A Chinese Takeaway - It's All About Adapting

Photo: Chris Anderson

Whilst I was in England recently we spent a day at Legoland in Windsor and by the time dinner time rolled along everyone wanted something quick and easy at the end of a long, tiring but fun day. A Chinese takeaway was in order. We ordered a set meal for the four of us and prepared ourselves to dig in and get chomping.

It turned out to be a thought provoking meal for me. I found the meal pretty bland in all honesty. There were no real recognisable spices to liven the meal up, nothing to set one dish apart from the other - except the fluorescent orange sauce that is common to all Chinese takeaway meals, no matter which country you order in.

Nearly eleven years ago when my Dutch husband (to be at that point - HTB from here on in) suggested getting a takeaway it was an eye opening experience. My first Chinese takeaway in the Netherlands. He showed me the menu and I looked blankly. Not only was my Dutch minimal at the time, but the words I did know didn't tally with anything on the menu except for kip and ui intermittently scattered under strange words which were apparently the meal titles.

Chinese restaurants adapt their food for the country they are in. That much I learnt very quickly. And of course, Chinese restaurants here in the Netherlands tend to offer a little more than just 'Chinese"; Indonesian, Cantonese and Thais or even Surinam specialities are common on a menu.

This is how the conversation to settle on some dinner went all those years ago:

Me: "Er.. are pork balls on the menu?"
HTB: Blank look
Me: "You know, pork in crispy stuff with sweet and sour sauce?"
HTB: "No."
Me: "Crispy duck with pancakes and plum sauce then?"
HTB: "Duck yes, with pancakes no."
Me: "Erm... anything that I might remotely recognise?"
HTB: "Nasi? Bami pangang?"
Me: Silence and a distant look whilst I contemplated the extent of my homesickness.....
Me: "Just order something...," I mumbled.

Nearly eleven years later, sitting in my dad's house in England I wondered how it was that the Chinese I was used to in England over a decade ago had tasted better to me than that first Chinese meal I had in the Netherlands. And how now, as I sat looking at Chilli Beef which had not been within ten miles of a chilli pepper, the Chinese food in the Netherlands was somehow now far tastier than the British Chinese offerings. More spices. More flavour.

A journey of adaptation. Getting used to something else. Something new becoming the norm. A simple Chinese meal made me realise just how far my expat journey has brought me.