To continue our Asian travel theme this week, here’s a post from Agness, a fellow blogger, who happens to be an expert when it comes to both budget travel AND Chinese food (amazing combination right?) Posts from my time in Ireland and Romania will be up very soon, so keep checking in to see what I’ve been up to in Europe lately! Happy travels 🙂

Features of Chinese cuisine

China is a the land of the weirdest food you could ever imagine. What is more, most of the dishes would not be considered to be edible in your home country. Therefore, it is good to get more familiar with Chinese cuisine before you decide to put China on your bucket list.

Chinese cuisine is mainly based on rice, deep-fried noodles, a great variety of meat and plenty of healthy veggies and exotic fruits. It has a very unique taste – thanks to aromatic herbs and spices – but you will not enjoy it that much if you are not a big fan of spicy food like me. The dishes are based on 4 flavors: bitter, sweet, salty and sour and dishes vary a lot depending on the province you visit. For example, Beijing will treat you with some delicious Beijing duck, Chongqing will surprise you with extremely spicy hot pot and Hong Kong will make you crave a lot of steamed buns and dumplings filled with shrimps and bbq pork (so yummy).

The good news is that Chinese food is extremely cheap, tasty, filling and easy accessible. You can grab some affordable Chinese-style breakfast on the go, dine out in a local restaurant during your lunch and dinner break and pay a little!

Before coming to China, you need to know that food plays a major role in people’s life. What is even more, food goes right after the money and family, so it’s very high in the pyramid of priorities. In order not to make any embarrassing “faux pas” and still enjoy local cuisine on the cheap, here are some tips on how to eat Chinese food like a local:

1. Be adventurous with food

Try to be adventurous with food you are offered or chose to eat. Don’t go for simple fried rice dishes with vegetables. Try to taste some snake meat, baked snails, fried bees or bugs. You can find them extremely tasty and nutritious, but you need to have a go first!

Chinese are well-known for eating everything that moves. They love any kind of meat, including dog and rat meat, and you will be often offered that in local places. I’m not saying you should eat it all, but don’t say no to weird-looking food.

2. Never turn down dinner invitation

Once you come to China, people will start inviting you for free meals, either lunch or dinner feast. Saying no without giving them reasonable excuse is perceived as a rude gesture. If you don’t have anything important to do, accept the invitation with a smile on your face and enjoy a nice and free evening with locals!

You will find Chinese very hospitable people. They want to share with you everything what’s the best, hence food is always offered to foreigners. Meat is so important that you will be forced to have it with every meal and the concept of vegetarianism is not common here at all.

3. Eat as much as you can or more

Chinese not only focus on quality of food but also on its quantity. According to Chinese, the more you eat, the stronger and happier you are. Seeing you eat everything from your plate is a real pleasure for them. If you don’t feel like eating that much, make sure you eat very slowly and long so they think you are enjoying the food all the time.

There is one thing you should know about. Chinese will never let you leave the table hungry or half-full.

4. Drink plenty of tea throughout the day

You have probably heard it before, China is famous for its red, green and black tea. There is a very old tradition of brewing the tea and drinking it after the meal. It is commonly believed that Chinese tea keep you hydrated all day long, make you feel younger and more energetic and it cleans your body from toxins.

While in China, locals will offer you plenty of different flavored teas and they will show you (often even teach) how to brew it in a very traditional way. It can be a great experience for you as you can buy and take some tea home.

Must Try Chinese Food and their price tags

There are plenty of traditional Chinese dishes you just can’t miss when visiting the Land of Dragons. Most of them might be way too stodgy or oily for you, but trying a bit of everything will not harm your stomach, that’s for sure. Let me introduce you to my top 5 Chinese foods.

1. Baozi

Baozi are traditional Chinese dumplings stuffed with a various kinds of meat (from pork to beef) and fried veggies. They are often served for breakfast with some spicy sesame oil to dip them in. They are very filling because of their thick texture. Baozi are mostly steamed.

Price: Baozi are typical budget food. You can get one for RMB0,5 – RMB1 ($0.8 – $0.16).

2. Jiaozi

Jiaozi are also Chinese dumplings, but they are made in a different way. They are usually much smaller than baozi and they are crescent-shaped, filled with veggies, pork or beef.

Price: You will pay around RMB3-5 (<$0.5) for a plate of Jiaozi (6-8).

3. Noodles

Noodles are served any time of the day – from breakfast to dinner. You can have them spicy with soy sauce and pieces of pork or beef meat or have a noodle soup with some veggies and pieces of chicken. Any option is good, filling and delicious. As you will notice, they are plenty of different kinds of noodles- from short and slim to thick and long so you can be more creative when ordering them and you will never get bored of noodles, I’m telling you!

Price: You will be served a huge bowl of it for only RMB 5-8 ($ 1 – 1.25).

4. Fish soaked in beer

No, it’s not a fish that naturally consists alcohol – it’s cooked in beer. It’s delicious and weird at the same time. Certainly worth a try, and don’t worry – you won’t get drunk by eating one.

Price: 1 It’s only available in restaurants, so be ready to pay a little more – around RMB30-40 ($5-7).

5. You tiao

You tiao are deep fried bread sticks made of dough and served hot as an accompaniment for rice congee or soy milk. They taste like European donuts so if you are a big fan of them in Europe, you will love them here in China as well. If you feel like having something sweet, you can soak them in some peanuts butter, strawberry jam or nutella chocolate. Real yum!

Price: 1 You tiao usually costs RMB1 ($0.16) and 2 will fill you up.

How expensive is Chinese food?

Dining out in Chinese restaurants is cheap, but the street food is much cheaper. To give you an example, the dinner in a restaurant will cost you at least RMB80 ($13), but you can get some street food for about RMB4, which is less than $0.50. After 2 weeks of having street meals, you will notice how much you can save on food and you will not believe it!

Have you ever experienced Chinese cuisine? If so, what is your favourite Chinese dish and how much did it cost?

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Today’s guest post was written by:

Agness is a Polish vagabond and food lover working and living in China since 2011. She is well known for travelling the world for less than $25 per day and she shares her tricks and tips with the readers of her blog eTramping.com. She is also a life enthusiast, yoga manic and photography passionate!