Beijing, Day 10: street food

I am a sucker for street food.  I had heard about the prevalence of food carts in Beijing, and street food is one of the things that I most looked forward to.  There are some food trucks in the LA area, but I think that city councils are trying to crack down and impose a bunch of health codes and regulations.  So, thank you Beijing, for allowing street food culture to thrive with your lax (or lack of) health rules and regulations.

Anyway, I had heard that street food is safe, as long as we just patronize the busy carts and make sure the food is served hot.  We are as adventurous as our eating habits allow.  So far we have discovered these egg sandwiches, which is made by taking a piece of fried dough (it has an egg fried right into it), brushing it with a variety of sauces (maybe hoisin and a chili paste?), folding it in half like a taco and stuffing it with lettuce.

The egg sandwiches appear to be quite popular, and many carts make them.  Drew and I have also seen that many carts have other sorts of fried dough, hot dogs, kebabs, and an assortment of beverages.  One of the coolest food carts we’ve seen had “sushi.”  We watched this woman assemble sushi rolls using peppers, cucumber, mystery sauces, and hot dogs.  I came close to ordering one (sans hot dog) until the woman crumbled a hard cooked fermented egg in a roll.  I do want to try the fermented egg, but I wasn’t sure that that was the day to do it.

You don’t have to look very hard to find street food.  There are two different food carts just down the street.  Both serve the egg sandwiches, but otherwise, they serve different items.  This one serves a cold noodle dish that I really enjoy.I love the cigarette, by the way.  I’m pretty sure that is totally against the rules in the United States.  Man, I love this place.  Okay, on to the cold noodle dish.  So first, the vendor chops up a bunch of cold noodles and then tops them with grated cucumber and cubes of tofu.  She ladles a bunch of sauces (maybe a vinegar, a chili sauce, something peanut-y?) over the top and mixes it all together.   The noodles are spicy, cool, and refreshing all at the same time.  This has been lunch for the past two days (I just can’t get enough of the noodles), and I am going to eat them again today.  Did I mention how much I love the street food?  It’s cheap (we get 2 egg sandwiches and an order of noodles for 7Y, or about $1), convenient, no frills, and I assume it’s quite authentic.  There is no better way to experience the city and a new cuisine.  Tonight, Drew and I are going to the Donghuamen Night Market, which is full of street food.  Some are purported to serve fried delicacies like scorpion, seahorses, and grasshoppers.  We’ll stick to the more conventional stuff, but it is sure to be fun and exciting.