Elementary - Hungry Traveler: Sichuan

How about some more intermediate lessons about food, tea, table manners and related etiquette, kitchens (names for everything?), difference in techniques between restaurant cooks and home cooks--what's strictly restaurant food, e.g., and what's strictly home cooking? Etc?

A typical malatang 麻辣烫 stand.

And the finished product,

I like Sfrrrrrr's idea, as long as the lessons aren't about played out foods like 牛肉面，麻婆豆腐, 魚, and such. 

hmmm, broccoli, 西蘭花 xi1 lan2 hua1

one of the few essentials I have to have everywhere I go...

If malatang comes as a soup, in a bowl, why the ingredients in the stand are all in sticks, like hors d'oeuvre?

I liked the vocab and subject of this lesson. I only visit China 4 times per year. So, I must practice in Houston and the only place appears to be in Chinese restaurants. Before Chinesepod, I was gaining 10 lbs per month. Seriously, food is always such a useful tool for us beginners to study because common verbs, words involving senses and places are all involved. You two are always charming. Thanks.

A recurring topic among foreign people in China, 麻辣汤 (tang1) vs 麻辣烫(tang4). Here is an excellent article about it by John.

http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/12/16/filthy-delicious

Ai yo, can't imagine eating shui zhu yu, then a mouthful of la zi ji, then running out for ma la tang. (sorry, on a computer with no characters today) La zi ji flavoured peanuts are great though!

Ma la tang is also known as chuan chuan, since everything is usually on sticks. I think the second picture (bean sprouts, glistening cubes of blood,and no sticks or obvious puncture marks) looks a lot more like mao cai than ma la tang.

In the summer the late night eating is usually leng dan bei (cold, simple, glass) - basic food like steamed soybeans, qing jiao yumi, ribs, 5 spice pig ears and such served at street temperature with beer.

bento,

I guess there is a very practical side for placing the ingredients on a stick: to keep track of whose food it is. Normally, malatang is boiled in a huge container of spicy soup in communal style. The owner has to manage the food ordered by many customers at the same time. So putting it on a skwer helps them do that. After it's cooked, the owner 'unskwer' the food.

I've never had malatang, because my mom is hyper particular about food hygiene. When I was really young, I got spanked for buying street food and lying about it to my mom. Ouch!

Jenny,

more food pictures, please;) The Hungry Traveler always gets me planning lunch...over my first cup of coffee:)))

A dish inspired by the Olympic stadium, the Bird's Nest.

Yeah Jenny, more photos on Chuan Cai please :)

hello!

    四川菜很好吃，但是很辣。去年我去了四川，吃了海鲜，真得很好吃：））

Apologies if this is already covered in a QingWen - but can anyone explain when to use "qu4" and when to use "dao4"?

For example (borrowing one of the expansion sentences), to say "I want to go outside to eat today".  Are both of the following acceptable:

1) Jin1tian1 wo3 xiang3 dao4 wai4mian4 chi1

2) Jin1tian1 wo3 xiang3 qu4 wai4mian4 chi1

thanks, Chris

hi

i like it

Hi Chris,

Used on its own, 到 (dào) means 'to arrive'.  As in:

我到了。(Wǒ dào le.)

Often, when used in the context of your examples (which are both correct, btw) 到 (dào) and 去 (qù) are interchangeable.  In this context, the 到 (dào) means 'to go to'.  However, the only difference is that if  到 (dào) is used, it must have a verb following it at some point, i.e.

我们到外面等他。(Wǒmen dào wàimian děng tā.)
他到北京去了。(Tā dào Běijīng qù le.)

Amber, thanks so much for the quick response.  Very clear.

Chris

到哪里?

The question I get asked most often when I get in a taxi. (No verb after 到, usually: It's a simple "Where to?")

Today I listened to this lesson but the sound stopped before the end of the lesson. Has somethng happened to the last part?

user11695

try to click :  Full Lesson (Radio Quality, 6.48mb)

good luck !

