Unique Chinese Foods

With Chinese street food vendors serving up a wide variety of weird and wonderful dishes, including an interesting assortment of deep-fried creatures on skewers, it is no surprise that China is not lacking in unique dishes. We take a look at a few of these unique cuisines.

Chicken Feet

Widely available across China, chicken feet are served as street food in numerous ways. They can be found deep-fried, barbecued, boiled and even candied. As part of a dish, they can be served in a soup or with a fermented bean sauce. Packaged chicken feet can also be found in many Chinese supermarkets for people to enjoy as a snack. While chicken feet would be discarded in many countries around the world, in China, they are considered such a delicacy that they actually cost more to buy than chicken breast!

Fried Bee Pupae

Bee Pupae is the stage of bee development between larva and an adult bee, where the growing bee is within a cocoon. In China, bee pupae are enjoyed as a street food when fried. Bee pupae offers a surprisingly nutritious bite, that is both high in protein and low in fat. There are several other ways in which the pupae can be eaten, including steamed, stir-fried and deep-fried. This certainly isn’t the only insect to be eaten in China though, silkworm larvae, grasshoppers, spiders, beetles and scorpions can also be found fried and served on sticks at street food stalls across the country.

Image Credit: Tzahy Lerner

Bird’s Nest Soup

This Chinese delicacy is made using the nests of the Swiftlet, a small bird found in China. The nest is constructed using the bird’s saliva, which becomes solid when in contact with the air. Because it is made from saliva, as opposed to twigs and leaves, the Swiftlet’s nest is technically edible. When it is dissolved in water, it gains a gelatinous consistency, hence why it has become an ingredient in a soup dish. The nest is fairly nutritional; however, it doesn’t have much of a taste.

This isn’t a dish for everyone to enjoy though; these nests are fairly rare and, as such, cost a lot of money to buy. Quality nests can be sold for $3,000 per pound! The reason for their high price is that, in addition to their rarity, these nests are typically constructed high up in caves, so to harvest them, people must balance on bamboo poles in a dark cave to find such a nest.

Thousand-Year-Old Eggs

A delicacy in China, the thousand-year-old egg, or century egg as it is also known, is a duck egg that has been preserved in ash, clay and salt. The egg is actually only preserved for around 100 days, rather than 1,000 years as the name suggests; although this is still quite a long time for an egg! By the time the egg is opened, it will have turned an orange-brown colour, with a grey-black yolk. The egg will have a somewhat jelly-like texture and tastes quite salty.

Image Credit: City Foodsters

Snake Soup

More common in Hong Kong, this dish is a warming winter soup with a gourmet twist. As the name suggests, the soup is made using shredded snake meat. Many dishes will use the meat from at least two types of snake. Snake meat is said to have the taste and texture of chicken.

Stinky Tofu

A fermented tofu dish with a rather potent smell. Despite the bad odour, it is quite a popular dish, and most consider the taste to be quite pleasant – provided you don’t inhale too deeply when chewing! To get the tofu to be so stinky, it is left to marinate in a fermented brine, typically made from fermented milk or meat. It is usually then fried to give the tofu a crispy exterior. Street food vendors try to out-stink each other with this dish, creating fermented marinades that are whiffier than their fellow vendors. Some even believe that the smellier the dish, the better the taste!

While we don’t stock any deep fried-bees, you can get a taste of the unique dishes available in China, with both vacuum packed and frozen chicken feet on sale here at our Chinese supermarket online! Will you be giving this delicacy a try?