After leaving the lecture and escaping the storm of students wanting to take pictures, I was treated to lunch: 火锅 Hot-Pot. I am not sure if I have described this type of dinner before, but in case I haven’t I will do it again. I also think this would be a great opportunity to discuss some of the differences in Chinese dinner etiquette and traditional meal customs.
First, let me describe the meal. 火锅 Hot Pot it a traditional Chinese eating method where there is either one large hot pot of soup placed in the center of the table or many small/ individual pots of soup placed in front of every person at the table. ---These said tables are either in a general dining room of the restaurant, or for more privileged guests, in private rooms on the second floor of the restaurant.--- Under each pot is some sort of heating mechanism. Some restaurants have gas, others have electric induction burners. The soup in the pot is not really soup, but rather water with various spices. I prefer to have mine medium spicy. Next, the guests order from the menu the food that they would like to cook. Various meats as well as vegetables, fungi and noodles are the typical choices. Once the soup is hot, the servers will bring out the raw meat first. This meat is sliced very thin.
At this particular restaurant we had individual pots with electric induction heat. Every person would choose the food that they liked and add it to their pot. After a short time, the meat would be cooked and could be plucked out with chopsticks and eaten directly or dipped into sesame sauce first. Later the vegetables and fungi would come and the same procedure as the meat would be repeated: add, wait, dip, and eat. Finally, the noodles would be brought out and allowed to cook in the soup. By this time, the water has absorbed the flavors from the meat and the vegetables and the noodles are quite tasty. In all, this whole procedure, combined with socializing and drinking, takes up to 2 hours.
On top of the actual cooking procedures, there are several cultural considerations to also be considered. There is tremendous focus put upon the head host and the “honored guest.” In our case, the host was the headmaster of the school and I was the “honored guest.”
Seating: at a round table in a private room, the seat of honor is the one facing the door. This seat is normally reserved for the most important person at the table or in the case of having a guest: for the guest. I was aware of this custom, but we had arrived before the headmaster and I was instructed to sit down first. However, I was not informed where to sit down. I did not want to be presumptuous and assume that I was the most important person at the table, so I humbly chose a seat at the side of the table. When the headmaster came, he had me stand and move to the seat of honor. He then sat down directly to my right, a position of equality. This was the first, and probably last, time that this had happened to me. I was greatly honored.
Eating order/Hospitality/serving the guest: Traditionally in China, the most important person or guest always eats first, or is served first. Since most meals, especially hot pot, are served family style, this means that the food goes to this person first. In the case of having a guest, the host will actually put the food onto the plate of the guest. With hot pot, this means that the headmaster began by loading generous portions of meat into the simmering spicy liquid in front of me. This is not a one-time thing either. If the guest seems to have finished or neared finishing the things on his plate, then the host will add more. For me, as I pulled the cooked meat from my pot, the headmaster immediately added more! In all, Chinese people are very generous and gracious hosts.
Toasting/Drinking: Alcohol is a traditional staple of all official Chinese dinners. Usually this means 白酒 Bai Jiu (often translated as “white wine” but it IS NOT WHITE WINE!!! I cannot stress this enough! Bai Jiu is more like really bad and cheap vodka with a bit of an anise/black licorice flavoring. I is also about 50% ABV, stronger than most liquors in the states) Consequently, I told my hosts that I do not drink Bai Jiu, and that I prefer beer. After the cups are all filled, the toasting starts. First the host (headmaster) gave a toast and then we all say 干杯 gan- bei which people tell me means cheers, but is directly translated as dry cup and I think it would be more close to the English: bottom’s up. More toasts follow throughout the meal.
Also, it is polite for the host to never let the guest’s cup become empty. So, he would often top off my glass even after I took a small sip or two. This, combined with the continuous toasting, can lead to quite a lot of alcohol consumption. Fortunately, the alcohol percentage in Chinese beer is about half that of American beers: about 2.5%. Unfortunately, this extremely light beer goes right through me.
In general, this was a wonderful meal and I really like hot pot! It was a great end to a good weekend. After finishing the meal, we got back in the car and headed back to Kaifeng. We did, however, get lost no less than 3 times on the way back…
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