PorkSmart

Right before the clash of man and bat in Wuhan, I was right beside the city opening an affiliated Jiu-jitsu academy. The locals were very kind, giving me an in-depth tour of the city and how they live their day-to-day lives. In China, being a white male, I was a spectacle. Children and adults alike would follow suit and ask me to flex my biceps or to feel my skin. I’ve always been rather outgoing, so I loved it, I was like a celebrity. As strange as a white man in China was, I had nothing on the food. There were fast-food chains prominent in North America littered throughout but I wanted the real deal. Give me the food you all eat on a daily basis, I requested. They smirked, ready to have a field day with all the cuisines I’d undoubtedly never fathomed. The first was fried scorpion on a stick. The crunch of the shell actually complimented the jerky-like muscles of the inside, quite tasty with the spices and such it was orchestrated with. The scorpion on a stick certainly surprised me but not nearly as much as them being brought out live. Stingers cut off, my friends dipped them in wine and chomped down. Possibly my favorite of the cultivating cultures food was the extra fluffy pancakes. They had this perfect golden sheen on their smooth dome-like structure. They are quite filling but still a great way to start the day. I was offered some bat, but something there just didn’t feel right...

The one I will most certainly never forget was the pig brain. It jiggled as the waiter set it down for me on the table. It just sat there, staring at me, dancing. My friend Kai took the first bite, an infectious cheek-to-cheek smile on his face. I might never see this again, not gonna let the opportunity slip, I told myself. Using a fork, (as I am not well versed in ChopSticka) it slid through and divided from the hog’s former mind with such graceful ease. I went to put it up to my mouth but it slid off, my group laughed. I didn’t, I was determined. Scooping it up again, I trained it to the tunnel and consumed. It felt as though jello and tofu had a love-child, the oils splurged and it broke down very easily. It tasted like mushy pork downed in olive oil. I ate a fair bit of it and I don’t regret a thing. Especially after being told the health benefits of it. They contain Omega-3 fatty acids and nutrients that aid and protect our brain and spinal cord from damage. Every day entailed a new array of foods, some I’d never seen, some I was familiar with. I tended to skim over the food that was more fried than friend and stick with the leaner meets as I needed my strength to be able to fight off my new students that were very keen on testing themselves. The facility was quite sufficient and the rounds were a lot of fun, my friends in China are quite fast and graceful with their movements, keeping me on my toes. The marketplace for food and goods was quite distinct from ours, less consumeristic and moreso regular people selling what they knew how, I found it more accessible and captivatingly indoctrinable. There’s something for everyone in China, authentic cuisine that could be opposed by many other parts of the world, but if you can’t handle the delicacies, there’s a Mcdonald’s down the road. Thanks for a wonderful experience and for treating me like family Kai. I hope to see you all soon so we can train and eat all the strange foods you’d only see in a dream.