A very interesting part of the Tantou Island trip was the food. I knew that it would be a remote island, so Chris convinced me to stock up and bring along my own food. In the end, 50% of what I carried was food, much to everyone’s amusement. I’m VERY glad I did though, because otherwise I’d probably have been half-starved 😉 It’s not that the food wasn’t good (it actually tasted pretty decent), but I was highly suspicious of how hygienic it was. The kitchen is basically a makeshift kitchen, and when I looked in it scared me into a diet. Typical very local Chinese street-side style, where there’s no refrigeration for all the meat/seafood.. vegetables were just placed on the ground (where the people were spitting on).. and dishes were still dirty. I was really scared about getting food poisoning, considering the toilets were all sub-standard, so I tried to avoid it all as much as possible.
Breakfast actually looked OK – congee (I had a little and it was good) with bits of pickles and fermented tofu (didn’t try these ‘cos they looked too strange). The trip organiser promised a “western style” breakfast, but it turned out to be ONE BOX of cereal, that was shared amongst 33 people and for 3 mornings. WTF. So luckily, I had brought my own bagels, chocolate rolls, big pretzels, etc. Unfortunately, the others weren’t as well prepared..
Lunch and dinner was EXACTLY the same stuff, EVERY SINGLE DAY. I honestly can’t understand how the people there can stomach the same food for each meal, day after day?! I was already so turned off by the food by the 2nd day. The food looked really interesting, and SO impressive how that tiny dodgy dirty kitchen can churn out 20 dishes (!?!?!) per table of 10 people. However, since none of the food was refrigerated, I basically didn’t eat any of the meat or seafood, nor any of the dishes I couldn’t identify. Which meant I ate boatloads of fried noodles, rice, and potatoes. It was like a carb-aholic’s dream holiday 😉
It was great seeing all the different types of dishes, but I just wish they would have some variety, and be a little more hygienic. At least the night-time partying made up for it! We had liquors and beers that kept everyone well lubricated. After all, there’s not much else to do on a remote island when the sun is down than to party the night away 😉
This botchy little kitchen that (impressively) churned out a ton of dishes
Very scary looking clams (?) with 2 squishy ‘feeler’ things coming out
These little snail things, people said it tasted good despite looking freaky
Me and my Argentinian gf
20 dishes for 10 people! It was like this for EVERY meal.
And of course, there was much alcohol consumption 😉
The cute “lao ban” (big boss) was a total alcoholic
The girls were all given hard liquors (whiskey, baijiu, etc)
Some local Chinese playing a local game, I think
Doing The Squat Stance. You had to be there 😉
Some of the bottles of liquor. Mixer time!
Cheers!
The guys with the hilarious “lao ban”
Bustin’ a move 😉
I like both our tees!
Video of us at dinner
I find that the dingy Chinese restaurants or food stalls always serve the best food because it’s always fresh. They only buy what they’re going to cook and they cook it all.. so it’s never just sitting around. I used to always cringe when my boyfriend took me to some odd looking places.. but found that it was really good. And in my 3 years in China eating at all sorts of cheap Chinese eateries, I’ve never gotten sick.
Since I’ve been in China, I’ve eaten a LOT of strange things (everything from duck blood to dove eggs to peacock, etc) because I figure I might as well try it because I might not get a chance to back home, and usually they’re delicacies.. and the snails are yum 😀
-Jenny in NJ
Yeah, the hole in the wall places are always fantastic.. we like ’em best when we’re in Shanghai. Different for a deserted island place though, because there’s no fridge and the food just sits exposed the whole day in the heat before the cook it *scared*
You are really brave having eaten all those things!
But Beverly people back in the days when fridges did not even exist still survived 😉
I have seen that freaky looking snail dish!! Someone ordered it and I saw them eating it…sucking the meat out from the shell…and the whole dish looked so slimy!!!!
Ugh!
You must have been very glad to have brought your stash of food though!
Yeah it’s all sucked out, so strange! But most people in my group ate ’em and said they were really good…
the snails and clams look yummy, I’d had a go!
Yeah looks like Mahjong Bev LOL
Eh how come everyone is rugged up in winter jackets and jumpers and you still wear t shirt and short shorts?
That’s a good point haha! Well it was rainy that night so they had rain jackets on, and I had a jacket too but for some reason didn’t have it on in those pics
I find that the dingy Chinese restaurants or food stalls always serve the best food because it’s always fresh. They only buy what they’re going to cook and they cook it all.. so it’s never just sitting around. I used to always cringe when my boyfriend took me to some odd looking places.. but found that it was really good. And in my 3 years in China eating at all sorts of cheap Chinese eateries, I’ve never gotten sick.
Since I’ve been in China, I’ve eaten a LOT of strange things (everything from duck blood to dove eggs to peacock, etc) because I figure I might as well try it because I might not get a chance to back home, and usually they’re delicacies.. and the snails are yum 😀
-Jenny in NJ
Yeah, the hole in the wall places are always fantastic.. we like ’em best when we’re in Shanghai. Different for a deserted island place though, because there’s no fridge and the food just sits exposed the whole day in the heat before the cook it *scared*
You are really brave having eaten all those things!
But Beverly people back in the days when fridges did not even exist still survived 😉
I have seen that freaky looking snail dish!! Someone ordered it and I saw them eating it…sucking the meat out from the shell…and the whole dish looked so slimy!!!!
Ugh!
You must have been very glad to have brought your stash of food though!
Yeah it’s all sucked out, so strange! But most people in my group ate ’em and said they were really good…
Wow, that is a LOT of food! Impressive kitchen indeed – it looks so incredibly tiny! I think the Chinese are amazing in that way (have you seen the roadside food vendors? They literally bring a little cart with gas and a stove and cook with a wok on the road. It’s INSANE!) but anywho, 20 dishes is impressive, but everyday, the same? I’m not making sense here because I just woke up, but seriously. Ah well, at least you were prepared! 🙂
Wei-Wei
Yeah, I was gobsmacked they churned out 20 different dishes.. it was just insane, haha! Some of them were really delish, fortunately 🙂
the ‘game’ is MAHJONG, sweetie!! =)
Oh!! You can tell from that pic? It was lots of these little tiles and it kinda looked like Chinese scrabble or something to me, haha
haha yea, im a closet mahjong addict! 😀
the snails and clams look yummy, I’d had a go!
Yeah looks like Mahjong Bev LOL
Eh how come everyone is rugged up in winter jackets and jumpers and you still wear t shirt and short shorts?
That’s a good point haha! Well it was rainy that night so they had rain jackets on, and I had a jacket too but for some reason didn’t have it on in those pics
Wow, that is a LOT of food! Impressive kitchen indeed – it looks so incredibly tiny! I think the Chinese are amazing in that way (have you seen the roadside food vendors? They literally bring a little cart with gas and a stove and cook with a wok on the road. It’s INSANE!) but anywho, 20 dishes is impressive, but everyday, the same? I’m not making sense here because I just woke up, but seriously. Ah well, at least you were prepared! 🙂
Wei-Wei
Yeah, I was gobsmacked they churned out 20 different dishes.. it was just insane, haha! Some of them were really delish, fortunately 🙂
the ‘game’ is MAHJONG, sweetie!! =)
Oh!! You can tell from that pic? It was lots of these little tiles and it kinda looked like Chinese scrabble or something to me, haha
haha yea, im a closet mahjong addict! 😀