[Matt]

Before I forget the details about everything I ate on my trip, I'll post my log as quickly as I can.

Starting with my in-flight food from Chicago to Shanghai.
I had the pleasure of flying first class.
Everyone knows airline food sucks. It is usually reheated mush meals and sterilized side dished designed to both appease all pallets and keep people from running to the restroom.
The decreased cabin pressure affects our taste physiology. Less pressure means there is less osmotic force pushing ions through our taste buds. The result: things taste bland.
So food is typically pumped with excessive salt to compensate. Major airlines have hired skilled chefs to come up with ways of using natural flavorings in place of salts. They also design the first class meals so the in-flight staff can reheat and combine ingredients so the meals taste as good as they would on the ground.

Before takeoff, a mimosa, just because I can.


Grilled Chicken-Caesar salad (not bad... chicken a bit spicy). Glass of a California Riesling.


Mango Mojo Pork Tenderloin, rice and asparagus (very good)


Fresh raspberry sundae (really good), and Icewine (way too sweet).

[Matt]

I arrive in the city of Guangzhou, formerly Canton, and the origin of what we call Cantonese cuisine. It's mild, flavored with salt, soy, and sesame. In fact, it's really what the majority of west Chinese food is based on.

I go out for late night Dim Sum.

Glutenous rice wraps, filled with beef, smothered in salty soy sauce. (Chang Fen)


Some sweet and gelatinous balls of who-knows-what (I'm guessing rice). Suck them off the wrapper and be prepared to not be able to talk for a good couple of minutes as you try to swallow these sticky messes. There's a cream filling inside. They taste great but are difficult to eat.


Tapioca balls in coconut milk


Steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce


Crispy fried pork spring rolls.

[Matt]

A few business meetings allowed me to sample more dim sum. It was all very familiar, but different. I didn't take many photos... busy working.


Guangzhou has a great mix of ethnicities. Any type of food can be found in this city. I stop by an Aussie cafe for a latte and a chicken sandwich. Delicious.
Had lunch in a nice Aussie cafe.




Several of the places i ate at were just way too dark for photography, so the pics didn't come out.

[Matt]

A night in Chengdu, Sichuan before I head into the mountains of Yunnan. Time for comfort food.... Sichuan style. It's spicy and the flavoris significantly more powerful and varied than Cantonese food.

One of my favorites: Corn-fried Corn. It's sweet corn, coated in a mix of a salted duck egg and corn starch, and then fried in oil.
Crunchy, salty, and sweet. I have said this before... this would be a huge hit in the USA.


Spicy fried pork back and greens. Amazing.


Some coke

[Matt]

A traditional Chengdu breakfast in my hotel

Watery rice porridge. It serves the same purpose as a rice bowl does for any other meal.


Delicious pork-filled dumplings.


What we have here is (clockwise from top-right) fried rice; spicy sausages; pickled veggies; fried lotus root, grilled peanuts.
Grab with chopsticks, dip into porridge, consume.

[Matt]

I arrive in Lijiang in the mountains. It's a blend of cultures here...and the food's origins are mixed. I really couldn't keep track.

A quick meal before catching a bus to up further in the mountains to Shangrila. I unpack my SLR so the quality of pics is a touch better from now on. Click for more detail to each pic.

I stop in a family-run joint right next tot he bus station. I always feel guilty in these places.... it seems I always show up to eat when the family is sitting down to eat. Un-phased, they get up and within 5 minutes, whip up a meal. Then they go back to the family table and finish eating.



One of my favorites of the trip: Hash browns - Tibetan style. Julian potatoes fried in yak butter.


Sauteed shredded pork with green pepper


tea with every meal

[Kelly]

Incredible. So cool!
But honestly?

Had lunch in a nice Ass

[Matt]

Arrived at Shangrila in the evening,
Tibetan cuisine at a small restaurant near the hotel. Tibetan pop music playing in the background the service staff randomly burst out into song throughout the meal. The food is outstanding.


Toothpick Yak. Small strips of lean yak meat coated in a tongue-numbingly-spicy dry rub.


Spicy Yak meat... very spicy... very lean... it's similar to beef.


Yak cheese balls, deep fried in yak butter, with yak yogurt for dippin'.... delicious!

[Matt]

Incredible. So cool!
But honestly?

Had lunch in a nice Ass

haha... not sure why that got cut off like that.

[hobkyl]

All look so delicious. Are you eating alone, or with company? Portions appear to be monsterous.

[Brenda]

Wow, it all looks awesome!

Icewine (way too sweet).

I never thought that I'd hear you say that! It's pretty cool how it's harvested, but I've never tried it because of the sweetness.

[Kelly]

Incredible. So cool!
But honestly?

Had lunch in a nice Ass

haha... not sure why that got cut off like that.

When you go to the extra trouble of capitalizing Ass, we get a sense of just how nice it was!

[Matt]

knowing China, the meat in that sammy was probably from the ass of something.


Kyle, maybe the lens is making them look larger than they were. Food was ample for the most part, but nothing by our standards. I usually ate with people. chopsticks slowing things down + rice, can make a small meal feel filling. I was ok with not eating enough in a meal, because I was opening up to street food and wanted to try more and more of it.

[hobkyl]

Hmm, perhaps not what I meant...there seems to be multiple courses for each meal.

[Matt]

oh... yeah... that's normal. Order as much as you can, and eat family style. Blend together, eat separately. Doesn't seem to matter. I have seen groups of people fill their tables completely with a selection of dishes, so there's not room for for the rice bowls.

Before a full day hiking and horseback riding in Shangrila, a room service breakfast of pork noodles, pickles, milk, rice porridge, stuffed buns and an egg.


Street Food: Fried Tibetan Potatoes.


At a Tibetan restaurant: Fresh cut fries.


Crispy fried pork back. Bacon is no longer the world's greatest food.


Large Yak-filled dumplings.