Re: OT: Junk/Dim S(ui)m

John writes:

>H. S. Teoh scripsit:
>
>>  Funny how non-Chinese people seem to make a big deal out of eating cats
>>  and dogs, etc...
Well..., dog *was* on the menu in Nanchang during the winter months
while I was there. It was supposed to have "warming qualities"
(bu3huo3), and with orange peel, hot pepper, fermented soybeans, and
soy sauce, it wasn't bad. Cat was supposedly a Cantonese thing, but I
never saw it around. There was purportedly a dish called "Dragon and
Tiger", composed of cat and snake meats, famous for its "restorative
qualities" (hen3bu3). Again, never saw it, could've been an urban
legend, but then, I doubt proprietors of back-street eateries would
whip that out to gwailo (foreign devils) as a first culinary option.
There was a rather disturbing documentary *in China* about the cruel
practice in Canton of pinning monkeys from the neck up in special
tables so one could chow down on vivisected monkey brains. Very
restorative -- now also very illegal. Knowing that foreigners get
petulant about these things, the Chinese government  may be working
on curtailing this sort of thing, but I shudder to think of what goes
on in dark alleys.

>"We eat everything that moves except trains and planes."
Variant: "Everything that has its back to heaven." (which is why you
don't want to bow too low)

>  > I've had fried snail once, and this was at a friend's home, not in some
>>  eatery of questionable reputation.
>
>Fried, that's weird.  Boiled and chopped fine with butter and garlic,
>that's French!  :-)
Street vendors and restaurants alike in Canton had small (I assumed
fresh water?) snails simmering in woks (if that's what's meant by
"fried" here) with garlic, soy sauce, and hot pepper. You could just
suck  'em out of the shell, or genteelly tease them out with a
toothpick. Sooo good.
Sitting under the stars on a hot summer night with a plate o' snails
and a cold one <slurp!>...

Kou