Attending a Chinese Banquet (Vegetarians Need Not Apply)

It's been a crazy week. I've got a lot of postings to catch up on. Let's start with the most recent event: a traditional Chinese banquet that I attended last night.

This sort of banquet is held for many special events, but in this case it was to celebrate the first month of a baby's life (so it's called a full-moon banquet). Andy had to work, so I went alone and without much idea of what to expect. I had a fabulous time -- the only thing I wish I had been warned about was the quantity of food that would be served. You need to prepare for a food marathon such as this!

I arrived at the banquet room about two hours late, only to find that I was the first guest to arrive. I'm guessing that since the event was held on a weeknight, no one could get out of the office in time. Mah-jong tables were set up at the side of the room, but no one played and they were eventually taken over by the waiters for the dinner service. My host gave me tea, then introduced me to his mother, who was sitting at the head table with several photo albums of her large family. She was taking English classes and delighted me with explanations of every person in her albums.

The room was decorated like a typical Western wedding reception, except for one wall that was draped with light gold-colored cloth and swags of red beads. Pinned to the cloth were red and gold signs announcing that this was the family's baby banquet. This wall served as a stage for the speeches and the games, as well as a backdrop for the many photos that were taken of each guest with the baby and various family members.

I did have the foresight to ask someone about what gift to bring, and learned that a lai see packet never goes wrong in this case. Lai see is a small red envelope for holding money to give as a gift, sort of like those specialized gift cards in the U.S. used for presenting checks. Normally they have festive decorations on them, but because I bought my lai see from Muji, they are plain:

Before dinner was served, the cake was photographed with the proud parents and the baby, then cut up and served to the early arrivals along with tea or wine. Excellent, I thought, dessert is the first course -- how civilized! But this was just the warm-up to the rest of the evening.

Guests began pouring in closer to the dinner hour of 8 p.m. I was seated at a table with other English speakers, so they were able to tell me what I was eating -- although as you'll see in the following pictures, many of the dishes needed no translation.

First up is a plate of hard-boiled eggs wrapped in red cellophane, served with pickled ginger. I read that red eggs symbolize new life, and ginger is part of a new mother's traditional postpartum diet:

Now begins the series of dishes that will have vegetarians getting queasy. Behold one of the best things I've eaten in Hong Kong, roast baby pig. Yes, that's the head:

After I recovered from my amazement at the first bite, I had two conscious thoughts, as follows:

1. Why oh why oh why do Americans take the skin off pork?? It's delicious. It's apparently where most of the flavor is. Crispy and chewy and dipped into one of the sauces served along with it, it's a revelation.

2. I gave thanks to all the gods that I am not a vegetarian. Because in a banquet like this, meats make up the bulk of the dinner, with rice and noodles served as one of the last courses. Furthermore, all the dishes are served family-style, so it's not like you can order something separately or pick at a buffet. I don't know what you would do if you are vegetarian and get invited to a banquet. If you are a militant vegetarian, I wish you luck in taking on 5,000 years of Chinese culture and cuisine.

(As an aside, vegetarians can survive here in Hong Kong. There are Buddhist restaurants and temples serving vegetarian food. Or you can go to one of the many Indian restaurants. I am not sure there is a place here for vegans, raw foodists, and the like.)

OK, I should have restrained myself on the pork, because NINE other courses were to follow.

Next: steamed egg white with prawns. This would make excellent comfort food, as it's creamy, soothing, and delicate:

Scallops and squid stir-fried with sugar snap peas, lotus root, and mushrooms. The sauce was very light, barely discernible:

No one at my table had seen this next dish before. It was a plate of tempura shells, each filled with five tiny steamed dumplings in different colors. Mayonnaise is the accompaniment:

I had a feeling that many guests were eagerly anticipating this next course, the shark's fin soup. The red drops on top is vinegar, which is said to bring out the flavor. I didn't think this had too much flavor, though. It's more of a texture than a flavor, slightly fibrous and gelatinous. The broth itself reminded me a little of hot-and-sour soup.

I was starting to feel painfully stuffed when the whole steamed fish was placed on the table, dressed with shredded scallion and a flavorful, light brown sauce. The other guests at my table offered me the fish's cheek, which they said was the tastiest part. It was indeed very tasty, and surprisingly meaty.

Somewhere during this course, the entire family (parents with baby, grandparents, uncles and aunts, etc.) came over to our table to drink a toast with us. As I lurched to my feet to clink glasses with everyone, I realized I should have loosened my belt a bit before sitting down to dinner.

Now for the course that gets me admission into the Food Adventure Club, at least for Americans: Duck's feet with scallops and Chinese vegetables.


How do you eat duck's feet? It's quite slippery from the sauce, and certainly too big to eat all at once. I had a lot of trouble even picking it up with my chopsticks. At first I managed to only nibble at the... toes, I guess that's what you'd call it. Then I caught on to the method, which is to bite off one small bone at a time, through each joint, and scrape off the meat with your teeth. Eject bone onto a small side plate. Repeat.

There's not much actual meat on the bones, and the webbing is just sort of flabby. I don't think duck's feet have much flavor on their own. The flavors seem to have come from the sauce and the vegetables, which were of course delicious.

At last, the final meat course, whole roasted chicken:

This dish also came with crispy skin. My commentary here duplicates what I said about roast pork, above.

By this point, I was nearly paralyzed from eating so much. Now comes the fried rice and noodles, which I forgot to take a picture of, but they are like anything you'd find in a Chinese restaurant.

At last, the finish line appears: dessert. There were trays of sliced watermelon and cantaloupe, and this warm red bean soup with interesting citrus notes:

Throughout the night, the family gave speeches in Cantonese and English. Everyone also particpated in games, such as a baby-diapering contest (or nappies, as they call them here). Quizzes were also distributed, using loud, enthusiastic games of rock-paper-scissors as the tie-breaking method. The party ended immediately after dessert.

I felt honored to be invited, and to welcome my friends' baby in style. I also felt VERY full, and still do! No need for breakfast this morning. If I ever get a chance to go to a banquet again (and I hope I do), I'll know what I need to do to get ready -- fast for a few days before the event!