The Day I Got a Fish Head for Lunch

Lunch was due to end in ten minutes, so I rushed down to my school’s cafeteria to grab a bite to eat before I taught my classes for the day. I grabbed my red chopsticks from my group’s little cupboard and got in line. After the first lunch lady scooped a hunk of white rice onto my plate as usual, I looked at my side dish options. Since I had come so near to the end of the lunch hour, my options were limited. I pointed to a meat that looked a little sketchy (I would see if it was really edible when I sat down) and a meat stir fry thing that was soaked in what looked like a way-too-spicy-for-Liz sauce.

Last of all, I saw what looked like some kind of meat. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I didn’t have any other options, so I pointed to it and nodded my head to the lunch lady. She put one piece of whatever it was on my plate and then she put another piece on as well. Then she handed me my tray. That is when I found a fish head looking up at me.

Interestingly enough, I was not really too disgusted by it. Surprised, yes. Disgusted, no. After getting pieces of meat with hair still attached to the skin and looking at fried chicken feet on a plate, you will not be disgusted by much anything anymore. I have eaten some pretty sketchy-looking things here that I never would have dreamed of eating, but in China, it’s very commonplace. If you find a bone in your McDonald’s chicken, it’s no big deal, and a chicken head on a plate is also a normal thing at family-style restaurants.

I will admit though, that fish head made me a little uneasy while I ate my food. I felt like it was watching me as I scooped up my rice with my chopsticks. I also had to scoot it over with my chopsticks to get at the other foods on my plate.

After eating my rice, I noticed that the other piece of meat the lunch lady had given me was the tail of the fish! I couldn’t resist putting it together once I realized I had almost a full fish.

I decided that the tail was definitely edible, so I ate it. It was actually the best part I have ever eaten because it wasn’t full of tiny, paper-thin bones! Once I was finished with the tail, I took a look at the head. How did they even eat this thing? I flipped it over and realized that the head was basically a solid bone. I prodded at it with one of my chopsticks. It certainly was hard and solid like a bone. I continued prodding at it.

Then, suddenly, it squished under my chopstick.

I will admit, I jumped. I quickly put my chopsticks down and decided not to attempt to eat the fish head.

Other Cafeteria Foods

The fish head is only one of many exciting cafeteria foods I have experienced here in China. Here are some examples of what a normal cafeteria lunch looks like for me:

Whether or not you think these trays of food look appetizing, I eat almost the whole plate at every meal (unless I get an inedible meat, which can happen). My favorite cafeteria foods include the following:

• Tomato and eggs
• Eggplant
• Rice
• Breakfast rolls
• Mushrooms
• Flavored beef
• Radishes
• Carrots and cauliflower
• Salted peanuts
• Potatoes (if they aren’t flavored strangely)
• Cabbage

My least favorite cafeteria foods are:

• Sketchy meats with the skin and hair still attached
• Meat that is mostly fat
• Cow intestine (I accidentally got that one once, and I ate a little bit of it)
• Pig ear
• Chicken feet (I still need to at least try them though)
• Tofu… especially when it’s soupy. Ick.

I’m actually smiling in this picture with my tofu though. Not sure how I managed that. I REALLY don’t like tofu.

And here is a plate of it. 

We also had something new tonight for dinner. It was very… interesting. It had the consistency of flan or a custard type gelatin, but it tasted like eggs and had these weird little noodles inside. I was not a huge fan of it. I’m hoping that it was a one-time thing.

Breakfast usually consists of rolls with either sugar or oil on top, or rolls filled with bean paste or fruit. (It’s the only meal where they serve bread, so I always try to make it to breakfast.) Rice porridge is also usually served at breakfast, but they may also have dumplings or noodles in a broth. Sometimes, they will serve pounded rice cakes that are gooey and stick to the roof of your mouth. If it is an extra happy day, you will get a little carton of milk with your breakfast and a triangular piece of light fluffy cake.

This breakfast roll looks like it's just a lump of uncooked dough, doesn't it? But it's not! It's all cooked and quite yummy too! 

Lunch and dinner are pretty consistent as well. You always get a heap of white rice with a side of some type of green vegetable that has been boiled and soaked in oil. Then you will have a meat dish that is usually filled with bones or a meat substitute like tofu. (I don’t eat my meat too often.) At the end of the line, you will usually have a spicy dish and another vegetable to choose from. If you are lucky, there will be two great side dishes at the end like cooked tomatoes and salted peanuts so you can forego the meat.

Congratulations! You now know what Chinese cafeteria food is like. Happy eating and zaijien!