5 Weirdest and Most Unique Chinese Dishes

Chinese pride themselves on eating a wide range of foods, and Chinese cuisine often has an interesting history. This article lists five unique Chinese foods, which you can taste when traveling in China.

1. Beggar's Chicken (叫花鸡 Jiào huā jī)
   
   If you are planning to travel to Hangzhou, Beggar's Chicken is a highly recommended dish.
   Features: It is a typical dish eaten in East China's Zhejiang province like Hangzhou, with savory aroma and tender chicken meat. The chicken is served on a lotus leaf, and tastes fresher and less greasy.
   Origin: Once upon a time, a beggar arrived at a village of Changshu Prefecture, Hangzhou. He had a chicken, and wanted to cook it. He had nothing but a knife. He solved his difficulty by slaughtering and gutting the chicken, wrapping the chicken with yellow mud, and roasting the potato-like chicken. When he peeled off the dry mud, the chicken's feathers were also taken off.
   Though the modern cooking of Beggar's Chicken is largely identical to the beggar’s, it has been improved a lot, being much cleaner, more technical, and healthier.

2. Bamboo Rice (竹筒饭 Zhú tǒng fàn)
   
   Bamboo rice is always cooked with rice and pork, which are cooked in a section of fresh green bamboo till the bamboo is seared. This food is delicious with the fresh fragrance of bamboo.

3. Preserved Egg (皮蛋 Pí dàn)
   
   Shiny dark grey or black with s snowflake pattern, this unique egg product was created by Chinese people in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
   Ways to eat: Many traditional Chinese restaurants serve dishes made with preserved eggs. Soup cooked with preserved eggs and mustard leaves, minced pork congee with preserved egg , and preserved eggs with tofu are the most popular ways of eating preserved eggs.

4. Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐 Chòu dòu fu)
   
   Stinky tofu, or strong-smelling preserved tofu, is really smelly, with an "ugly" appearance. However, once you have tried it, you should enjoy its taste. The stinky tofu in Changsha is the most famous type, with crispy skin and a fresh and spicy taste.
   Changsha’s stinky tofu enjoys the most fame in China, followed by that of Nanjing and Shaoxing. The production and tastes of the stinky tofu in these three cities are quite different, but they share a common point: smelling bad but tasting nice. Stinky tofu has become a popular street snack throughout China.

5. Fried Bee Pupae (油炸蜂蛹 Yóu zhá fēng yǒng)
   
   Bee pupae are rich in nutrition with high protein and low fat, and are used as an ingredient for cooking dishes in Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang Ancient Town, Southeast Guizhou, and Yunnan province.
   The most common way to eat bee pupae is to fry them golden. There are many other ways of eating bee pupae, such as steamed bee pupa, stir-fried bee pupa, crispy bee pupa cake, and cold fried bee pupa in sauce.