Too often eating comes down to a separated and individually focussed regime. Each person reviews the menu and selects their own meal. I feel like steak and decide to choose it, despite sitting at a table with a bunch of vegetarians. My vegetarian friends order entrees that reflect their own dietary preferences. When the food arrives we all hunker down to eat our individualized plates. Everything is neatly packaged to be a meal in one, with carbs, protein and veggies all offered up on the same plate.
Problem is there is little incentive or opportunity to share or expand beyond one’s culinary boundaries. In fact, the swankier you get, the more frowned apon it is to eat “family style” or pass a minuscule piece of a delightfully sautéed tenderloin complete with a scoop of yam mash and steamed asparagus to your dining companion to give them a chance to try the whole feast you have in front of you. What a shame.
That’s why one of the things I find so enjoyable about Asian cuisine – and particularly Chinese food, is its focus on communal sharing. This Sunday I trekked to Dung Sing Chin Chinese Restaurant at 2163 East Hastings Street. I was joined by a group of friends. There were seven of us. Over the course of the meal, we tried a dozen different tasty potstickers, buns, vegetable dishes, dumplings (steamed and fired) and calamari. All sorts of tastes. Everyone passed around every dish (we were sadly without one of those wonderful spinning table tops) and we got to share and compare the best that Dung Sing Chin had to offer. I tried things I never would have ordered on my own – and was all the better for it.
The communal nature of this meal made me wish more Western style restaurants offered a more “tapas” and fewer entrees. Sharing many little dishes really does expand the horizons and open up food-based dialogue in a way that the old “oh how’s your meal? – Delightful. How’s yours?” just can’t match.
If you haven’t done dim sum in a while, give it a try. Make sure you do it with friends or family. You most certainly won’t be disappointed.
Great post, Kurt.
A good friend of mine took me to dim sum in Richmond during my first weekend in Vancouver back in 2008, when I was just a rookie on the culinary scene.
First, I dressed like an idiot, not realizing that this was a semi-formal Sunday affair for the Chinese community in Richmond. Still, the staff at the restaurant were impeccably kind and made me feel very little shame about my silly decision.
Second, the experience was just as you described. There was sharing, experimentation and good times had.
Thanks for helping me reflect on this true community-minded moment, my man.