100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die

Food-surfing the web reaps many delights. I stumbled upon this list of 100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die as written by Diana at Appetite for China, and thought it would be fun to go through it and see.

My score? 86/100. Not bad, huh? I don’t know how many more of these I’ll be able to cross off though, because as you may have noticed, I am a vegetarian. The non-vegetarian items were from my “younger years.” 🙂

* = tried

1. Almond milk* – haven’t had Lulu, but have had almond milk
2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name) – never had a lot of beef
3. Asian pear*
4. Baby bok choy* – yum!
5. Baijiu – nope, sorry… don’t drink either
   
6. Beef brisket* – with flat rice noodles in soup, yup
7. Beggar’s Chicken – ?
8. Bingtang hulu*
   
9. Bitter melon* – in the typical Chinese omelette, yup
10. Bubble tea* – of course
11. Buddha’s Delight* – vegetarian version count?
12. Cantonese roast duck* – and Beijing-style too
13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg* – classic!
14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)* – definitely
15. Char kway teow*
16. Chicken feet* – a.k.a. Phoenix feet/claws when having dim sum
17. Chinese sausage* – with rice, oh yeah
    
18. Chow mein* – of course
19. Chrysanthemum tea*
20. Claypot rice*
21. Congee*
22. Conpoy (dried scallops)*
23. Crab rangoon – the first time I heard about these was on the back of a pack of Asian fusion wonton wrappers
24. Dan Dan noodles*
25. Dragonfruit* – both the red and white kind, yum!
    
26. Dragon’s Beard candy* – addictive
    
27. Dried cuttlefish*
28. Drunken chicken*
29. Dry-fried green beans*
30. Egg drop soup – no, actually!
31. Egg rolls – …no.
32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese* <– a.k.a. Portugese custard tart? If so, then had both.
    
33. Fresh bamboo shoots*
34. Fortune cookies*
35. Fried milk* – oh so crazy good
    
36. Fried rice* – yeah!!
37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)* – mmm
38. General Tso’s Chicken – never heard of this until I came to the US -_-
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)* – har gau, siu mai! haha
45. Haw flakes*
46. Hibiscus tea*
47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea*
48. Hot and sour soup*
49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger* – also, hot coca-cola, and hot coca-cola with honey
50. Hot Pot* – winter reminds me of hot pot
51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)*
52. Jellyfish*
53. Kosher Chinese food – well I’m vegetarian…
    
54. Kung Pao Chicken*
55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua’r) – had meat skewers, but never liked lamb as a kid
56. Lion’s Head meatballs* – vegetarian version
    
57. Lomo Saltado
58. Longan fruit*
59. Lychee*
60. Macaroni in soup with Spam* – yes, yes!
61. Malatang(*) – not as street food
    
62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk*
63. Mapo Tofu*
64. Mock meat* – of course
65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)* + bonus*!
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* – best way to enjoy red bean
74. Red bayberry
75. Red cooked pork* – vegetarian form
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* – especially when it’s still warm!
86. Steamed egg custard*
87. Stinky tofu*
88. Sugar cane juice*
89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp*
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)* – someone’s got to invent a vegetarian version, seriously.
99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)*
100. Yunnan goat cheese

Tags: Chinese