Art of Eating

People are talking and laughing. Smoke is emerging from the pot and mingling with the air, making the entire space feel slightly unreal, like heaven. It is Spring Festival in China. My family always gather together on that day. By coincidence or by purpose, we often choose to eat hot pot, probably due to the atmosphere of reunion it brings. Round tables seem to be peculiar creators of feelings of family and intimacy.

It is the hardest and longest time in the world when you can sense its delicious taste by smelling it but you have to wait for it to boil. The sounds of bubbling are the most beautiful melody. I like to eat spicy food whereas some of my family members prefer milder one. Therefore, to satisfy everyone, we order one called Yuan Yang pot, which has plain soup on one side and spicy soup on the other side. Yuan Yang is a kind of bird, probably only found in China, often used as a symbol of deep affections. Yuan Yang couples always stay with each other; if one dies, the other will die shortly. The reason that the pot is named as Yuan Yang is because the white soup (plain) and the red soup (spicy) stay connect to each other and complement to each other, just like Yuan Yang birds. Other than the pot, we order A LOT OF dishes of raw food. When we are waiting for the pot to boil, I go to the section where people can make their own sauces. Out of curiosity, I put a little bit of every sauce to my dish, except for the ones that I obviously dislike: garlics and gingers. By the time I come back, the pot is boiling and some dishes has already come. For some reason, meat is always the first performer on the stage of hot pot while vegetable is the last. In between, it does not matter; we can put whatever we want. We divide every dish equally so that both pro- white and pro-red sides can enjoy. It is such a enjoyment to have all kinds of flavors, different but harmonious together, dominate my mouth. However, there are some “dangerous zones” for hot pots. Never boil quail eggs for too long, they will break into invisible powders. So do potatoes. Vegetables cannot go into the spicy soup, or it will be disastrously spicy and oily.

Sometimes I feel it is an art to eat hot pot. One has to master the different timings and tricks for different food in order to get the best taste of them, just like a painter has to use appropriate colors for each part of the painting.