I Miss the Food in Chengdu

I still remember clearly when I said goodbye to my parents and walked through the gate of the airport. It has been 2 years now since I left home and came to UCSB. Even though I’ve made friends with many enthusiastic peers here and had a very busy academic life, I still feel that there exist cultural differences that make me miss my home.

My hometown is Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan and a city famous for its foods. Whenever I would invite my friends to Chengdu, I tell them that for each meal, I could take them to a restaurant with a different theme for a whole week. After staying in Chengdu for 18 years, I just could not adjust myself to how people eat here in U.S. I could not understand why almost the only way here to have vegetables is by salad. Even though I’ve been forcing myself to have salads to keep myself healthy for a whole year and a half, I still can’t stand the bland and uninspired taste of salads. The only time that I almost cried for missing home is when I had my first meal in my home in the last summer after spending a whole year in UCSB. At that moment, I just felt like that I was the happiest person in the world. Actually, Sichuan food is famous worldwide. I ‘m pretty sure that there would be more than half of Chinese restaurants in America that are Sichuan restaurants or provide Sichuan food. There are famous Sichuan dishes like Mapo Toufu, Kung Pao Chicken and hot pot. So even if you haven’t been to Sichuan, it’s very likely that you use to have a Sichuan dish once.

For the next winter vacation, I’m going back to Chengdu and I can’t wait to go back home for the foods.