/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Residents have offered their homes to strangers who couldn’t find hotels. After some social media users joked that they wanted eye candy with their barbecue, officials organized a “180 group” — men taller than 180 centimeters, or 5 feet 11 inches, and wearing suits — to greet train station arrivals.
At the station during the May 1 holiday, there were no suited men in sight. But there were plenty of other cheery greeters, handing out water bottles, sunscreen, watermelon (grown in a Zibo suburb), mouthwash (for after barbecue), even flasks of local liquor.
“Welcome, out-of-town visitors! I hope you have fun!” a woman shouted as she pressed pumpkin-flavored crackers into arrivals’ hands, many of which were already overflowing with freebies.

For many visitors, the crazy crowds are the point, after China’s prolonged Covid lockdowns. At one of the most popular barbecue restaurants, where hundreds of diners perched on tiny folding stools around outdoor grills, officials had designated an elevated viewing platform just for tourists to watch the people below eat, through a cloud of cumin-scented smoke.
Li Yang, a local, snagged a table around 6 p.m., after having lined up at 3 a.m. His commute to his job at a steel company was now clogged with traffic. But he didn’t mind.
“To see all this liveliness, after three years of the pandemic, my heart feels pretty warm,” he shouted, over the sounds of maracas shaken by four men, seemingly unaffiliated with the restaurant, who were gallivanting between tables serenading diners.

Several tables away, Bai Lingbin, 25, was already digging in, having waited since midnight. His grill, shared with four other men, was piled with toothpick-thin skewers laced with crispy pork skin, sweet potatoes and wraps.
Mr. Bai, who had traveled from Anhui Province, was frank: He prefers the barbecue in northeastern China, another famous grilling region. But, he declared as he raised a beer to his table mates, whom he’d met in line: “The atmosphere here is the best.”
Still, some locals secretly profess a desire to see their hometown’s sudden fame ebb, at least a little.
Staff at barbecue restaurants said they were sleeping only a few hours each night. Residents who used to buy groceries at the suddenly popular vegetable market — where there is now nary a vegetable in sight, as snack and souvenir vendors have piled in — must find their produce elsewhere.

There was intense pressure to keep customers happy, though, because the government was determined to maintain Zibo’s streak, said Wang Jiuyuan, the manager of a barbecue spot a 30-minute drive from the city center, yet still overrun. Mr. Wang had pasted posters at every table, asking customers for patience because many waiters spoke only the local dialect.

“We’re afraid of having a complaint filed against us, because as long as it’s an out-of-town customer, the government will accept it, whether it’s reasonable or not,” Mr. Wang said, adding that the restaurant had been scolded after a customer complained about not being seated.

Some online have worried that the pressure on locals to be accommodating has gone too far, especially after a viral video showed one restaurant owner kneeling to ask forgiveness from a customer upset by long lines.

Last month, even the Zibo government seemed to pull back, urging people to visit other nearby cities, because it was overwhelmed.

Down a quiet road on the outskirts of the city, workers in aging factories were kneading handmade sesame crisps, a local delicacy that had also seen a boost in orders as tourists poured in, said Gao Juan, a factory owner.
Ms. Gao had considered pivoting to making the barbecue wraps, which were in even higher demand. Vendors of those wraps were already taking orders for August.
But the machines for making those wraps were sold out. Ms. Gao was willing to take a long view about whether the craze would last.

>chinksects

>>19296708
sounds neat. one of everything prease.

Seeing stuff like this makes me glad i live at the end of a lonely dead end road in the middle of nowhere

>>19296743
ywnba(lone)

>>19296710
>Li Yang, a local, snagged a table around 6 p.m., after having lined up at 3 a.m
That better be some good fucking bbq

>>19296759
>today special chicken feet, duck tongue, and cow anus

>>19296708
>ust to be in giant crowds and not be alone and be outside without wearing a mask
Can't you just walk in any Chinese city and be in a huge mob?

