Do as I say, not as I do!

With competitions over, the support staff decided to head into downtown Beijing to experience a last bit of Asian culture during our last night in China. Marcia, Karen B., Kim, Nikki and myself walked down to the subway station that would take us south near the Forbidden City. The half a dozen blocks to the train station afforded an ample variety of street food vendors.



I was hoping to stumble upon the strange looking pink bulbs on a stick I had seen people walking around with earlier in the week. They had a syrupy coating and a sweet smell and I wanted to try one. My street food karma did not fail me as halfway through the gauntlet of bicycle-truck food stalls I spotted what I was looking for- pink balls on a stick! I pantomime “how much?” as I point to the snack in question. Five Yuan? Done, I’ll take it! She pulls out the row of sticky pink balls piled on a stick and hands it over. I take a bite and chew. Can’t quite place the taste and texture. . . oh, it’s candied apple! I look at the inside of the sweet pink ball and realize it’s some type of mini apple. Not bad. We pass it around and each take a bite and decide that it's a great snack for walking the streets with.

OK, so far so good. We hop the subway and get off in time to hit a tea shop and the Beijing 2008 Olympic store. About a block down from the store is the area I had heard about; Donghuamen Night Market. This is the place where squeamish Americans dare not go. The intricate, worn awning leading to the alley gives a small glimpse into its history although I've heard it was officially established in 1984. We step inside and are disappointed that a lot of the stalls are already shut down for the evening. It’s late, but the stalls at the end of the alley are bustling. We take a few steps more and there it is. . . insects and reptiles on a stick. Actually, live reptiles on sticks. Live reptiles on a stick that are still moving. Click on the picture for a closer look!

At this point in the story, you know I have to do it. Should I be nervous or know better? Five years of nutrition education and lots of experience eating in foreign countries says “yes, I should know better.” But here I am, faced with a culinary adventure and I can’t say no. My eyes are drawn to the scorpions. Is it life threatening to consume scorpion venom? I’m still mulling over this thought as one of the scorpions starts to run away, except that it can’t run away because it's skewered on a stick. OK, maybe not the scorpion I think. Among my choices are scorpion, small snakes, sea horses, something that looks like a star fish, grasshoppers, beetles, and some type of small reptile I can’t quite place.

OK, I’m gonna go with the grasshopper and beetle combo. The vendor smiles and takes my 18 Yuan and hands my snack of choice to a guy standing by the fryer. He deep fries it then rolls it in a gooey brown sauce with chunks of seasoning in what looks like the lid of a metal garbage can. Wow, still looks like grasshoppers and beetles on a stick even after it's been deep-fried!

I find myself standing there with fried grasshoppers and beetles on a stick rolled in a seasoned sauce. I purchase a bottle of water from the stall next door and go for it. I start with the leg. Crunchy, pretty spicy, no distinct taste really. I bite into the body. Mushy, still no distinct taste. As you can hear in the video (click on the arrow button on the picture), Kim and Marcia keep asking me if it tastes like chicken. No not really. I take a bite of the beetle. After the initial crunch, it squirts a bitter goo into my mouth. OK, I’m done. In a survival situation, I’d dig right in, but this culinary adventure is now complete! I just want to emphasize at this point that I wouldn't have done this if the athletes had been with us. And just to put my mom's mind at ease, one of the women in this group is a doctor!!!!

It's easy as a foreigner to assume that these stalls are set up just for tourists. The whole alley scene plays out like an episode of the American TV show Fear Factor. The locals sitting around late-night snacking and the number of dirty wooden skewers discarded on the ground indicated that this isn't just a place for Westerners to come and see how tough their stomaches are. In fact, when we mentioned to our Chinese interpreter the next day that I had eaten grasshopper and beetle, he didn't bat an eye and stated that it is considered very good for health and vitality to eat these things in China. How about that. . . looks like I'm gonna have good health and vitality now!

We all head back in the direction of a nice bar we saw and celebrate a successful trip to Beijing. Thankfully, a nice glass of French Cabernet Sauvignon and a sampling plate of pastries moves us past the insect-eating episode and we all leave with a good taste in our mouths (pun intended!)!!