Deceptively Blonde

The people of Tianjin, China are very proud of their cuisine; and for good reason.  I am an extremely picky eater due to allergies (Pork, Fish, Tomatoes, Soy, Nuts, and more) and I usually have to subsist on Pringles and Microwave meals from the Convenience stores when I stay in Asia.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Tianjin is actually not as bad for me as some of the other places. Most of the food served in Chinese restaurants there are actually vegetable dishes. I expected tons of rice, but found that you frequently only got a teeny tiny bowl at the end of your meal.  Most dishes were pea pods, cashews, leafy greens, mushrooms, peppers (green, red, and yellow), eggplant, and other such organic foods mixed together with varied sauces and meats.  While I did find myself eating a lot of pork; my allergy to that isn’t so bad so I was able to bypass the effects there and they served a lot of beef, duck, and lamb dishes. Amazingly, I found that their concept of dessert was fruit: Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Grapes were served all summer as a refreshing meal end.  I actually lost more than 20 lbs this summer between the exercise and healthy foods.  To give you a taste, here are some of the great dinners we had!

Sesame Spiced Pork

A Fish dish–Couldn’t eat it, but I heard it’s delicious!

You don’t order individually; you order a table and everyone picks and chooses

You don’t order individually; you order a table and everyone picks and chooses

Another Meat Dish

Seaweed

Even the Tables were lovely!

Spiced Pork–Tasted like bacon

Weird Fruit/Yogurt/rice thing

Nonetheless, while Tianjin cooks serve hundreds of yummy dishes, they are most famous for three different Continue reading →

Tags: China, Chinese, eat, eating, Food, Peking, Travel