| China's Street Cuisine |
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| February 2007 | |
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A culinary journey through Hainan, China
Naturally,
the most common food-find is local Hainan cuisine. Locals take great
pride in the fact that their cooking relies only on the foods’ natural
flavors—no spices of any kind are incorporated. Outsiders sometimes
find such cuisine bland, but there is no doubt that it’s fresh. And
since Hainan is surrounded by the South China Sea, fishermen line up
along the sidewalk every afternoon where the Nandu River empties into
the sea to sell the day’s catch. They will clean and cook your seafood
on the spot. You can also try turtle soup, a dish with the reputation
for increasing longevity. Seafood alone, however, does not complete a meal, so, to complement your entree, try one of the local wild plants stir fried with garlic and chili pepper. While, as I noted earlier, most Hainan food is on the mild side, the indigenous Li people do grow a yellow habanero chili that is guaranteed to have you reaching for a glass of rice wine to cool down the fire. No matter what type of cuisine or heat level you opt for, however, you will likely be dining at a restaurant, with tables, chairs, barbecue and all, that can be loaded onto a three-wheeled bicycle. When the neighborhood stores close, the street vendors set up their cafes along the walkways, and often the transformation is so complete that a familiar street by day is unrecognizable by night. Haggle With a Xingjian Fruitcake Vendor
Buying the fruitcake from a vendor is like negotiating for a prize at a carnival. The vendor will start at RMB 25 ($3) a jin (app. 1 pound), but will eventually drop the price to RMB 20. Fruitcake seems to be the domain of the Xingjian men, and soon you are surrounded by men who crowd around to watch the transaction while the women stand on the outskirts. The vendor insists you cut the fruitcake yourself and hands you a large, handmade specialty knife. You tell him you want him to cut it and to make sure it’s only one jin. He persists. You must do it. His friends begin to shout and coax, telling you that you have to make the cut yourself—that’s just how it’s done. Xingjian fruitcake has the consistency of a brick, and if you give in and cut it yourself, you will inevitably cut more than you wanted, thus raising the price to 40, 60 or even 100 RMB. If you stick to your guns and insist that the vendor cut it, you’ll walk away with one jin on the mark. Noodle Around on the Hainan Streets
The cooks in the Xingjian noodle shops are noodle magicians. They pound the mixture until it’s pliable, and then toss it in the air. They catch it and stretch it, twirling the dough around like a lariat until it separates of its own accord into individual strands. Xingjian noodle dishes are served either as noodle soup or sautéed with lamb, beef or chicken and mixed vegetables. Behold Barbecue That's Far From Ordinary
The island is hot and humid, so after sunset, when the weather cools down, the activity heats up. Around dusk the barbecue vendors begin setting up, and by the time the sun goes down the place is packed and continues to have a steady stream of customers until the wee hours of the morning. Chicken wings. Beef. Mutton. Snails. River rat. If it walks, crawls or flies, you will probably find it roasting on a barbecue here. Another popular barbecue stand hails from Changsha in Hunan Province and sells a dish well-deserving of its name: stinky tofu. Some cities on the mainland are trying to ban stinky tofu from being sold on the street. One incident on an airline caused an uproar when a passenger brought a bag onto the plane and made several of the passengers sick. Yet this is a well-loved Hunan delicacy and many people devour it with relish. The fact remains: you do not want to find yourself downwind from stinky tofu. Taste-test Fresh Tropical Fruits
Hainan’s pineapples are to die for—sugary and juicy. Watching vendors carve them into perfect grooves and swirls is like watching art in progress. Two worthy snacks made from fresh fruit are chao bing, which literally means fried ice, and qing buliang. I sometimes travel 45 minutes by bus across town to my favorite chao bing stand, which pops up every evening in front of the Commercial Bank of China on a busy street in Haidian Dao. You choose your combination of fruits, which is then mixed in a blender with a little milk and “fried” on an ice cold plate.
