Originally Posted by
anacapamalibu
There are a lot of great dishes to enjoy in Beijing:
Pig's ear
Chicken feet
Cow's stomach
Cow's lung
Pickled loach
Black fungus
Thousand year old egg
Duck head
Duck tongue
Pig brain
Pig blood - related forms
and quite a few more....
This is pretty much standard fare. Not the truely bizarre.. cat, dog, donkey,snake, etc.
Best to have a knowledgeable host, flowing supply of good beer (not Yanjing),
decent baijiu, and a no smoke environment.
I've not had pickled loach (what is that?) and only sheep's brains, but the rest are pretty tasty if done well. And have eaten most outside of China -- so not a uniquely chinese thing imo. Most regional cuisines around the world used the whole animal, but in the latter half of twentieth century, westerners turned their nose up at 'awful offal'.
tb