This is me at our local Hong Kong wet market, trying to talk to my grumpy old egg vendor. "How much is that?" I ask, pointing to jars of chinese preserved beancurd half hidden behind hanging bits of this and that. "What?" he grumps, not even bothering to look where I am pointing. "Umm...that," I repeat, having inconveniently and momentarily forgotten what Chinese Preserved Beancurd is called in Chinese.
I wait. And wait. He finally looks and snorts in disgust. "Oh, that." he says. "Is that a good brand of preserved beancurd?" I ask, and immediately regret asking this question. (I always forget and ask these type of stupid lecture inspiring questions at the wet market.)
I am then subjected to a long lecture on the lost art of food purchasing, our present generation's lack of food knowledge, the meaning of customer loyalty, etc., while the original object of my question, the lovely golden bottle of chinese preserved beancurd, remains cradled gently in the vendor's gnarly old hands.
In the end it was worth it all, though, because not only did my grumpy egg vendor graciously give me some great tips on how to buy Chinese Preserved Beancurd, or 腐乳, but also his recommended preserved beancurd was really, really good!
