Adventurous Eating in Beijing

Thursday we had the experience of visiting Tiananmen Square. It was a bit of an ordeal getting into the square after passing through many security check points, but we made it. We spent a few minutes strolling around the vast stone plaza and enjoying the vibrant flower beds. We missed the display put on by soldiers at sunrise and sunset, but we may get to watch that as we wait to catch a glimpse of the embalmed corpse of Mao Zedong tomorrow morning. (More on that later) when we had our fill of the square we had a lovely walk through a serene little park with a small river as the center piece and many beautiful blossoms and drooping willow boughs. It was a bit of a portal out of the hustle and bustle of the mega city and back in time to an ancient land of gardens and fairy tales. It was very calming. But the park had to come to and end, and it did. We continued down the busy streets monopolized by rickhaw drivers and cyclists until we arrived where we would spend a few hours and a bit more money than we had planned. Wangfujing Snack Street was decreed completely new to us as soon as we laid eyes on the first vendor. A young man had 3 scorpions impelled on a skewer. The eight legged creepy crawlers were doomed to instant death by hot oil before being consumed. After a bit of humming and hawing we decided to go for it. I was the first to try one. Banishing the looming fear of my young getting stung of pinched, I closed my eyes and crunch. No stings and taste like pretty much nothing. Mom and Nick also sampled one but dad passed. We continued to meander down the extra long street packed with people munching on things varying from 8 inch braised lamb shanks to skewered roasted lizards. We also tried Peking duck burritos, Chinese cherries on a stick covered in hard carmel, octopus on a stick, lamb on a stick, tofu in a rather unpleasant 

sauce, an interestingly cut sausage, coconut strawberry ice cream sundae and my personal favorite, snake on a stick. We’d seen this little treat on our way down the street but only steeled the nerve to try it on our way back. I’m not a huge fan of snakes but I wanted to try it, for bragging rights of course, so the guy picked one up and cooked it over the grill with great care before handing it over the counter. Bon appetit. Many passerbys stopped to if the American tourists had it in them. The strip of jerky like meat had hot oil cascading off its scales, and after a second of letting it cool down, I chomped off a piece. It was incredibly hard and crunchy, and we came to the conclusion that we were eating the skin and bones of the snake, not so much it’s meat. We all tried a nibble or so. “It was really dry, and crunchy. It was kind of like eating... a rope.” Nick summarized. “It was beautifully coiled on the stick,” begins Dad. “It was a water snake so it was a bit salty and seasoned in cumin.” We had few regrets about venturing out of our comfort zone, though Nick still wishes he had tried the grilled tarantulas.