Chinese pride themselves on eating a wide range of foods, and Chinese cuisine often has an interesting history. This article lists five unique Chinese foods, which you can taste when traveling in China.
1. Beggar's Chicken (叫花鸡 Jiào huā jī)
If you are planning to travel to Hangzhou, Beggar's Chicken is a highly recommended（推荐，tuī jiàn） dish.
Features: It is a typical dish eaten in East China's Zhejiang province like Hangzhou, with savory aroma and tender（嫩，nèn） chicken meat. The chicken is served on a lotus leaf（荷叶，hé yè）, and tastes fresher and less greasy（油腻，yóu nì）.
Origin: Once upon a time, a beggar（乞丐/叫花子，qǐ gài /jiào huā zi） arrived at a village of Changshu Prefecture, Hangzhou. He had a chicken, and wanted to cook it. He had nothing but a knife. He solved his difficulty（难题，nán tí） by slaughtering（宰，zǎi） and gutting the chicken, wrapping the chicken with yellow mud（黄泥，huáng ní）, and roasting（烤，kǎo） the potato-like chicken. When he peeled off the dry mud, the chicken's feathers（鸡毛，jī máo）were also taken off.
Though the modern cooking of Beggar's Chicken is largely identical to the beggar’s, it has been improved（改进，gǎi jìn） a lot, being much cleaner, more technical, and healthier.
2. Bamboo Rice (竹筒饭 Zhú tǒng fàn)
Bamboo rice is always cooked with rice and pork, which are cooked in a section of fresh green bamboo（竹子，zhú zi） till the bamboo is seared. This food is delicious with the fresh fragrance（清香，qīng xiāng） of bamboo.
3. Preserved Egg (皮蛋 Pí dàn)
Shiny dark grey or black with s snowflake pattern, this unique egg product was created by Chinese people in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Ways to eat: Many traditional Chinese restaurants serve dishes made with preserved eggs. Soup cooked with preserved eggs and mustard leaves, minced pork congee with preserved egg (皮蛋瘦肉粥，which can be found in KFC in China during breakfast time), and preserved eggs with tofu (皮蛋豆腐) are the most popular ways of eating preserved eggs.
4. Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐 Chòu dòu fu)
Stinky tofu, or strong-smelling preserved tofu, is really smelly（臭气熏天，chòu qì xūn tiān）, with an "ugly" appearance. However, once you have tried it, you should enjoy its taste. The stinky tofu in Changsha（长沙臭豆腐） is the most famous type, with crispy（酥脆，sū cuì） skin and a fresh and spicy taste.
Changsha’s stinky tofu enjoys the most fame in China, followed by that of Nanjing and Shaoxing. The production and tastes of the stinky tofu in these three cities are quite different, but they share a common point: smelling bad but tasting nice. Stinky tofu has become a popular street snack（街头小吃，jiē tóu xiǎo chī）throughout China.
5. Fried Bee Pupae (油炸蜂蛹 Yóu zhá fēng yǒng)
Bee pupae are rich in nutrition （营养丰富，yíng yǎng fēng fù）(with high protein[蛋白质，dàn bái zhì] and low fat[脂肪，zhī fáng]), and are used as an ingredient for cooking dishes in Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang Ancient Town, Southeast Guizhou, and Yunnan province.
The most common way to eat bee pupae is to fry（炸，zhá） them golden. There are many other ways of eating bee pupae, such as steamed（蒸，zhēng） bee pupa, stir-fried（炒，chǎo） bee pupa, crispy bee pupa cake, and cold fried bee pupa in sauce.
Key words & phrases
改进：improve; better
tā men zhǐ shì xū yào gǎi jìn yī xià jì qiǎo
他们只是需要改进一下技巧。
They just need to polish their technique.
zì cóng xiū zhǔ chú yǐ lái，huǒ shí dà wéi gǎi jìn
自从休主厨以来，伙食大为改进。
The fare has much improved since Hugh has taken charge of the kitchen.
营养：nutrition; nourishment
shuǐ guǒ fù yǒu yíng yǎng
水果富有营养。
Fruit is very nourishing.
yíng yǎng bù liáng
营养不良
malnutrition
Source: China Highlights
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