All over the city people sell fresh produce from their fields. Sugar cane is sold raw or roasted over open fires. You chew the fibrous stalk, suck out the wonderful sweet nectar, then spit the pulp on the ground. For an organic picker upper, many people chew betel nuts. The bitter-tasting fruit is wrapped in leaves, chewed whole and spit out. Spitting is common practice and no one seems to mind, although for an outsider to the culture it can take some getting used to. Betel nuts can be found on virtually every street corner and bus stop in town. When a Li woman gets married, she sometimes passes out betel nuts to guests. Spice It Up With Fusion Cuisine
More significantly, however, is the way China’s different cuisines are melding, borrowing and adapting from each other. It is easy to find a Sichuan restaurant serving both Wenchang Chicken, an island specialty, as well as hot and spicy tofu. Likewise, Hainan establishments are offering more and more hot relishes to go with their traditional mild dishes. With China at a dynamic point in its history and people more mobile than ever, fusion cuisine has come into focus on the streets of Hainan.
------------------------ About Hainan
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Hainan Island, China’s only tropical province, has become a magnet for
winter migration from the country’s colder, northern regions. And, to
satisfy the diverse throng of people who flock there, the street food
in Hainan is an eclectic mix of flavors from spicy to sweet and hot to
sour. Walk down any busy street in Haikou, Hainan’s capital city, and
your senses will tingle with the pungent aromas of sizzling barbecue,
baked sweet potatoes and/or fresh seafood all being prepared at
makeshift sidewalk eateries.
For a snack that is the polar opposite of Hainan’s light
fare, try food from the predominately Muslim province of Xingjian in
the far northern regions of China. Every fall, these northern
inhabitants appear on Hainan streets pushing large carts decorated with
a giant loaf of fruitcake on top. Walnuts, raisins, dried apricots and
red berries are laid out in bins around the cart. “We make it in
Xingjian and ship it down here,” one of the vendors told me. “It’s made
by mixing the fruits with sugar then pressing them together. It is not
baked. All natural.” 
A commonly voiced opinion in China is that people from the north like
noodles while those in the south prefer rice. Yet noodle shops thrive
all over Hainan Island and everyone seems to love them. A wide variety
of noodles representing different areas of China are available, such as
Hainan fried noodles, which are slightly sweet and garnished with bean
sprouts; Sichuan noodles that are mixed with peanuts and fiery red
chili; and Hunan noodles, which are thick and served with chunks of
beef or pork.
Every evening on Guoxing Avenue, an elderly couple, Mr. and
Mrs. Chen, set up their barbecue stand. An hour or so before sunset,
Mr. Chen can be found sitting at a table along the sidewalk, chopping
up tripe, cubing tofu and piercing newly hatched birds onto skewers.
Although Guoxing Avenue is currently under construction and most of the
buildings along the street are being destroyed, giving the neighborhood
a slightly apocalyptic look, Mr. and Mrs. Chen still tenaciously arrive
night after night wheeling their barbecue up the steep hill to their
location by the stoplight.
Perhaps Hainan’s greatest treasure trove is its fresh fruit. Fresh
coconut milk is sold at shops and stands all over the island. The
coconuts are kept chilled and cost about 15 cents each. Proprietors lop
off the top with a machete and give you a straw. Fresh coconut milk is
said to be an elixir of the gods—delicate, just a little sweet and
incredibly soothing. It’s also said to be especially good for the
throat.
Qing buliang is made with fresh fruit, pasta shells and quail
eggs. Cool coconut milk is poured over the top. In spite of the unusual
blend of ingredients, this can be a refreshing treat on a hot tropical
night.
Although Hainan people have not traditionally eaten spicy food, that is
changing. More and more people are moving to the island from the
Sichuan and Hunan provinces and are bringing their local recipes with
them. These small storefront restaurants and street stands are usually
packed with customers, and it’s not unusual to see tables covered with
hot red chilis drying in the sun.
