Chinese Eating Culture - Street Vendors of Food

Just take a stroll on any street in China and you will find street vendors in all their glory selling everything from clothes to delicious food. Wandering along the street you will be assailed by all sorts of aromas emanating from the various carts that are piled high with fresh vegetables, all cleaned and waiting on the next order.
 

Chinese are friendly and well-known as lovers of food. A common greeting is ‘have you eaten today?’ This is not an invitation to eat, but a pleasant greeting that is very much like our ‘how do you do’. I remember a Chinese friend once asking what a ‘do’ is and how can I do a ‘do’. I failed to answer.   

Many say that the ‘Chinese love to eat. They eat several meals per day’. My own response to that is, ‘Yes! That is quite true. The Chinese love to eat but in England we also eat three meals per day just like the rest of the world. The major difference between us, is that the Chinese love to snack. Light meals or snacks range from fresh fruits, to deep-fried food. In China, it is so easy to find food. Street vendors are everywhere. Where there are people, there is food. One of the greatest joys of living or traveling in China is the abundance and variety of different types of food.
 

As I walk out of my apartment onto the street I am met by loud cries of ‘Ni hao’ ‘fresh apples today’. ‘Peter! Try my onions, potatoes, all fresh from the farm this morning’.   With a wave and smile from these most charming of people. I wind my way steadily through the carts that vie for space with pedastrians on the pavements. Today I have to go to the bank to see if my money has arrived from the UK. Transferring money is quite an experience I can tell you. Perhaps a later article on that one.   Passing them by, I make it out onto the main dual-carriageway that leads to the Guilin city centre. 

Having not partaken of breakfast and feeling a pinch in my tummy, my mouth begins to energise at the mouth watering cooking smells that, from a mass of vendors carts, radiate across the pavement. Will I make the bank before I succumb? I am not so sure about that.

 

What are they? 
 

Who are they? 
 

The ‘street vendors’ who dispense, food from, stands, food stalls, carts or whatever you would like to call them? Basically it is a mobile cart that has a self-employed person, usually a cook, who uses a cart to cook their wares. They are usually stored at home where they are cleaned, stored and prepared for the following day. At different times of the day, the carts will be pushed from their homes to appear back on the scene of action,-the street. Along with the obvious, that is to say food, one will also see small tables and even smaller seats alongside the food vendor. 
 

I have heard that many people consider that street food is not clean, but have to say that mostly this is not true, in fact it is quite the opposite, as the majority of owners are local people; with local values, it is clean. Street food offers an incredibly cheap way to eat and at times I would say, an even a more fantastic taste than some times to be obtained in more salubrious restaurants.
 

At times it has been known that the food is so good that you will have to wait for a table along the street. Particularly, in these cases, street food is not only for the poor people but for all types, from all backgrounds, even the very wealthy will dine out on the street. There are no menus because usually they are expert on only one dish. The house, or in this case, the cart’s specialty. Street food offers a wide variety of choices, from curry, to fried rice, noodle dishes, stir-fried salads, fresh fruits, desserts, etc. all at a reasonable price. There are also quite exotic foods like, fried frogs, fried birds, fried grasshoppers, on one occasion I was offered and ate, crispy scorpions, they were simply delicious.
 

My tummy has got the better of me. For before I get to the confines of the bank I to walk over the white bridge. In so doing, pass my favourite stall where a wonderful mature lady of indeterminate years has a cart where she makes the most divine type of pancake. Today her husband is also in attendance whose main job is to make the batter. This he pours onto a spotlessly clean hot plate that derives its heat by way of a small coal furnace situated under the cart. Next, the chickens egg; cracking it expertly on the wside, she drops the egg onto the top of the already cooking batter, smoothing it into a round shape she looks up asking as always about my students. Without a pause, she flips the pancake over to cook the other side. Still chattering and at the same time smearing chilli sauce over the golden brown cooked side, a crisp fresh lettuce is closely followed by pre-cooked in vinegar, finely sliced potato. Prior to the final act she places onto the pancake crispy fried chicken pieces. Rolling the finished article into a long cylindrical shape, place the said pancake into a small clear plastic bag. Holding out her hand she smiles as she asks ‘four Yuan’ which I more than gladly pay. With a wave and see you tomorrow, head down she is on to the next customer.
 

Wow! I can smell and taste the flavours as I take my first bite into a gastronomically superb masterpiece served up by a rather happy team of ‘man and wife’ all on a street in Guilin.
 

I never did get to the bank. Oh well! There is always tomorrow.
 

There is so much more to street food than I can ever list here. One of my greatest joys of living in China is the opportunity to try out food from different places at a reasonable price.
 

Street food can be as good as restaurant food. It is fresh, cheap and plentiful. Part of the fun of living in China is the chance to find street food that is even better than food in restaurants. There is certainly quality food for working class people, and food can be found in a wide variety of locations. Next time when you smell some mouth-watering food, don’t be frightened to try. Stop by and give-it-a-go. Believe me when I say that you will not be disappointed, I do assure you that not only will you take home a great experience in eating good quality food, but enjoy the company of many local happy smiling people as well.