And when the going gets really tough...head for the streets

Street food is another Chinese cheap eat essential and if you're ever hungry, you're never far away from a greasy street vendor. It usually involves carbs and some degree of deep frying, as well as the eating-on-the-move manoeuvre which is usually very messy and unflattering. But it tastes good. At first I was a little nervous about eating street food. I was never entirely sure what anything was and with my limited Chinese I was never able to find out. Then there was always the health and safety issue, which you must always be aware of. You have to know which places are good and look clean, and not take any chances if you're uncertain. The vendors that usually have a fixed stand or stall are usually better than those who just roam around with their push carts, as are the ones that are a little more expensive. Get past those issues however, and street food can be a great way to eat and a good way to get involved in Chinese culture. In the morning on my way to work, people crowd around big bamboo steamers waiting for their morning bao zi fix, a steamed bread filled with lightly spiced meatballs or vegetable greens. The vendor opens them up and clouds of steam rise up, filling the air with tempting aromas. Elsewhere a vendor is turning a giant frying pan full of dumplings, which disappear in seconds to hungry customers. My favourite snack of the moment is a eggy pancake not dissimilar to an omelette. It costs about 1 yuan (10p) and is a cheap, and a less messy lunch. Then there's always the self explanatory 'meat on a stick', a popular after drinking indulgence, which in the more touristy places branches out into scorpion on a stick, starfish on a stick or squid tentacles on a stick, which I have yet to try.




This Sunday we went to a food street called Wujiang Lu, just behind the Marks & Spencer's and one of the biggest shopping streets in Shanghai, Nanjing West Road. Typically that great Chinese steamroller of progress will be bulldozing it all down next month to make way for yet more metro stations, western shopping malls and five star hotels. The street was packed with people slurping on smoothies, nibbling chicken wings, noodles and dumplings. We ate at Yang's Fry Dumplings, an institution in Shanghai which is famous for its shengjian mantou, a pan fried, sesame studded bun filled with a pork and sage meatball. We finally reached the front of a 10-minute long queue to be served, and I watched the whole dumpling making process unfold in front of me. I watched as a neat, efficient production line churned the dumplings in seconds, from the man who tore the dough, to the woman who filled them; to the man who fried them to the woman who served them. Biting into them released a burst of hot, soupy liquid followed by a nicely seasoned, flavoursome meatball and a slightly crunchy bun. Delicious.

Street food at its best.