Another Meme: The 100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die

Adam Kuban

20080912-chinesefood.jpgOK. Memes are spawning memes are spawning memes. It's like an experiment gone out of control. Mutations are rampant, and they're spreading like viruses. You remember The Omnivore's 100, right? Then there was The Traveling Omnivore's 20. Then the 10 Texas Sausages to Eat Before You Die.

Now, the blog Appetite for China has birthed The 100 Chinese Foods to Eat Before You Die. The rules are similar to Omnivore's 100: Copy the list, paste it into your own blog, and bold all the foods you've had.

There's also a 100 Japanese Foods to Try list, but I'm saving that post for tomorrow. My Chinese list, after the jump.

  1. Almond milk
  2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)

  3. Asian pear
  4. Baby bok choy

  5. Baijiu

  6. Beef brisket

  7. Beggar's Chicken
  8. Bingtang hulu

  9. Bitter melon
  10. Bubble tea
  11. Buddha's Delight
  12. Cantonese roast duck
  13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg
  14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)
  15. Char kway teow

  16. Chicken feet
  17. Chinese sausage
  18. Chow mein
  19. Chrysanthemum tea
  20. Claypot rice
  21. Congee
  22. Conpoy (dried scallops)
  23. Crab rangoon
  24. Dan Dan noodles

  25. Dragonfruit
  26. Dragon's Beard candy

  27. Dried cuttlefish
  28. Drunken chicken
  29. Dry-fried green beans
  30. Egg drop soup
  31. Egg rolls
  32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese
  33. Fresh bamboo shoots
  34. Fortune cookies

  35. Fried milk
  36. Fried rice [I LOVE IT! In all its forms. Yes, I am a gweilo.—AK]

  37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)

  38. General Tso's Chicken

  39. Gobi Manchurian
  40. Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries)

  41. Grass jelly

  42. Hainan chicken rice

  43. Hand-pulled noodles

  44. Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers)

  45. Haw flakes

  46. Hibiscus tea

  47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea

  48. Hot and sour soup

  49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger [This sounds awesome! Someone gimme a recipe. —AK]

  50. Hot Pot

  51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)
  52. Jellyfish [I think I've had Japanese jellyfish dish, but not sure if I've had a Chinese version. —AK]
  53. Kosher Chinese food

  54. Kung Pao Chicken

  55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua'r)

  56. Lion's Head meatballs
  57. Lomo Saltado

  58. Longan fruit

  59. Lychee

  60. Macaroni in soup with Spam
  61. Malatang
  62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk

  63. Mapo Tofu
  64. Mock meat
  65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)
  66. Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf)

  67. Pan-fried jiaozi

  68. Peking duck
  69. Pineapple bun
  70. Prawn crackers

  71. Pu'er tea

  72. Rambutan
  73. Red bean in dessert form

  74. Red bayberry

  75. Red cooked pork

  76. Roast pigeon
  77. Rose tea
  78. Roujiamo

  79. Scallion pancake
  80. Shaved ice dessert
  81. Sesame chicken
  82. Sichuan pepper in any dish

  83. Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)

  84. Silken tofu
  85. Soy milk, freshly made
  86. Steamed egg custard

  87. Stinky tofu [I've had Japanese natto. Does that count? —AK]

  88. Sugar cane juice
  89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp [Have had all of them. —AK]
  90. Taro

  91. Tea eggs
  92. Tea-smoked duck

  93. Turnip cake (law bok gau)
  94. Twice-cooked pork

  95. Water chestnut cake (mati gau)

  96. Wonton noodle soup

  97. Wood ear

  98. Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)

  99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style) [Mmm. Sounds good. I'm missing out! —AK]
  100. Yunnan goat cheese
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