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Home  >  China • Chinese Culture • Chinese Food • Traveling  >  The Food of Xinjiang (Don’t Read if You’re Hungry)
Posted inChina Chinese Culture Chinese Food Traveling

The Food of Xinjiang (Don’t Read if You’re Hungry)

Posted By Becky Ances Posted on August 26, 2015
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I think now would be the time to tackle one of the best parts of my trip: the food.

One of the things I love about food in China is it is fresh. Every dish has lots and lots of veggies and every spare patch of ground houses a small vegetable garden. But the far west is a desert region, and as a result the food has evolved differently here.

Meat, meat, meat, meat (and bread). Being a Muslim region pork isn’t common, but neither is beef. It’s all about the lamb.

Warning: Vegetarians (and the squeamish) might want to skip the rest of this post.

Meat, meat, meat, meat!

You would think that after a day or two of eating a mutton diet I would get sick of it. But somehow I didn’t. In fact, I started craving it. Mutton is a common meat all over China, but it’s a million times better in Xinjiang. The meat skewers have big pieces just chewy, high-quality meat, not all stringy with fat. But to add flavor, they put a big piece of fat in the middle and cook it up crispy so it drips with fatty goodness.


And if you’re feeling a bit peckish while out and about, finding these meat sellers is quite easy. Just follow the billowing clouds of smoke coming off the outdoor grills. In the past Beijing had banned outdoor barbecues in an attempt to cut down on pollution. Of course everyone laughed at the stupidity of it, but I finally understood why someone thought of it in the first place. If you walk down a street with a few of these places, you can’t see from the smoke and have to breath cautiously. But the food is all worth it, and if the BBQ’s really contribute to the pollution, it’s a sacrifice I would be willing to make.

Follow the smoke!

And don’t forget the samsas (called kaobaozi in Chinese). Like a Xinjiang meat pie, cooked in big metal cauldrons.

Meat, onions and spices in the middle, baked bread outside. Four of these bad boys and I'd be stuffed all morning.
Meat, onions and spices in the middle, baked bread outside. Four of these bad boys and I’d be stuffed all morning.
My friends enjoying a few samsas as an afternoon snack. I preferred it as a breakfast food.

There are other foods available in Xinjiang or course. Though mutton is a staple in most of them.

This pilaf, called zhuan fan in Chinese, is a tradition Uighur food.
Hand-pulled noodles is a common food when you are tired of eating mutton.
This was a big pot of spicy soup with meat and veggie skewers cooking away in it. You just pulled out what you wanted to eat and paid when you finished
This was a watered down yogurt drink, which was refreshing and cost about 50 cents per glass.
Some more food not for the squeamish. The guys would actually shake the cart to make the sheep move like a macabre bobble-head toy.
This looks like zongzi, a traditional chinese food, and is similar but has a different take on it. Inside the wrapper is sticky rice but instead fo a savory filling in the middle, they would add cream and honey and it was a sticky rice desert!
My friend eating one of the sticky rice treats. he was a vegetarian so finding food in this region was a bit tricky and he ate a lot of bread and fruit.
Speaking of fruit, Xinjiang’s hot, sunny climate is perfect for melosn. Watermelons, cantelopes, honeydew melons are all fresh and incredibly juicy. And costing about one to three dollars per melon. Yep, even the big ones!
If you were on the go, and buying and cutting a melon was too difficult, there were plenty of steeert sellers with melons and knives happy to give you a big slice for thirteen cents. This was a delicious treat many a hot, dusty afternoon.
If you were on the go, and buying and cutting a melon was too difficult, there were plenty of street sellers with melons and knives happy to give you a big slice for thirteen cents. This was a delicious treat many a hot, dusty afternoon.
Bread! In all shapes and sizes. Also a staple and I would consume 1-4 loves everyday. Some were plain, some had sesame seeds, or onion bits. What I wouldn’t have given for a little cream cheese as these would be the ultimate bagel substitutes!
Fresh out of the “oven” or, as it were, cauldrons. I would always ask for the yummy, hot ones and break into it right away.
Hand churned ice cream for about 30 cents a cup. I could eat these all day long.

This is about half of the pics of food I took (yes, I’m one of those people) but I think I’ve bored you enough with these. While I missed fresh veggies in Xinjiang, I will forever dream of the amazing mutton, and bread I had while there.

Tags: bread hami melons lamb melons muslim mutton nan skewers street food watermelons xinjiang xinjiang food
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1 Comment

  1. Autumn
    August 29, 2015 at 5:52 am

    Macabre bobblehead indeed! I hate it when food looks at me.
    Everything else looked delicious, though.

    Reply

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I’m an American who has been living in China for more than a decade! This is my blog where I muse about all things China. Please also check out my YouTube channel “Badminton Becky” and my other badminton blog at www.badmintonbecky.com

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