Spice

There are some questions that crop up again and again in China. Most tend to be related to being a foreigner and follow the line of ‘What country are you from?’ ‘Are you used to Chinese food?’ as well as the slightly more probing ‘How much do you earn a month?’. Of course these questions tend to be asked in Chinese so for newcomers a confused look and shake of the head should be quite enough to dispel any interest. There are other questions though that you will very quickly learn the answers to as they tend to be more related to day-to-day observances such as buying food or getting a taxi. At the top of this list must be the three times daily ‘Yao bu yao lajiao?!’ – ‘do you want spice?!’ (this tends to be shouted at you hence the exclamation mark).

Wuhan food is mostly Sichuan cuisine which is characterised by rich spicy flavours and the liberal use of chili, ginger, garlic and the Sichuan pepper. As a result most meals will be at least mildly spicy unless requested otherwise. This extends beyond restaurant dishes though; breakfast noodles can be loaded up with spice, dumplings can be accompanied with a spicy sauce and soup can often be found with large chunks of chili in their depths. Of course for those who are less than keen on corroding their stomach lining this can all be ordered spiceless, and you will always be asked whether or not you want spice – ‘yao bu yao lajiao?!’. Whilst I personally do actually like spicy food, it does not partner up terribly well with a hot summer day. Yet for some reason I always get the impression that it is a test of sorts, and in a (misguided) effort to prove something I plough on with the spice. Whatever this is supposed to achieve is quickly lost by my haggard appearance as I sweatily make my way through my food – most small places do not have air conditioning.

In many ways this is typical of how you learn Chinese, despite teaching for years I still didn’t know the Chinese for most classroom items such as ruler, pencil case or sharpener. Yet ‘Do you want spice?’ ‘Take away or eat in?’ ‘Do you want that as a meal?’ (thanks McDonalds) are phrases that I was a pro at after about 3 weeks. Learning a language when you live in the country is great for that; you learn the things you actually need to get by - spice levels definitely being one of them.