Posted by Emily Koh, June 30, 2008 at 12:45 PM
In preparation for the impending Olympics, the Beijing municipal government has released a 170-page book of standardized menu translations that eschews the strange literal translations of over 2,000 Chinese dishes and instead features names that make a little more sense. No longer will you order "pock-marked old lady's tofu" and "government-abused chicken" (that's mapo tofu and kung pao chicken, respectively). The less-than-palatable translation "husband and wife's lung slice" will now more helpfully be tagged as "beef and ox tripe in chili sauce."
Translating the names of certain Chinese dishes into English can be tricky—unlike Western dishes, which are usually named after their ingredients and cooking methods, Chinese dishes are more often named for their appearance rather than composition. Props to China for making food-ordering a little bit easier for foreigners. Still, you've got to admit that it does take a bit of fun out of perusing some creatively-translated Chinese menus. [via Cha Xiu Bao]
Posted by Erin Zimmer, March 18, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Haute genitalia is what you'll find at Beijing's Guo-li-Zhuang restaurant, including schlongs of water buffaloes, deer dick juice (sour as lemon, apparently), and yak's "goods." Our ears (and maybe other things) perk up, but after so much international coverage, aren't we over it yet? BBC and Telegraph News both covered it in 2006, and earlier this week, there it was again in the Times of London travel section. Whoop-dee-doo, they serve groins on platters! Earlier this month, Andrew Zimmern also swung by the testicle emporium on his show, making the obligatory phallic jokes (un-funny ones too).
Exposing this long-standing Chinese culinary tradition is almost guaranteed to garner enough web buzz for most-emailed article status, potentially saving a frenzied newsroom. "Send another reporter to that penis restaurant, quick! Nobody is reading us!" And with the Beijing Olympics in August, we can assume to read a few more articles when foreign correspondents inevitably get desperate for non-sports-related human interest coverage in China.
If this topic interests you, please see the nine other Serious Eats related posts tagged with "penis." (Aside: Is this the most e-mailed story of the day yet?)
Erin Zimmer is a new media analyst who frequently writes for Washingtonian, DCist, and other D.C. publications.
Quanjude Restaurant, a chain in Beijing, claims to sell more more than 2 million ducks a year, hung and roasted in wood-burning ovens. "Our server handed me a red-and-gold card stating that our main course would be the 115,273,748th roast duck sold by the company since it was established in 1864, the third year of Tongzhi, Qing Dynasty. The preposterous precision was a taste of the showmanship of the place, on many a tourist itinerary."
