Unique Food of Donghuamen Night Market

Whenever I visit another country I always make it a point to try out their local food. At Donghuamen Night Market, you get your chance to try out some of the unique food of Beijing. When one thinks of Chinese snacks, one would think of dumplings and noodles. However, there is more to Chinese snacks than these, with thousands of years of experience, they probably have the most diverse and interesting cuisine on earth.

Walking down the Donghuamen Night Market, you will be met with a bewlidering array for snacks, both the normal ones and not so normal ones. Donghuamen Night Market is one of the places to try out the more unique food that Beijing has to offer. You can also treat it as a test of courage if you will. Having been exposed to Chinese food since I was young, I am pretty much immune to most shock foods. However, I wasn’t really prepared for what they have on offer.

Some stores label their food in case you still don’t know what you are eating. One stall had sea urchin on display complete with spikes and all. I didn’t see anyone eating that but I assume that the spikes aren’t part of the meal. A close relative of the sea urchin is the starfish and this too was also on offer. I never knew that these were even edible. They probably barbeque these much like everything else here. I didn’t have the nerve to try them nor did I see anyone else try them. One of the more bizzare food on display was sheep penis all stretched out. The Chinese had a saying that goes something like “You are what you eat.” meaning if you want to get the attributes of an animal you just eat the body part of that animal. I would leave the rest to your imagination.

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