We sat down and a server came over to us and immediately asked, "Do you want a hamburger?" This was kind of funny because since we're foreigners, and she assumed we were from the U.S., she also assumed that we would want burgers. Some of my students think that that's all that U.S. people eat.
Anyway.
D did want a burger and enthusiastically accepted her offer. They had two sizes, she told us, "big" and "little".
I, however, wanted something a bit lighter. Since the menu was all in characters, I tried to ask her about other food.
Me: Do you have noodles?
Her: No, but we will in 3 days.
Me: Do you have something with meat and vegetables in it?
Her: We have chicken and we have cow and we have vegetables too.
Me: Can you bring me something with vegetables and chicken?
Her: Yes.
It was fabulous that our server spoke English -- not a lot (as you can tell from the dialogue), but infinitely more English than we speak Chinese. And it was kind of funny that she referred to the meat by their "animal" names, something that I do just to make a point sometimes (ex., it's not a hamburger, it's a ground up cow).
When my meal came, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a weird concoction of things, it was a scoop of rise with sauteed greens and a seasoned, broiled chicken leg.
D has a surprise of a different sort: his hamburger ended up being a fried chicken patty with sweet mayo (that's the only kind they have here) on a sesame seed bun. No, the kitchen hadn't made a mistake. Apparently, a "hamburger" in China often refers to chicken sandwiches:
The Chinese word for hamburger (hanbao) often refers to all sandwiches containing cooked meat, regardless of the meat's origin. This includes chicken burgers, as KFC is very popular in China.Of course, this incident set of an hour-long dialogue in which we tried to hash out the definition of "burger." D insisted that a true burger must be made of at least 51% ground
Any thoughts?
3 comments:
regrub regrub
I like D's 51% definition. Hamburger should be made of mostly beef. And bear only Heinz ketchup, and no other variety.
Other types of ground meat served in burger form are "[meat] sandwich". Or specified: "[meat] burger".
"I will have the pork burger, please."
being from Texas I feel a hamburger should only be of the cow family100%(but that's the cowgirl in me i guess)and no veggies on the chicken(how do you think we americans get our 5 servings a day(lettce/tomato/pickel/onion)
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