Losing Weight and Happy Plates

Hello from Fuzhou, China!! 
What an experience it has been so far and a big part of the adventure for me has been food related.  I had a major milestone today:  I made happy plate :)  'Happy Plate' in the Hill household is a term used for eating everything on your plate.  I don't know where it came from, or who made it up, but it's always been happy plate.  Maybe we had a dish with a big smiley face on it, and the happy face came out of hiding only when all the food on it was gone?  Who knows. 

The food experience here in China has been both a mental and physical one. 

Back in the day, I was a picky eater.  Something changed around the time I started college and new foods that once were gross were not so gross anymore.  Slowly, I introduced color and variety and international food into my diet.  I took more responsibility for what was fueling my body and I was proud of a well balanced diet.  The kid that squirmed at weird looking food or smells was no longer.  I would try almost anything once.   Coming to China has been a huge hit to this part of my ego.

I know Chinese food is different.  I knew that long ago when planning this trip.  I guess one of the major factors for me has been the fact that I just came from Europe, where I was treated to three wonderful weeks of delicious food. Food that I knew, and that was better than what I had had before.  Like, pasta that was better, pizza that was better, french bread, pastries, tea, sandwhichs, fruit tarts, all that were food that was SO good.  I looked forward to meals and they were a big part of why I loved Europe so much.  It was such an enjoyable experience...  And then I came to China. Rice, noodles, seafood, and meat were all things I expected.  I've had Chinese before (American Chinese, I know, but I imagined the real thing to be more authentic, and it definitely has been). 

Enjoying food that someone cooks and shares with  you is a way to bond.  Think about it: if you love cheese pizza and after a lifetime of living and trying cheese pizza and finding the best of the best and you share it with someone and they don't like it, you'd be a little disappointed that they don't appreciate the wonderfulness of your cheese pizza.  That's my fear when not finishing a meal that someone prepares me.  I want to experience that common bond of 'Yeah!  This food is delicious!  We have something in common.  Thank you so much for sharing this with me'.  I know an empty bowl and accepting seconds sends a message, no matter what culture you are in.  Acknowledging this is even more important in foreign countries.  If you can't communicate verbally with someone who is preparing a meal for you, enjoying their food is a major way you talk to them and show appreciation for their hospitality.   Staring at a bowl of fish balls or clams and not really liking them and not wanting to leave a full bowl presents an internal struggle.    I look at my bowl or plate and think about how hungry I am and how much I really really don't want to eat this and just wanting to see an empty bowl and have a full stomach.  And then guilt and shame start to creep in and I wonder why I can't just suck it up and eat it and actually like it?  Why?   Would that be too much to ask?  The first couple meals are interesting, and I get a break at the hostel that serves Western style dinners and breakfasts.  French toast with strawberry syrup never ever tasted so darn good. 

One thing I forgot to mention above about my 'more mature' diet is that I am a budding vegetarian.  I know why I still eat meat in the States now.  Meat in the States is 'clean', for the most part.  It can come sliced and diced and nicely packaged.  In China, it is VERY hard to ignore where the meat comes from.  The chunks of chicken have bone in them and there are dishes like chicken feet, duck blood soup, pig tongue, pig ear, pig stomach... pretty much any part of the body.   It kinda grosses me out.  I simply haven't grown up eating meat this way.  Now, I have a slight fear of eating any kind of meat in a dish.  Which, in China, is a hard.  Example: tonight.  Arriving in Fuzhou, we go to a popular noodle restaurant.  Very hungry and having a cringe-at-the-thought-of-having-to-crew-around-chicken-bone-in-my-soup moment, I ask Luke if there is anything on the menu without meat?   After a chat with the waiter, I have a special noodle dish coming my way with extra veges :)  This was the one dish on the menu that was meatless.  I had a little help from Lawrence and Luke, and it was meatless, but it was a huge personal score when I saw the bottom of my bowl.

I laugh when I think of my thoughtstream while eating a chocolate puff from the bakery this afternoon.  We had a bit to roam around while Luke had a dentist appointment and found a safehaven in a corner bakery.  My decision was made super easy when I found the only chocolate option among the red bean paste and green tea and other offerings.  There were 5 little puffs in the plastic box; I ate three and gave two to Lawrence.  His love of chocolate is somehow even greater than mine.  We climbed stairs up to a pagoda while I ate.  My first bite determined that yes, this is what I expect this to taste like. It was also an end that had chocolate on it.  Every taste bud checked yes for go, and I knew I was in for a treat.  It was so delicious and I didn't have to eat each bite unknowingly wondering what was going in my mouth and it was good and it was chocolate and it was cool and it was fluffy pastry and there were TWO more of them and I was soo happy to have normal food again.

My buddies thankfully understand what I'm going through and I'm glad they view it as an adjustment to the Chinese food culture.  Tonight at dinner was a first, and a baby step.  But, we'll take it a meal at a time and see what happens.  I doubt in the week I have left I'll work my way through all authentic Chinese dishes, but I'm keeping an open mind :)  We're with Luke's family right now, and I'm sure several authentic home cookings are still to come.   I even noticed I'm adapting the Asian way of eating.  My neck starts to get a little sore at the end of the meal from hunching over my bowl slurping up noodles, and my right hand muscles a little tight from my stubborn commitment to use chop sticks.  But in this new adventure of food and mind over matter, it's all totalllly worth it :)   

Notice the three toes on these chicken feet