Chaoshan Raw Pickled Seafood 潮汕生腌海鲜

More traveling eats!  We’re still got more to talk about the absolutely marvelous food we had on our trip to Chaoshan 潮汕 area of Guangdong 廣東.  Oh dear readers, it was so fabulously food fulfilling!  It’s always so lovely to find yourself in a place where everything you eat is delicious, amirite!?

Pssst...check out our other traveling eats posts from this trip, Shantou Street Food 汕頭街頭美食 and Chaoshan Beef Hotpot 潮汕牛肉火鍋.

So this post is about the Chaoshan speciality, Raw Pickled Seafood 潮汕生腌海鲜.  Fresh, fresh seafood pickled in soy sauce, wine and aromatics is a rare delight.  It’s a straightforward process to make, requiring only soy sauce, aromatics, a touch of oil and a bit of time.  The only and important! trick to raw pickled seafood is that the seafood has to be super duper fresh.

We had heard about the famous Chaoshan raw pickled seafood of course.  Oh, how I had drooled away when watching the first season of Flavorful Origins documentary series featuring Chaoshan cuisine.  Omgoshdarnnitall!!  Pickled crabs!  Pickled shrimps!  Pickled every kind of shellfish!  So amazing the raw pickled seafood of Chaoshan!  

How to Eat Sugarcane 吃甘蔗

When I was a little girl my 爸爸 took my sister and I to Taiwan.  It was my first trip to Taiwan as well as Asia.  I remember the hot wet air hitting us like a ton of bricks when we descended from the airplane onto the tarmac, the hot sluggish wind.  This was a completely different place from where we were growing up, a place full of strange new sights, sounds and smells.  

My 爸爸 had lived in Taiwan during his formative teen years and had never been back since.  He was emotional, full of half complete stories of his Taiwan years, stories sprinkled with joy, nostalgia and sadness.  

One of the side trips we took on this little family adventure was a long and winding bus ride that took us to the lush deep south of Taiwan.  It was on this never ending bus ride that I had my first lesson on How to Eat Sugarcane  吃甘蔗.  Munching away on a stick was never so sweet!