BEIJING — Sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, General Tso's. Chow mein, fried rice, egg rolls. In the United States, pretty much every Chinese restaurant has the same menu. But in China, many of these dishes don't even exist, and those that do are often radically different.
While some of the items that can be ordered at an authentic Chinese restaurant in the U.S. are still available in Beijing, the General Tso's Chicken and Mongolian beef most people know and love can't be found anywhere. Fried rice, lo mein and dumplings are available but there is much greater variety than the menus at American-Chinese restaurants suggest.
Dom Dodsworth, an American student studying at The Beijing Center, said he has been most shocked by the soups he's ordered since being in China, especially at some of the smaller local restaurants.
"It isn't like any kind of chicken soup you have in the States," he said. "The whole chicken is in it. I was definitely surprised to first see the claws and then what looked like the beak and brains."
On another occasion, he ordered randomly and was brought a bowl of starfish soup.
"It was the most interesting thing I've ever tasted, and I don't mean interesting in a good way," Dodsworth said.
Although there are a lot of beef dishes at Chinese restaurants in the United States, beef is actually not eaten very often in China. Pork is the most popular meat and is served in dumplings and a variety of main entrees. Contrary to popular belief, dog is not a close second, as far as meat preferences are concerned. While it can be found in more rural areas of China, dog isn't as prevalent in China as people believe and is a lot more common in other Asian countries including Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Regional limitations apply to meal items as simple as rice. Many Americans assume white rice is served at every meal in China, but rice is more common in southern and western areas while noodles are more common in northern areas, including Beijing.
Asking for rice can even be considered an insult to the chef as it indicates the customer or guest wasn't satisfied by the meal. The same is said of soy sauce. While it may be common in the United States to add soy sauce just for the sake of adding it, it is an insult to ask for it in China.
Leaving a table of empty dishes is also offensive in China. Similar to the insult implied by asking for rice in some places, finishing all of the food on the plate indicates the guest was not satisfied when he or she left, which would implies the host or hostess was unsatisfactory. Elon junior Chris Sainz said this level of respect for the chef is extremely different than what he's used to at home
"If I don't like what my mom cooks, I have no problem leaving the food and making something for myself," he said.
While leaving food is consistent with the Chinese custom, he recognizes how offensive his actions would be if he even thought about doing that in Beijing.
Many restaurants boast about the Western food they offer but compared to other food options in China, it is significantly more expensive. Pizza Hut is considered a nice restaurant, and KFC and McDonald's deliver. In China, having American food is seen as a privilege.
"We will go to KFC to hang out and have some desserts," said Chinese student Angela Duyao, who is studying at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. "It's always a special treat"