Recently I have the chance to participate in the Orientation at my workplace, which refreshed my memory and helped me to write about this topic.
I came to Adelaide as an international student 6 years ago, and this is the first foreign city I’ve ever been to. That’s why I have SHARP senses to pick up some differences fairly easily. I’d like to use the word 'fascinating' rather than 'challenging' to describe my first month in Adelaide. So, what are these differences? Let’s lift the veil 😛
Food
1. Simple
In China, we say,
Food is the first necessity of a man.
Therefore, Chinese people spend a lot of time cooking food, while here people live much more simply.
For breakfast, 4 most popular choices are:
Cereal
Bread with peanut butter or vegemite
Vegemite is an Australian spread, which is made from leftover brewer’s yeast, salt, malt and vegetable extract. It’s worth trying 😉 But just put a tiny bit, because it has a very strong salty flavour.
Yogurt with muesli
Yogurt here is much thicker than the one in China, so people EAT yogurt instead of drinking it.
One thing in common among these first three is the preparation time: 1 minute. I fell in love with peanut butter through exploration, and I can even eat the crunchy one on its own! Crazy me 😋
Whereas, in China, our breakfast is much more diverse and complicated. Steamed buns, dumplings, porridge, noodles, savoury pancakes and so much more. Hence I really missed Chinese breakfast in my first few months here 😭
For lunch, a sandwich becomes the main character 😀 What are the fillings? The most common one is bacon/ham, lettuce, tomato and/or cheese. Finally, dinner’s turn, it is the only main meal for a day. However, despite that, it contains one dish only.
What about China? Lunch and dinner are of equal importance. For a family of three, usually three to four dishes. That’s why when my first local friend came to my place for dinner, she was so impressed by the number of dishes I had prepared, four!
2. Meat 🍗 and Salad
Australians eat more meat than the Chinese people. You can find a much bigger package of meat in a supermarket. I have to say, I am proud that I still stick to my Chinese diet rule - more veggies and less meat (a healthier option according to research) after 6 years.
I have noticed salad is very popular here. In the beginning, I disliked it, because the taste to me was so plain. But after a while, I began to like it, for 3 main reasons:
Seeing people putting pomegranate and even flowers to their salad really blew my mind. I started to imitate, using my own creativity to add anything I like to my salad and make it colourful, healthy and yummy.
It’s so easy to prepare.
I started to enjoy the original and fresh flavour coming from ingredients. Cheers to the beauty brought by our dear nature 😻
3. Australia’s own cuisine? 💁
Adelaide has very fresh produce and multicultural restaurants from all over the world, but I was very curious to find out about its own cuisine too. However, to my surprise, after hearing this question, most people’s reactions were, paused for a second, thought really hard, and replied eventually,
“Hmm, it seems like we don’t really have one. Perhaps BBQ or meat pies if this count?” 😝
Comments: I prefer this type of simplicity. Our time is limited, so why not allocate more time to things with better value for me? For example, when a friend comes over, I would rather spend more time talking to her than preparing for too many dishes. The GOOD news is locals like to share responsibilities. It's very common that when you are invited to a party, the host will require you to bring a dish to share. What a cool idea! In this way, a host won’t get too exhausted by preparing a lot of dishes for this gathering. It also adds diversity to the food too. But all in all, it’s your call. Identify your priority and act accordingly.
Drink 💧
Drink water straight from the tap? 😵
Yes, this is true in Australia 😊. The tap water is clean and people like to drink cold water, while in China, it’s nearly impossible. Here when you dine out, the water served can even be chilled. They tend to put tap water in the fridge, even in winter. I am still not used to drinking it like that, so I always carry my valuable thermos around. Therefore, I’ve been asked a lot about whether there’s any precious liquid inside. After knowing it is WARM water, many locals became so surprised with a suspicious face 😲.
Then, I have to explain: we normally drink hot water, following Chinese medicine. It’s better to have warm/hot water for our body, as consumption of cold food required energy resources of the body. Also, as it is close to our body temperature, it helps our digestion. Our stomach “likes” warmth. That’s why in China, whenever you get cold, you will be advised to drink as much hot water as possible.
Comments: Initially I felt a bit embarrassed because it gave me the feeling that I am different from the majority of people here. But then I started to enjoy explaining this to them. What a perfect excuse to interact with strangers, right? J I am always a big supporter for face to face communication in this day and age. Furthermore, I think we should celebrate 💃these differences, because these make us special and help to bring fun and interesting elements to this big world 💖.