Chinese Food...the real deal!

"Real" Chinese food is an absolute adventure at every meal! From entrails to tripe to birthday cakes to amazing tea services the Chinese take great pride in the food & beverage they serve.
Some of the very best food I had in China was made and served in local kitchens by women who had no counter space and no refrigeration.
Everything is fresh and the vegetables were always the best part of the meal! The spices are out of this world! Many things were hot and everything was delicious!
At the beginning of the trip I committed to trying something new every day. This turned out to be a challenge as the vegetarian thing was limiting. I tried some of the most interesting fruits and veggies and they pickle just about anything! You know how we deep fry it? Well they pickle it! I was not a huge fan but I tried it all.
Before we left on the trip we heard all about the water and how people get so sick and we shouldn't drink the water! Well we had no issues. Not only did we stay in upscale hotels that provided bottles water, each o four bus drivers always had bottled water for us to buy. My bigger challenge was finding a freaking cold bottle of Diet Pepsi! In fact I never did. I had to settle on Coca Cola Light and it was usually warm! Ewwww!  The entire crew was always thrilled because beer came with lunch and dinner! Admittedly it wasn't the best beer....kind of like drinking Coors Lite, but it was cold and refreshing!
I think the only person that got really sick was Elias because he decided, although we all warned him, to eat the food from a street vendor cart. I just don't think our systems can handle that food! He was white as a ghost for a few hours! But he recovered quickly and went right back to tasting all the food he could find!
The most startling food experiences for me were both race related. After spending a very long day trying to get the the ITU pre-race parade and party we were all famished. we sat through the opening ceremonies with promises of a great meal! HAHAHAHA! It was pretty funny actually. Apparently they had a noodle bowl for those of us not accustomed to Chinese food but we never got the memo. Instead we were given a box of food...none of which I could identify and none of which I ate except the pear. It was quite delicious. I stayed away from the sealed chicken feet, boars head and various rice balls! It was really not my cup of tea! Sandi hunkered down and powered through most of it! She is my food hero!
The most appalling food experience I had was the afternoon after my "big race!" We went to a local restaurant north of Beijing where we had eaten the last 2 days. Great fresh food but not much tofu so as we walked in I asked Santana, my translator of choice, to please be sure to order us at least one yummy tofu dish! I was starving and couldn't wait!
They served all our meals on big turnstiles so we could pass the family style dishes around the table easily. Luckily for me or not, they placed the big plate of tofu right in front of me and Nicole. It was clearly in a brown sauce and looked like it had a bunch of stuff in it along with the tofu! I grabbed my chopsticks and snatched up this curly bouncy thing...thinking it was of course a vegetable of sorts...OH MY GOODNESSS!! It was the most vial taste I have ever experienced! IT WAS TRIPE! At least I thought tripe was a fish...who knew! Holy crap it was soooo nasty and the entire dish was soaking in a fish sauce! SOOOO WRONG! Who puts tofu near any fish or stomach parts! REALLLLYYY???? At least it made everyone else laugh! Phew!
Anyway, check out all the pictures of the food, food storage and food consumption!