I could talk about food all day long. But I must control myself because, like bear paw, a little goes a long way. Chinese food is distinguished by its enormous variety of provincial cuisines. Generally speaking, Northern food is characterized by a hearty country flavor. Garlic, spring onion and scallion predominate, with spring onion often being used as a meat substitute by the poor.
Spring onion is also a favorite condiment with that famous Chinese dish, Peking duck.
During the Song Dynasty, Peking duck was roasted inside a layer of mud from a lotus pond. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongol rulers having little taste for mud, had the duck stuffed with lamb's tripe. Today, however, the duck is fattened with specially prepared food pellets which are pushed most unmercifully into the duck's beak. Speaking of Peking Duck, there is an amusing story I heard just the other day. One day, a miser called Jia felt a craving for roast duck but could not bring himself to part with some of his gold.