The Boluo Man Cometh and Other Tales

In flourishing-

spring when Beijing is dust-

crazy the little

spry boluo man

cries, yi kuair yi kuai

and tingting and zhou come

strolling from textbooks and

essays and it's

spring

when the city is feichang fetching

the cart

wheeling boluo man cries

yi kuai yi kuair

and bingbing and su come peddling

from taichi and b-ball and

it's spring

and the street-wandering

boluo man cries

yi kuair

yi kuai.

Now, my profound apologies to ee cummings, whose "balloonman" is an excellent poem not done justice by my theft to create "boluo man." Boluo is the Chinese word for pineapple. It is one of my favorite parts of living in Beijing, that I can wander out into the street and have my pick of fresh fruit. Right now, I can get pineapple, strawberries, or miniature mangos within a minute of my front door.

The boluo man carves the pineapples into a lovely spiral, taking off the inedible parts. Then you can buy the whole pineapple, or some half- or quarter- pineapple slices on kebab sticks. It's a lovely afternoon snack. Strawberries (and other fruit, like apples or watermelons) are sold by weight. You pick out how much you want and the dealer weighs in in a little scale. I bit into a strawberry the other day at lunch, and it was an instant shock of homesickness. I could practically feel the dirt on my fingers as I picked berries in Dresden; I could hear the light tap of the paring knife as Mom sliced berries for cereal or muffins. I could smell the sweet stickiness of strawberry shortcake filling mellowing in a mixing bowl. Ah, summer in Maine. The best part, you see, is that I can enjoy strawberries and lilacs here now, and I will enjoy them all over again when I am home again in June.

Miniature mangoes appeared on the street about a week ago. I had no idea what the orangey, miniature-computer mouse sized fruit were. Then, last Wednesday, they had some in the cafeteria, so I picked one up. Then I surreptitiously waited and watched for someone else to eat one first -- I had no idea how to eat it. Apparently, one peels back the skin like a banana peel (although not as easily and a lot messier -- they're quite juicy) and then eats around the tough fibrous center, then flips it around, holding it by the core, takes off the rest of the skin and eats the bottom. It's sweeter than a large mango, and I quite enjoyed it. It left my fingertips yellow for half a day, though.

Fruit is all well and good, but I'm afraid I have a dietary confession to make. Today, I went to McDonald's. Yes, a terrible sin. I can't even remember the last time I ate McDonald's food, but I had this awful craving for a hamburger. Not really a fast food burger, but what other option do I have here? Well, I got the dollar menu cheeseburger (which is really the 6 kuai menu). As I ate it, sitting in some sun, perched on a raised wall beside the sidewalk, I realized that the yellow, tasteless American plastic cheese slice on the burger was the first piece of cheese I have eaten in 10 weeks. Ah, what I would give for some chevre. Or some fresh mozzarella. Perhaps a nice chuck of extra-sharp cheddar. Then I had a small vanilla soft-serve cone. It was delicious, but it doesn't quite taste like it does in the US. You know what else doesn't taste the same as in the Western world? Diet Coke. Diet Coke here tastes more like C2, or whatever they called that version of Coke which tasted like regular coke but had no calories. Which, to someone who actually likes the taste of Diet Coke, is a bit disappointing.

So, upon my return home, there is a long list of food I desperately want. It starts with baked beans and brown bread, moves on to whole-wheat bread and chocolate cake, a whoopie pie, a thanksgiving-dinner turkey sandwich, and eventually ends with corned beef hash. That's just because I always want corned beef hash. It's salty and delicious.

That said, there is a growing list of Chinese food that I really love and already know I'll miss. Dumplings. Suanlatudou. Chaobing. Corn flavored ice cream and blueberry potato chips. Well, you're right. That last one is disgusting, and I won't miss it at all.