Just try it

[Feathers268]

In just a few more days, Jen's aunt will be here as a successful recipient of a K1 visa. Although her USC counterpart has been on CFL researching the process, I do not know if he has been active and will leave details to them should they choose to post here but I digress.

Upon her arrival, Jen told me she wants to take her aunt to eat at Sizzler. This had been noodling around in my brain as it was one year ago, that I finally got Jen into a Sizzler after 2 years of trying.

On my first trip to China, and each time after, I promised myself that if I was offered something, no matter what it was, I would at least try it. Did I like everything that was offered to me? No, of course not, but there were quite a few things I found I liked. I never would have found that I like hot pot, jelly fish, lychee nuts, or even durian fruit to name a few.

Fast forward to Jen's arrival. Far too often, my wanting to take her to some restauraunt would be met with fierce resistance. "If I don't like, I'll be no happy.", would be the arguement. But the end result sometimes would be a change of favorites. Fresh cut fries from In & Out Burger, or Popeye's chicken winning out over KFC, or eating pancakes or waffles over noodles at breakfast to name just a few. I've heard from some who say their wife will refuse to eat anything other than Chinese, and only from pre-aproved sources. This to me in unacceptable.

Everything in life has give and take. Here is no different. Those of you here from China I'm sure know that an American Chinese restauraunt does not compare to food from your home. Don't think that a western resauraunt in China will represent our western taste either. Our willingness to try new things brought most of us to China and opened our eyes to a world we could not imagine. For most of us, our lives improved dramatically and our views of another part of the world improved with every experience and bite. Don't deny yourself that same experience here.

As for the USC's, don't give in to this. At Thanksgiving, have your turkey and all the fixings. Have that Texas style BBQ. Make her try that N.E clam chowder. A peoples culture is, in a lot of ways, centered around the food eaten there. We are lucky to live in a place where every culture on the planet has found it's way here and has given a variety as plentiful and diverse as the people here. Sure, holding on to the heritage she left behind is important to remembering where she is from, but embracing the culture here will help in finding her identity and place here in her new home.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Great post. I agree that sharing the culture is so important to a relationship, that includes Sizzler, Popeyes, hotdogs and apple pie!

[Dennis143]

Sizzler is Leiqin's favorite restaurant!! First, their all-you-eat buffet ain't bad at all. Second, they have a great salmon fillet with rice pilaf. She's even learned to enjoy a good steak that has a little pink inside.

 

Tony Roma's ribs rates pretty high too. Of course, my wife's been here a while and doesn't cling so tightly to the idea of Chinese food and only Chinese food anymore.

 

For most new arrivals, you will have to break-in the idea of eating fresh, raw vegetables ie salads.

 

The only thing she seems to not enjoy is baked potato whether with butter or sour cream or not.

 

I don't care where you're from, be it a BBQ, a tossed salad, a bowl a granola or a good ole Shephard's pie they're just good food.

[NewDay2006]

Very good post, and quite timely for me. My wife was told that turkey tastes bad here... because her friend who moved here last year said so ... my response, maybe that person who cooked the turkey didn't cook it good, but turkey is good and good for you. She really doesn't cook, but she will have to learn. I will be open to eating Chiense food, but definetly not every night, especially since I will be doing a lot of the cooking at first. I can make some good fried rice and noodle soup, and I will fry some dumplings (frozen ) with the best of them, but they will be in the good olde USA... so we will all have to be more flexable.... ok dear?

[LaurenAmber]

Great post.

 

My husband says he's WILLING to try things. And when my mom sent me a box of American food while i was in China he did kinda try it. He always takes a bite, and it's in his mouth for two seconds before it falls out in disgust. I've tried Chinese food, but due to MSG allergy, i kept ending up with food poisoning. So there is no more "try it" on my end unless i absolutely know there is no MSG. But now i gotta try to convince my husband to actually EAT the food instead of going on the first taste

[mchina34]

Great post.

 

My husband says he's WILLING to try things. And when my mom sent me a box of American food while i was in China he did kinda try it. He always takes a bite, and it's in his mouth for two seconds before it falls out in disgust. I've tried Chinese food, but due to MSG allergy, i kept ending up with food poisoning. So there is no more "try it" on my end unless i absolutely know there is no MSG. But now i gotta try to convince my husband to actually EAT the food instead of going on the first taste

 

 

I bet you eat more MSG than you know. Ever eat beef jerkey? Many american foods also contain this, contrary to popular belief that it's an asian thing. Just fyi..random search here, not sure of it accuracy, but you can verify next time you shop.

http://www.rense.com/general52/msg.htm

[IllinoisDave]

Yes, great post. My wife has been very flexible when it comes to eating "American" food. Her current favorite is Olive Garden. Of course the all-you-can-eat soup and salad has nothing to do with that.

[george lee]

hi guys and gals,

 

has any americans eaten dog meat yet?

[warpedbored]

hi guys and gals,

 

has any americans eaten dog meat yet?

I'll try almost anything but I draw the line at eating Fido. You can eat Fido if you want and I won't be offended but don't ask me to join in. I tried rattlesnake once, yuck, so I'm not eating Chinese snake either.

[george lee]

guys and gals,

 

i was opposed to it at first but after the first bite, it was ok and was able to finish few more pieces. dog is consider a normal food in china since 3 or more thousand years ago. as a matter of fact, anything that walks, flys, swims and crawls, we eat it. my trips to china has open up my stomach to many different kinds of food. i bet you never try field rats stired fried with gingers and scanllons. my rule of thumb is never ask what is on the table until you are done with the meal then ask what did you eat. i feel like i am andrew zimmern.

[IllinoisDave]

hi guys and gals,

 

has any americans eaten dog meat yet?

I'll try almost anything but I draw the line at eating Fido. You can eat Fido if you want and I won't be offended but don't ask me to join in.

Same here. Would never knowingly eat dog. And if told after the fact I would not be happy.

[NewDay2006]

hi guys and gals,

 

has any americans eaten dog meat yet?

My wife likes it, I have no interest in it. I have a buddy that was in the service in Korea, he had it and liked it.... not me buddy. It's just meat, so I don't know why we feel this, we eat pig, chicken and even shrimp which are not very clean... especially when they have the shell on.

[Randy W]

I'm guessing that I won't be able to avoid it next time I'm in Yulin.

[george lee]

it has to do with your culture. the way you were brought up and the information that was learn and pass down to you from your parents and enviroment. i came to USA when i was 7 and were exposed to american culture, so i'm your big mac, kfc, pizza, buger king kind of guy. when i married to my wife in china, it has open up many avenues of food venues for me. i quote from andrew zimmerm, "if it looks good, eat it."

[Ovahimba]

My wife is finicky about eating some American foods as well. Steak and spaghetti have all but disappeared from my diet. For the sake of argument though, I don't focus on Chinese vs American, but rather healthy vs unhealthy. Looking at it this way I think a lot of the meals we eat in the US would not compare well. For example if she doesn't want to try burgers and fries, I don't push it.

 

She has tried pizza and will eat it after removing the harder crust, and then taking off the topping, and then scraping off the cheese. Its fun having pizza just to watch her do that.