Chinese snacks and dishes are a long-standing tradition, but how can we introduce Chinese eating culture and express it in English? While many people like to use pinyin to express it, foreigners who have not tried Chinese snacks will certainly not understand. As a self-proclaimed foodie, every time I am with foreigners, I always take them to eat non-stop. I wonder if the English expressions for Chinese snacks are accurate enough. Here are some suggestions, and please feel free to add more if anything is missing!
烧饼 Clay oven rolls 油条 Fried bread stick 水饺 Boiled dumplings 馒头 Steamed buns 饭团 Rice and vegetable roll 皮蛋 Century egg 咸鸭蛋 Salted duck egg 豆浆 Soybean milk
Rice Dishes: 稀饭 Rice porridge 白饭 Plain white rice 糯米饭 Glutinous rice 蛋炒饭 Fried rice with egg
Noodle Dishes: 刀削面 Sliced noodles 麻辣面 Spicy hot noodles 乌龙面 Seafood noodles 板条 Flat noodles 榨菜肉丝面 Pork and pickled mustard green noodles 米粉 Rice noodles
Soup Dishes: 紫菜汤 Seaweed soup 牡蛎汤 Oyster soup 蛋花汤 Egg and vegetable soup 鱼丸汤 Fish ball soup
Dim Sum: 臭豆腐 Stinky tofu (smelly tofu) 油豆腐 Oily bean curd 虾球 Shrimp balls 春卷 Spring rolls 蛋卷 Chicken rolls 肉丸 Rice-meat dumplings 火锅 Hot pot
Setting the silver doesn’t require a road map. Place the pieces in the order they’ll be used, working from the outside in. Here’s how the items shown are traditionally used: