One of the famous traditions in Beijing is eating Peking Duck. Every book and Web site I read demanded that one should indulge in Peking Duck while in Beijing.
Fortunately, we were taken to a Peking Duck dinner on the first night of our
3-day tour in Beijing. For many Americans eating duck isn't an everyday thing. You can't find duck on most menus in restaurants and in 22 years in America I had never eaten duck. Everyone in the group was pretty excited until our tour guide, Henry, gave us some background on the duck. We all knew it was a younger duck but some of the details were unknown. He informed us that the duck is fed constantly for 60 days and then killed. Yes, constantly. That means when it doesn't want to eat, it is force fed. Of course, these details turned many of us off at the time but we had some time to clear our mind before diving into the bird. And even with those unnecessary details I was looking forward to it because of all the hype it was getting. Even many of the former vegetarians on the trip were going to try out the famed dish.
It turned out that the duck was amazing and the Beijing tradition was well-worth it. What I found interesting about the whole experience was the ease at which Henry told us all of the details about the duck. I think it shows a big culture gap between America and China. Americans would rather ignore how the food gets to the plate whereas Henry was trying to educate us in the process.
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