Class Takes Me to Hong Feng Lake for Chinese BBQ

Class Takes Me to Hong Feng Lake for Chinese BBQ

Gentle Reader,

Ni Hao!  Ok... so this isn't your run of the mill American BBQ of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans.  The Chinese BBQ is a work of art, of which everyone involved takes part.

My students have Conversation Groups with me in the afternoons, and this week they announced that we would be taking a trip to Hong Feng Lake.  They immediately went into high gear, planning this event.  I tried to contribute some money for food, but they would hear nothing of it.  They organized transportation for all 27 of us, with those with cars offering to drive.  There are various degrees of experienced drivers in my class, and my students assured me they would place me with the most experienced driver.

The Chinese BBQ consisted largely of meat... massive quantities of meat.  Know, too, that the Chinese do not waste any part of any animal.  I found myself confronted with "stomach of rooster," which I dutifully ate.  All of the meats -- largely pork, but also some beef, as well as chicken wings and skin -- are cooked by everyone on a small table grill that we all sit around.  The meat is oiled and then doused with a BBQ sauce, which is much thinner and certainly not sweet like the kind of BBQ sauces we use in the America.  Each person is given a generous bowl of ground hot pepper, and as meat parts finished grilling, my students made sure my pepper bowl was well-stocked with meat.  Once I doused my grilled meat in red peppers, I then rolled it into a large piece of lettuce. My students instructed me to eat it all in one bite.  Which I did.

I had heard that vegetables played a major role in Chinese BBQ, but this wasn't the case today.  After three large trays of meats were grilled and devoured, the veggies came into play.  Some potato slices, purple onion pieces, squash, scallions, and cabbage began to occupy the grill.  All of these were absolutely spectacular.  I could easily have been a vegetarian at this feast.

My class is composed entirely of women this year... and these are unashamedly Women Food Warriors.  Their appetites were voracious and enthusiastic...and we then went out for a huge dinner after grilling meats and vegetables for five hours. At the restaurant, which features food specialties from the Anshun Region here in Guizhou, we had sour fish, root vegetables, pickled green peppers, baby yams with vegetables, bad eggs (which they described as old and rotten, but very tasty), and fried soy nuts...among many other dishes.  I will say that today, after having devoured "stomach of rooster" at the BBQ, I politely passed on the "fried fuzz of pig" dish.  

After 12 hours, which included class, the BBQ, several games of Mahjong, and the dinner, my students closed the evening with, "Thank you so much for playing with us today."  Gotta love these amazingly generous, kind folks...

Namaste,

Marianne/Bailing