>>19296759
it is

>>19296781
i could make better stuff at home

>>19296781
>Mr. Bai, who had traveled from Anhui Province, was frank: He prefers the barbecue in northeastern China
Nope, even Mr Bai says it ain't that good

>>19296708
>they take trains and buses hours and sometimes days to visit an industrial town with many cheap bbq meat vendors
A many days long journey wearing adult diapers just to wait for 13 hours in line so you can buy slightly cheaper average bbq meat? Why are Chinese like this?

>>19296835
They're heard animals. They noticed a few converging on one place in a group and the rest followed.

>>19296708
how is this any different from an ordinary food festival or oktoberfest?

>>19296835
i assume the trains and buses have restrooms

>>19296708
>>19296710
>>19296713
>>19296715

>>19296880
nah

>>19296708
I traveled to China for a few weeks pre-Covid and it was amazing. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly despite the significant hurdle of a language barrier. It's very rare to find anyone in China who speaks even a little bit of English, even the young people, but fortunately I had a guide to help me. The food was incredible, it put even the best authentic Chinese restaurants I've been to in America to shame.

It never ceases to amaze and sadden me how brainwashed the west, specifically my fellow Americans, are towards China. Even some of my closest friends and family members have this bizarre bloodthirsty hatred towards China for seemingly no reason other than because the guy on the TV told them China bad. Obviously there are things China is doing that are horrible, like putting Uyghurs in camps and sterilizing their women, but that's the Chinese government. There are things the American government has done that are horrible, like orchestrating the largest terrorist attack in history, killing over 3,000 of their own citizens in order to justify a meaningless war. The average Chinese citizen is a totally normal person just trying to live their own life, no different from you and I. I wish more people could see through the blatant propaganda both our governments churn out to keep us at each others throats.

>>19296912
Fuck off Huang I work with 3 Chinese at work every day and they're the most fucking annoying and infuriating people I know.

>>19296896
that's highly doubtful
>>19296912
CCP has entered the chat

>>19296926
>>19296966
Hopefully you guys are trolling, but this is exactly what I'm talking about
>say anything positive about China
>CCP SHILL CCP SHILL CHANG CHANG CHANG
I don't know how you can "think" (that's a strong word) like this and not realize you've been brainwashed and programmed by propaganda. Pavlovian shit.

>>19296966
I went there in 2015 and I agree with his general consensus. It was a very odd place, but for the most part the people are nice. I'm afraid it's gotten a lot worse since then because we're now in a cold war and the propaganda machine is churning at max speed on both sides.

Their government is a piece of shit though. The ones I met that I befriended even openly admitted it. The best way I can explain it is that it's full of contradictions. The place is clean, but dirty, the food is good, but some of it is too odd to even begin, the people are kind, yet can cheat you very easily. Everything that you say is good about it, there's an example of the exact opposite and vice versa. It's an oddity out of all the countries I've been to. Best thing I ate there was beijing duck at a really pricey (at least for china) restaurant in beijing. It was probably the best thing I've ever put into my mouth, and I have tried in vain to find anything close to how good it was here.

>>19296710
>eye candy with their barbecue, officials organized a “180 group” — men taller than 180 centimeters, or 5 feet 11 inches,
Grim for manlets

>>19296912
>>19296985
Yes, me too, John Winchester from the village of Washington agree with this completely organic posts.

>>19296985
It's a very deceitful country. Face and appearances are very important there. That's why it's so clean and yet dirty, and why people are so nice but will so easily cheat you. Outward appearance, pleasantries, and surface level politeness and tone are of the highest value. You can be an enormous piece of shit as long as you aren't rude about it. If you're wronged of mistreated the worst thing you can do is be outwardly indignant about it despite it being justified. To do something that incurs valid complaints is fine, to make those complaints is not. They're the most superficial people I know.

>>19297009

>>19297020
Damn so it's like the Midwest alright

>>19296708
>Zibo, a once-obscure chemical manufacturing city in Shandong Province, has suddenly strangely
It's not strange desu.

