Where is my Hotpot?

 Not only Chinese people love eating Chinese food, but many Americans also love it. In America, Chinese food usually means Cantonese cuisine. The first Chinese people immigrated to the US during the Gold Rush. Since they came from Guangdong and cooked Cantonese food, Cantonese cuisine became popular in the US. However, there are many kinds of Chinese food such as Szechuan cuisine and Lu cuisine. In fact, the food culture in China is quite different from what one can find in the U.S. Chinese food is famous for its aroma, color, and taste, which I have lost in since immigrating to America.

As soon as I walk into a restaurant in China, the food aroma will catch my attention. The traditional Chinese restaurant style is different from the American Chinese restaurant’s style. I can pay $ 6.99 to have ribs, soup, fried rice, sushi, Mongolian beef and desserts in American China Buffet. As for the aroma, I named it the China buffet smelling. It’s a big mass which gathered with different foods. I can’t really tell what kind of restaurant I came into. However, I can’t see a buffet like that in China. Instead of a buffet, street food will always surprise foreigners. Different from the regular restaurants which serve vegetable and meat, street food gives special snacks. I could distinguish what kind of snacks they sell easily from the smell. Such as fried pickled tofu which smells stinky but tastes better than cheese. There are also baby scorpions on a stick and stir-fried silkworms. Those may smell like cooked insects, but they taste better than chicken. I like silkworms best. I remembered the first time I had silkworms, they were cut and then stirred fried which looked nothing like silkworms but eggs. How amazing it is.

When people eat at a Chinese restaurant, the food is not only for eating, but it is also visually pleasing them. In China, that’s called color. It means what the food looks like. Traditional Chinese food has eight cuisines. Cantonese cuisine is one of the Eight Cuisines. Su cuisine is famous for its color and it cooks food seasonal. The color and shape of the food are gorgeous. Have you ever seen a dish shaped like a phoenix? Su cuisine likes to make this kind of food. The phoenix is made from coved radishes and meat and vegetables are put on the phoenix as its feather. People always take pictures before eating. In addition Szechuan Cuisine which is one of the most famous Chinese Cuisine in the world. On the contrary, most of American Chinese food is flat and boring. They are plates with food in it. There is no dish can surprise me in America since it lost its color.

Above all, I miss the taste of food from my hometown. To pursue a good taste, we cook food with lots of MSG in China. In America, restaurants don’t use no MSG for health reasons. Traditional Chinese food is tasty because they use lots of spices which I can’t find in America. Szechuan cuisine is the most delicious food in my opinion. Its known for being spicy and pungent. Chili peppers are used in many dishes. My favorite food is Szechuan hotpot. Hotpot is a course which I can put raw vegetables, meat, seafood in the boiled special broth. There are also many kinds of broth, clear, spicy, and combination. The combination hotpot is half spicy and half clear and clear broth is not water. It is just not red. In addition, hotpot’s pots are different too. There is a special pot made from copper, goes with pickle cabbage broth will make people never forget it. Most of the hotpot is very hot, but it tastes good. It may cause you to tear, but can’t stop eating. What is lost in translation for me is that I wish I could eat hotpot with my old friends together.

   Since I left China and came to America, I haven’t found any restaurant that cooks the same Chinese food as my hometown. Yes, it’s difficult to find a food that looks as beautiful as Su cuisine. In addition, there are no special snacks in America also, And Chinese food here is short of spices. I miss the food in my hometown with a nice color, unique smell, and unforgettable taste. When I have time, I will go back to eat hotpot with my friends together in the future. If you have the chance, I suggest you go to China to taste the food. It a rewarding will be a trip.