{"id":17027,"date":"2022-04-14T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=17027"},"modified":"2022-04-13T17:37:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T21:37:54","slug":"eating-chinese-food-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/eating-chinese-food-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating Chinese Food in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now I’m traveling in Italy. Because Chinese people really like coming here, there’s a lot of Chinese food<\/strong>. (\u73b0\u5728\u6211\u5728\u610f\u5927\u5229\u65c5\u6e38\u3002\u56e0\u4e3a\u4e2d\u56fd\u4eba\u5f88\u559c\u6b22\u6765\u8fd9\u91cc\uff0c\u6240\u4ee5\u6709\u5f88\u591a\u4e2d\u56fd\u83dc\u3002 xi\u00e0nz\u00e0i w\u01d2 z\u00e0i y\u00ecd\u00e0l\u00ec l\u01day\u00f3u\u3002y\u012bn w\u00e9i zh\u014dnggu\u00f3 r\u00e9n h\u011bn x\u01d0hu\u0101n l\u00e1i zh\u00e8l\u01d0, su\u01d2y\u01d0 y\u01d2u h\u011bndu\u014d zh\u014dnggu\u00f3 c\u00e0i). In this post, I’ll tell you all about eating Chinese food in Italy while teaching some useful expressions.<\/p>\n

\"\"

When in Rome…
Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

When in Rome…<\/h2>\n

Surely you’re familiar with that old expression – “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Well, I just finished up a week in Rome<\/strong> (\u7f57\u9a6c lu\u00f3m\u01ce) and I definitely did my best to follow the local customs.<\/p>\n

I ate a lot of pasta and pizza, and also drank many espressos<\/strong> (\u6211\u5403\u4e86\u5f88\u591a\u610f\u5927\u5229\u9762\u548c\u62ab\u8428\uff0c\u4e5f\u559d\u4e86\u51e0\u4e2a\u6d53\u5496\u5561 w\u01d2 ch\u012ble h\u011bndu\u014d y\u00ecd\u00e0l\u00ec mi\u00e0n h\u00e9 p\u012bs\u00e0, y\u011b h\u0113le j\u01d0 g\u00e8 n\u00f3ng k\u0101f\u0113i).<\/p>\n

There’s a Chinese idiom with a similar meaning to “When in Rome,” but it says nothing of the Italian capital. It goes like this:<\/p>\n

\u5165\u4e61\u968f\u4fd7
\nr\u00f9 xi\u0101ng su\u00ed s\u00fa<\/h3>\n

If you translate this directly it basically means “when you enter a village, follow the local customs.” As you can see, it expresses the same meaning as the common English expression. There’s another way to say it in Chinese as well:<\/p>\n

\u8d70\u4e61\u968f\u4e61
\nz\u01d2u\u200b xi\u0101ng \u200bsu\u00ed \u200bxi\u0101ng\u200b<\/h3>\n

Ok now that you know this important Chinese idiom, let’s move along with the story…<\/p>\n

Finding Chinese Food in Italy<\/h2>\n

I love pizza and pasta and may have eaten my weight in both on this trip already. We are spending six weeks traveling around Europe<\/strong> (\u6b27\u6d32 \u014cuzh\u014du) and we’ve been eating local food for almost every meal.<\/p>\n

While it’s been great, once in a while I need some comfort food<\/strong> (\u8212\u9002\u7684\u98df\u7269 sh\u016bsh\u00ec de sh\u00edw\u00f9). Yes, I’m American, but my comfort food isn’t hamburgers<\/strong> (\u6c49\u5821\u5305 h\u00e0nb\u01ceob\u0101o) and hot dogs<\/strong> (\u70ed\u72d7 r\u00e8g\u01d2u). I get far more excited when I find a legit Chinese restaurant than I do when I see the golden arches.<\/p>\n

We had a few hours to kill upon arriving in Rome before we could check into our Airbnb. Looking at the map around the main train station<\/strong> (\u706b\u8f66\u7ad9 hu\u01d2ch\u0113 zh\u00e0n), I noticed many familiar Chinese characters<\/strong> (\u6c49\u5b57 h\u00e0nz\u00ec). By the way, have you read our post about the 100 most common Chinese characters<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"\"

Noodles and dumplings!
Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

I read some reviews and perused the menu of one particular restaurant. My eyes lit up when I saw some of my favorite dishes from my years in China: lamb kebabs, dumplings, and pulled beef noodles<\/strong> (\u7f8a\u8089\u4e32\u513f\uff0c\u997a\u5b50\uff0c\u548c\u725b\u8089\u62c9\u9762 y\u00e1ngr\u00f2u chu\u00e0n er, ji\u01ceozi, h\u00e9 ni\u00far\u00f2u l\u0101mi\u00e0n).<\/p>\n

It wasn’t quite as good as what I’d order at my favorite Lanzhou restaurant<\/a> in Beijing, but it was still delicious. They definitely cater more to the local tastebuds, just as Chinese restaurants do in the US.<\/p>\n

Italians don’t really like eating spicy food<\/strong> (\u610f\u5927\u5229\u4eba\u4e0d\u592a\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u8fa3\u7684 y\u00ecd\u00e0l\u00ec r\u00e9n b\u00f9 t\u00e0i x\u01d0hu\u0101n ch\u012b l\u00e0 de). We had to ask them for some chili sauce<\/strong> (\u8fa3\u6912\u9171 l\u00e0ji\u0101o ji\u00e0ng) to fix the noodles to our liking.<\/p>\n

Speaking of dumplings, you’re probably well aware of how much they mean to me. I even wrote a love letter to dumplings<\/a> on the blog one year. In Italy, they’re listed on the menu as ravioli<\/em>\u00a0cinesi<\/em>, or “Chinese ravioli.”<\/p>\n

I always thought we had Marco Polo<\/strong> (\u9a6c\u53ef\u6ce2\u7f57 m\u01cek\u011bb\u014dlu\u00f3) to thank for bringing the idea of dumplings from China to Italy, but apparently, that’s historically inaccurate. Check out this interesting article<\/a> for more about the history of dumplings.<\/p>\n

\"\"

We were so excited to find this place.
Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

Italian Jian Bing<\/em><\/h2>\n

Now back to my story about finding Chinese food here… We’re currently in Florence<\/strong> (\u4f5b\u7f57\u4f26\u8428 f\u00f3lu\u00f3l\u00fans\u00e0), which is a favorite of tourists<\/strong> (\u6e38\u5ba2 y\u00f3uk\u00e8) from China. Remember that Chinese expression we learned earlier? Well, it turns out a lot of people just want to eat what’s familiar. There are lots of Chinese restaurants here catering to tourists looking for a taste of home.<\/p>\n

Once again scouring the map, I was super excited to find a place called “Meet Chinese Pancake<\/strong>” (\u9047\u89c1\u714e\u997c y\u00f9ji\u00e0n ji\u0101nbing) just a 2-minute walk from our Airbnb. I used to eat a jian bing<\/em><\/a> at least 2-3 times a week when I worked as an English teacher in Beijing. In fact, one of my first videos on the YouTube channel was about just that:<\/p>\n