Shanghai's Famous Dumplings

I'm standing in a line of about thirty people. It moves relatively fast - about seven people to every cloud of steam that escapes the open windows. The smell this cloud releases is torturous. We're waiting for food.I've yet to write about the food of China. And - as you can imagine - food's on my mind at the moment, so now seems to be a perfect opportunity. I must begin by saying that with the exception of sweet and sour chicken no meal I've consumed in China has even remotely resembled anything we in America call "Chinese" food. It's all been much, much better.

The first meal was one of the best. Met two American girls while checking-in in Chengdu. They were in China studying Chinese and happened to be on their way to dinner. They ordered while I sat still groggy from the flight and watched cups of tea, bowls of rice, and steaming dishes issue forth from the kitchen.Pick up your rice bowl and spin the Lazy Susan to claim your selection. Greens in a tangy sauce, corn, chicken with chili and peanuts, tofu in spicy gravy, sauteed eggplant and green beans - all have passed from my rice bowl to my chopsticks to my mouth with great satisfaction. But restaurant dining is but a small portion of the Chinese school of cuisine. I prefer food served on the street.

I hold this preference for several reasons. First, restaurants for a single, non-Mandarin speaker can be rather awkward. I have "ordered" multiple times by taking a waiter around the restaurant and pointing at whosever's dish looks most appealing. A street cart eliminates this awkwardness. They only serve one or two things, and pointing is the standard ordering practice. Also, you watch them make whatever it is that you're about to eat - which is fun in and of itself - and sometimes you can get them to leave out ingredients that you're pretty sure you could do without. Favorite purchases have been: the spicy meat kabobs of Sichuan; noodles with greens in a sweet and sour soy sauce; and the fried duck egg pancake with red chili. Another bonus to street food is that I've yet to purchase anything that costs more than a dollar.

But now I'm in line to sample xiaolongboa, Shanghai's famous dumpling. Wait - I'm up. 12 yuan (7 yuan = 1 dollar) for one bamboo steamer full. Oh - they're hot. Wow, but good! They're small and stuffed with meat and you dip them - they're still slippery, so it's though with chopsticks - in a tangy brown sauce. Mmmmmmm. Alright, I'll catch you later. These dumplings need my full attention.