BEIJING, China (Friday, Dec. 5, 2008, 7:50 p.m.) – The aroma of fresh, grilled, minced onion and sweet pepper filled the air as it cooked sitting atop a 12-inch round paper-thin pancake.
A young woman, a mask across her face, gently used a wooden stick to fold the pancake on top of the onion, sweet pepper and a piece of flat, deep-fried dough – creating a square, piping-hot, inexpensive meal.
It was lunchtime in Beijing and a steady line of customers snaked down the aisle at one of the city’s three Wal-Mart SuperCenters waiting to buy what our tour guide later described as a traditional breakfast sandwich.
Pam was at the head of the line, eager for us to try our first taste of Beijing street cuisine – even though we bought it from inside Wal-Mart as opposed to the streets of Beijing.
Either way, for us, it was as authentic and adventurous as we were willing to get. Every bite we took was well worth the 3.8 yuan, or about 63 cents, we paid.
And it highlighted our late morning trip to Wal-Mart – yes, we finally found one of the Beijing’s three stores, spending close to two hours leisurely shopping for a few drinks and snacks.
Heading to Wal-Mart
When Pam and I were last in Beijing in late March and early April 2006, we spent hours at a Wal-Mart SuperCenter browsing and buying some personal items. On Friday, we visited a different supercenter in a different part of town.
The Wal-Mart visit came one day after a different taxi driver dropped us off at another store called Carrefour. This time, though, we braved a 15-minute, $3 taxi ride that zipped in-and-out of dangerous, traffic-clogged streets in Beijing.
The rules of the road in Beijing are simple: There are none. Traffic is bumper-to-bumper in this city of more than 17 million. And taxi drivers go where they want when they want without regard to driving lanes, other vehicles or even bicyclists.
But I digress. Riding in taxis through the severely congested streets of Beijing is a unique and sometimes frightening experience probably worth a separate post that I may or may not write before we leave.
I want to talk about our Wal-Mart experience.
This Wal-Mart is about the size of a normal American supercenter – including the one in Madison near out home – with about half of the retail space dedicated to general merchandise and clothing and rest centered on groceries.
Making an impact
As Pam looked through baby items trying to decide if we should buy any clothes or a coat for our son, I leaned against a table and thought about how much our American culture has influenced lives overseas.
Everywhere I turned I saw American brand-name products with Chinese characters on the packaging: Colgate toothpaste (packaged in a gift set with a glass tea cup and saucer), Lays potato chips (in several different flavors unavailable in the states), Oreo cookies, Wrigley gum.
And, of course, Coca-Cola.
Coke is the real thing – but only in places like China and Mexico where local bottlers make their drinks with real sugar rather than corn syrup. You haven’t tasted a Coke until you’ve tasted those.
And then there’s the beer. Among the rows of Chinese beer like Tsingtao are six-packs of imported Budweiser. I don’t drink much, but I found it bit amusing to see Bud with Chinese characters under the English name.
I even felt right at home when I went to pay for our basket of Coke, chips and a few other things. Wal-Mart had 60 separate check-out lines, but cashiers manned far fewer.
Savoring every bite
Before Pam and I paid for our items, we took one more swing past the meat counter and gazed at bags of fresh roasted duck, roasted chicken, other foods and – then – the breakfast sandwich being made fresh before our eyes.
We watched the young woman lift a ladle of pancake batter, pour it on top of a 12-inch round grill, spread the batter paper thin, coat the top side with raw egg, gently and perfectly flip it over so the egg rested on the grill.
She then brushed on a thin layer of hot, spicy seasoning, added the minced onions and green peppers and topped it with the flat piece of fried dough. Then she lifted the edges and formed a perfect square.
She looked at both of us and then took her spatula and split the sandwich in half – one for Pam and the other for me. One bite and it was incredible. Simple, tasty, spicy and great.
We hope to return here, if possible, on Sunday.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
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