You promise me chunky, tasty meat on a stick and I'll suck your dick on chernobyl's roof to get a taste.
Meet me on some level in hell suckin' on a lean, meaty skewer eternally.

dgaf aboit 'vid, the rona, muh social contact or whatever
offer me a big tasty stick of lean, tasty meat and I'll be there

>>19297040
you've never been here
t.midwesterner

>>19297076
>Why did I see gayfers on the roof?

>>19297080
Have you ever spent time near suburban churchgoers

>>19296708
they sure love white t-shirts

>>19296743
Where do you live

>>19297193
Ah yes, your southern transplants

Meanwhile I still know people in Canada who are Covid paranoid, wear masks everywhere even if they are alone, order all their food and necessities online, don't socialize anymore and spend all day on Twitter filling up bullshit hashtags like #CovidIsAirborne. It's amusing when they finally get it and have a meltdown on the internet and act like the world is against them. Then they spend the next few days living in sheer terror because they still think they're going to die or get fucked up for life, constantly testing themselves, crying on the internet and then they get better and continue on living in fear.

The rest of us are enjoying barbecue.

implessive
this post made me realize that china is not weak, but is actually very strong

>>19297193
Yes, I grew up southern baptist.
They are more than happy to point out all your flaws. The facade of politeness is less important than your eternal soul, and they're *very* concerned with that.

>>19296868
its not supposed to be.
>>19296966
China isnt what you hear about in western news. Also, i dont know much about north korea, but i highly doubt its tgat bad too. when a country is homogenous, there isnt need to fuck your citizens.

>>19296985
You just described the usa too. At this point, you can only have a good insult for China, when china cant use the same insult back. I think when the major cities in usa are full of crime, homeless, litter and other subhumans, usa cant say anything. Show me the USA streetwalk 4k vids and show me the China streetwalk 4k vids. I think China wins.

>>19296708
Wonder how many crazy chinks I could have fed in my lifetime?

I thought Chinese hated lamb because of the smell?

>>19296708
On one hand it's kinda cute that they're so eager to go out for bbq gathering after being in isolation for so long. On the other hand spending god knows how long waiting for it instead of finding something local is fucked.

>>19296750
thanks

>>19298017
wtf? Chinese eat a lot lamb, esp the more rural and mongrel ones.

>>19296912
>specifically my fellow Americans
ok chang

>>19296999
Manletbros...

>>19296912
>Chang hands typed this
China is sole purveyor of terrorism and anti-west sentiment. We are diametrically opposed. Taiwan is not China, Uighirs are not Chinese. You Wil be destroyed at all costs.

>>19298259
>China is sole purveyor of terrorism and anti-west sentiment.
clearly not lol. China doesnt give a fuck about usa. read their local and state news. (im not kidding) if you are american, you have no idea how ignorant and how pathetic americans are becoming. its almost like the west is being dismantled and turning into the west 2.0

>>19298259
>China is sole purveyor of terrorism and anti-west sentiment
wtf i love china now

>>19298321
Russia is obviously a failed state but the US war department has a 80 year history of increasing budget spending every year by 15%. You cannot convince the American people and politicians to increase defense spending by pointing at Russia but you can if you make China seem like a reasonable threat by making them seem like the next boogeyman. It's just the next cold war is all, no one will really follow through with their threats.

>>19296912
>The average Chinese citizen is a totally normal person just trying to live their own life, no different from you and I.

>>19298247
idk thats what my dad told me

>>19298259
>Uighirs are not Chinese
China knows. That's why they're being exterminated.

>>19297812
>Also, i dont know much about north korea, but i highly doubt its tgat bad too. when a country is homogenous, there isnt need to fuck your citizens.

Their best soldiers are literally a foot shorter than Worst Korea's because of malnutrition, while Kim is so fat he can barely walk.

>>19298410
based