked for myself before, I didn’t know how to prepare this delicious soup. I remembered that my friend, Chef Wong, had a very delicious recipe for this Chinese meatball soup. So, I called him and he gave me his recipe over the phone, and I enjoyed this Chinese dish, almost the same as in Shanghai. The best meal of all that I have eaten here in the U.S. was when I lived in Michigan, where my friends and I could catch and bring home fresh fish from the lake to cook for an excellent dinner. My friends did the cooking, but I wish I could do this as well now that I am here on my own.

Fresh Chinese food is my favorite, but it is hard to find, and I have tried other choices, Italian, Mexican, or Thai foods, but they were strange. Visiting my family made me so hungry for my favorite foods that we went to the largest supermarket in Shanghai to fill the kitchen with as much fresh food as we wanted. I suppose I will have to return to Shanghai next year to enjoy traditional Chinese food, which always tastes better when my family dines together.
Helen