我喜欢四川菜。你们呢？

四川菜...when I went to Chengdu I had liters of something called dan dan mian (???). It was I swear the tastiest thing I have ever had. Does anyone know what it is/ how it is written?

担担面, dan1dan1 mian4.

 Less famous but imho better is  燃面 ran2mian4  ('ignition' noodles).

i didnt know where to post this.

please help

i have been trying to get the flash cards to work correctly with the corresponding label i select.

i add the label title or heading under edit label then i add the words to that label, then i select the proper label, it shows the words correctly. then i selct launch flash cards and select the same label i just created, it says "no data"

Yummy! I think I'll have some spicy soupy noodles for lunch. Not Sichuan because I don't have any malatang and wouldn't have any idea how to make it, but some substitute, just because you've whetted my appetite for spicy and soupy stuff. Slurrrp!

We just ate today at a local authentic Szechuan restaurant near our place here in the Bay Area. I totally used a lot of the vocab that I learned from this lesson and others as well (including the one about Chinese takeout).

我们点三个川菜：宫保鸡丁，回锅牛肉，和家常豆腐。

They were absolutely fantastic!

I conversed with the wait staff entirely in Chinese from start to finish  and my wife was pretty impressed :)

As many others no doubt have already told you guys: You guys rock when it comes to teaching people Chinese. :)

If you ask Sichuanese guys about their favourite food most of them say 回锅肉。 There are a million variations - a couple of my favourites are 土豆 回锅 and 青椒回锅. 99% of it is made with pork though - 回锅牛肉 is mainly featured at Islamic places.

Ah nice, thanks for the tip sushan. I will try those other kinds next time. I think I did see 青椒回锅 in the menu. :)

Oh, what's funny is that I saw in the menu the husband-wife lungs thing that Jenny mentioned in the podcast! :)

I hated spicy food until I had Sichuan food last month... give me more! 

heh heh... my family is more shocked than I, I must say.

Anyone know the name of the chicken claws that come in a bag with the Ma, La Pepper, some vinegar and more? That is dee-lish~

Hehe.. I alway dine at the Sichuan restaurant near my work, every 2nd thursday. I also just took some people who were staying with me there last week too. We had some sort of braised chicken thing in a big pot.. I am bad with the names of dishes.. hehe.. and we also had shark fin hot and sour soup. Both dishes were wonderful.

The heat of Sichuan dishes is just below my maximum threshhold for spicey food, so it's perfect. Although I do need to pick out those tiny, dark red chillis.. they are deadly! :)

when you say "wo keyi chang yixia ma"

can you just say wo keyi chang ma?

and if you left it out what would be the main difference?

also when i say wo chang guo le, what does the guo do in this regard?

thanks

Hi xinjiapo2703

Adding the 一下 yi1xia4 gives a sense that the act will be quick and not too bothersome. It makes your request more polite. So while you could leave it out, you'll sound friendlier and more polite if you say it. Alternatively, you can double the verb: 看看，尝尝, etc. 

我尝过了 wo3chang2guo4le -- Here, the 了 is showing that the act finished recently. This sort of subtlety is why it is problematic for teachers to say simply that " 了 is for the past tense." It may be a convenient shortcut in your early studies, but it does not tell the whole story.

so we use 尝 to say 'taste' when it's a person doing it. do we use 吃起来 to say that food 'tastes' good/bad...?

Hi stanimal,

I found a couple of lessons on food. I hope it helps. 1, 2.

好吃 hao3chi1 tasty, delicious (food)
好喝 hao3he1 tasty (drinks)
source

zhe4ge5 guo3zhi1 bu4 hao3he1 This juice tastes bad (That's one of the sentences in the test, if I heard it correctly...)

stanimal：

对，we use 吃起来 to say that food 'tastes' good/bad...

For example:

这个吃起来不错。
Zhè ge chī qǐlai búcuò.

Hi lujiaojie,

is there s difference in meaning between Zhè ge chī qǐlai búcuò and Zhè ge hǎochī?

Lùbiāntān

Roadside food stalls

http://chinesepod.com/resources/glossary/entry/路边摊