Former TV TOKYO announcer Miyu Iketani was amazed by “This is real Chinese food!

The other day on Instagram, I asked, “Anything you want to ask me!” and I asked the question, “Do you usually cook for yourself?” I would like to introduce a dish from the university cafeteria that shocked me.

Although you may have a strong image of Chinese food when you think of China, real Chinese food may be quite different from what you imagine. More specifically, there are many dishes in China that surprise Japanese people other than Chinese food.

I would like to introduce to you an ingredient that surprised me as a resident of Shizuoka Prefecture…

I was most surprised by this “Eel Doria”. It was a recommended menu item at the cafe on the first floor of the international student dormitory. As a native of Shizuoka, famous for its eels, I thought it was a sacrilege to eels!　But when I tried it, it was surprisingly delicious. The eel seasoned a little sweeter than Japanese kabayaki and the cheese salty and exquisite.

It is very important to try it!

The cafeteria at my school is a whopping three stories high!　I eat a hearty meal every day in a place full of charm.

Does three floors mean that there are dishes from all over the world?　There might be Japanese food, too!　I entered the restaurant expecting to find Chinese food on the first and second floors, and Halal food, which even Muslims can eat, on the third floor. Unfortunately, there was no Japanese food.

However, I was able to learn the depth of Chinese food at this diner.

I often use the first and second floors. I am particularly fond of the “hot and sour soup,” which I have heard is also popular in Japan these days. You choose your ingredients and specify the level of spiciness, and five minutes later, the vegetables, which were green before, come out with a nice crunchy texture and well soaked in the broth.

This is the first time I have seen very thick vermicelli in width in authentic hot bean sauce. It was about as thick as Japanese houtou and chiru-chiru. I love it because it makes me feel hungry and less guilty. It contains a lot of vegetables and vermicelli, and if I ate it in Japan, it would probably cost me about 1,000 yen, but at a university cafeteria in China, it costs only 240 yen. It is my favorite because it is easy on the wallet.

I have been in China for two and a half months and have become quite accustomed to it, but there are still two things that surprised me about Chinese university cafeterias.

One is that porridge comes in a drink container. I love carbohydrates so much that I almost collapse if I don’t eat them every day. Since I was little, carbohydrates have been a drink for me!　and they would instantly go into my stomach, but this was the first time I had ever seen them really treated as a drink.

The cafeteria always has about four kinds of congee, including black rice and yellow rice, and when you tell the staff what you want, they fill the cups side by side, put lids on the cups for drinks, and even provide you with straws. It is just like tapioca.

Incidentally, congee is also called “drink” in Chinese, not “eat. Strange.

I was puzzled at first, but now, for some reason, congee in a drink cup tastes better. It may be that it is a hassle to go to the trouble of transferring it to a plate and eating it, but I have come to feel that it is not enough if I don’t suck it in with a straw. Humans are strange, aren’t they?

The second thing that shocked me was the way the food was served. In Japanese school cafeterias, the set meal style is common, with rice and side dishes served separately, but in our school cafeteria, everything is served on top of rice.

The side dishes are piled on top of the rice so comfortably that when you reach the white rice, you feel a mysterious sense of accomplishment, as if you had found a treasure during a treasure hunt (laughs). (Laughs.) I was surprised at first, but some dishes taste better when mixed together than when eaten separately.

In addition to the cafeteria, there is a privately owned store on campus that sells not only steamed buns but also dabing, a Chinese-style naan made of thinly spread flour with many ingredients sandwiched between. The dabin is very tasty, but by the time you finish it, you will be about 12 portions full because of the thick egg omelet, a large amount of noodles, cucumbers, and gi pi inside.

Popcorn and cake are sometimes given out for free in the college cafeteria. On the 60th anniversary of the school, there was a huge cake that was many meters long, and students lined up to take their turn at getting it. it was so popular that some kids went around two or three times.

Yes, basically, our cafeteria is very large and cheap. In the beginning, I felt sorry that I couldn’t eat enough, but in no time my stomach grew to the size of China’s. At first I was full of 13 dumplings, but now I can gobble them down. Now I can gobble them down.

Since I eat a lot, I try to exercise. Many Chinese students exercise at night, so I go out to the playground every evening and walk at least 8,000 steps. So my weight has not changed. Probably.

However, this time of year, at night, the lowest temperature is usually around minus 5 degrees Celsius. I am not sure how long I will be able to continue this since it is expected to get as cold as minus 10 degrees Celsius in the future.

I will do my best to eat as much as I can at …… so that everyone will not be surprised when I return to Japan!

The paid version of “FRIDAY GOLD” carries the first three installments of “Female Graduate Student Miyu Iketani’s ‘Unusual Study Abroad in Japan'”. We will deliver her unusual and real voice, including her reasons for studying abroad in China and the friends she made in China.