100% Original Photos and Content by @solarguy Don’t look if you don’t eat meat!
A filling soup made to keep you warm on cold day.
I love to eat meat, no shame in that. I do care about the animals I eat and hope they have the best life possible even if the end goal is my belly, or yours. Now let’s see how delicious this soup is.
Let’s Learn Chinese - 山羊肉汤 (Shān yángròu tāng) = Mountain goat meat soup or Goat Stew
山(Shān) means mountain but its also part of the word 中山(Zhōng Shān) which means downtown (among many ways to say downtown). 中 looks like a line going through the middle of a square doesn’t it. 山 also looks like a mountain with three peaks. So a direct translation would be middle mountain but it means downtown. Wild stuff eh?
Does this 羊(yáng) look like a goat? I can actually see it but I did read up about ancient Chinese Characters and learned hw the writing evolved over time; a little, very little, since being here.
www.chinlingo.com is great resource for learning Chinese online but talking t locals is better.
I was walking home one day last year one of the restaurants had just got their daily supply of goat meat. This place specializes in goat meat dishes, soup, Baozi (steamed buns filled with ground meat and spices, delicious), fried, boiled and BBQ’d to your desire.
The farmers literally pull up in a pickup truck with several live goats on it. He sells and slaughters the goat right there in front of everyone on the street. In front of the other still living goats watching in fear. It’s really sad I’m glad I missed this slaughter and arrived soon after. Though I have seen it on other times as this is actually normal sight in Dalian, probably other cities too. I do appreciate that children can see where their food comes from but they are not taught to value the life of the animal they just see food and killing is nothing. At least they know the meat was a living thing unlike our bubble babies in the west that have been told but never really ‘get it’ until they are older and visit a farm. Many people never visit a farm even after they are adults, sad reality.
To be fair, the goat was killed quickly and as painless as I can imagine it could be done. The goat didn't even make a single bleep as the blade stabbed into its neck and quickly severed the brain stem. It was probably quicker than any factory in the west. You cant be hacking animals to death on the street, this isn't an honor killing. (did i just say that. tsk tsk)
Anyways. This soup was amazing. Best 32RMB soup ever I must say, which is kind of expensive for a single lunch but it is good on a cold day which the locals seem to be accustomed too. Fresh meat and no parts left out, the bones were boiled down into the broth in a 24 hours process. They even collected the blood and made congealed blood which I am not too fond of but I had couple bites anyways just in case it was better than other dozen times I found it disgusting.
Nothing says "Our food is fresh" like hanging fresh dead carcasses out front.
One thing about traditional Chinese medicine is they belief you should eat the body part of an animal and it will benefit that body part of yours. When I broke my ankle I was fed pork ankles and knuckles almost every day. It was yummy though if not boring after the 10th of 14 weeks not walking. I still have no idea if its better I had it or not.
I ate most of it, all the meat anyways. I tried using my broken Chinese to say I only wanted the meat and not the organ parts but I don’t know how to say “organs” in Chinese. Though the waiter was trying to tell me something I later guess he meant they only had it with organs.
So there you have it. Some true blue Chinese food and culture. I will go to a Rooster restaurant that has live roosters and you can choose the one you want they make it really fresh. Another day, that's more of a group dinner not a lunch rush.
(Editors note: the slaughtered goat picture was from last year while the soup was from today, I assure you it's part of the same experience)
I hope you found this article interesting and unique..
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@solarguy/a-truly-haunted-place-i-discovered-in-the-hillside-of-dalian
@solarguy/my-trip-into-an-abandoned-defunct-chinese-bomb-shelter
@solarguy/dalian-china-summer-s-end-canadian-style-bbq-bbq
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