A few years ago, a teenager from our town traveled with her orchestra to China.  Upon her return, I asked about her favorite memories.  A big smile came across her face, and she said, “The food!”  She quickly added, “I love our local Chinese restaurant, but the food in China was so much better.”

While traveling in China with my family, I enjoyed lots of delicious food.  And with each great meal, I thought of that young lady.  I agree with her; the food in China is delicious!

We had a number of delicious and memorable culinary experiences in China.  While in Beijing, we stayed in an AirBnB apartment owned by an American family and run by Holly, a wonderful Chinese woman.

We told Holly how much we love dumplings, and she agreed to teach us how to make them.  She started with a trip to a local market, which I never could have found on my own.  Walking from our apartment, we ventured off the main road and turned into a small side street that became a walking path.  Eventually, we entered a nondescript building that held a bustling market filled with local produce and baked goods.

Then, we returned to our apartment where Holly led a cooking class for our family.  She taught us to make the filling, which included pork, cabbage, carrots, onions, spices, vinegar, and soy sauce stir fried in the wok.

 

Then, she taught us how to mix flour and water with chopsticks until the dough was firm and ready to knead.  Holly pinched off small bits, rolled them out, filled them, and cooked them in a pot of boiling water.

Then, we joined other Chinese friends from the neighborhood around the kitchen table eating lots of dumplings.  Delicious and memorable!

We received another cooking lesson while in Beijing.  We went to Mama’s Lunch for a dumpling and noodle lesson.  Our gracious host and excellent teacher, Joyce, greeted us with tea and snacks before beginning the class.  We made regular dumplings as well as green dumplings with spinach water and orange dumplings from pumpkin water.  In addition to the traditional filling of pork and spices, Joyce taught us how to make a filling of scrambled eggs with chives.

 

 

We then shared a feast of boiled and fried dumplings.  Delicious!

In addition to our cooking classes, we enjoyed wonderful meals in two restaurants.  In Beijing, we shared a ten-course dinner at Black Sesame Kitchen that included five flavored eggplant, shredded lettuce stem, and black sesame ice for dessert!  The restaurant is located in a hutong, a traditional neighborhood with narrow alleys and courtyard residences.  The meal was pretty expensive, but it was a great treat for our family.

Finally, in Shanghai, we had a great meal of Xiaolongbao, soup dumplings cooked in steamer baskets.  We ate at Din Tai Fung, a restaurant chain with several stores around Shanghai and other cities around the world.  All dumplings have a thin skin and sixteen delicate folds, and they are filled with various broths.  We especially loved the pork dumplings and the crab dumplings.

I still love Chinese food at home, but I have to agree with the young lady from our town.  These meals in Beijing and Shanghai were the Best Chinese Food Ever!

During our round-the-world adventure, we have tried to experience life as much like local people as possible. While we know this is impossible, we still think it provides an important glimpse into the lives of the people we encounter in different places. Rick Steves, the travel specialist, calls this traveling through the back door.

The goal of living as much like locals as possible has shaped many decisions during our trip. For example, we have chosen to stay in people’s homes rather than in hotels. By house sitting in South Africa, France, New Zealand, and Australia, we have lived in the homes of wonderful people and befriended their neighbors, which has been a very special gift during our travels. When not house sitting, we have booked apartments and rooms through AirBnB, which has meant that we lived in ordinary apartments in regular neighborhoods.

We also have taken public transportation as much as possible. While we could have taken taxis to get from Point A to Point B, we have climbed aboard city buses and subways along with local people. More than simply helping our budget, this has allowed us to stand side-by-side with locals making their way to work or school or the market.

We also have spent time walking the streets in cities and towns that have been our home. We have shopped at local markets and joined in local celebrations. Through our stumbling attempts to speak different languages and a comical series of charades acting out our words, we have communicated with people across the world. And, with very, very few exceptions, we have found people everywhere to be kind, caring, and helpful.

While in Beijing, China, we went to Tiananmen Square. Rather than joining a tour group, we took the excellent Beijing Metro from our apartment to Tiananmen Square. And, we timed our visit to coincide with the flag-lowering ceremony at sunset. About an hour before sunset, a crowd began forming around the large flag in Tiananmen Square near the Forbidden City. Once the ceremony began, we were some of the very few international people in the crowd of 1,000 or more.

As soldiers lowered the flag and marched with it to the Forbidden City, I could see the pride on the faces of Chinese people with whom I was standing. I thought of times I have enjoyed patriotic celebrations in the United States, my home country, and I was reminded that love of one’s home land is prevalent around the world.

By encountering life with locals, my wife, our children, and I have learned that people the world over are far more alike than they are different. In China, people live under a different social and political system than the one I know in the United States, but when I rode with them on buses or the Metro, when I shopped with them at markets, and when I saw them taking their children to school, I realized anew that our deepest concerns and most of our daily activities are really very similar.