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Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.
Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.
The other thing I have noticed is something called special fried rice.
And so I was thinking what's so special about it? Because in China, if you say special fried rice and you think this 炒饭 must be amazing. This got like all these expensive things in it, like prawns and like seafood.
It must be like gold.
Yeah.
Gold in it as well.
Yeah. And then I realize it's just 扬州炒饭.
It is. It's just 扬州炒饭.
And I have no idea why it's called special fried rice. I think it's because in many restaurants it was a special, so it was like a speciality dish and the name just stuck, so it became special fried rice.
And if you just want like normal rice, you call it steamed rice.
Steamed rice or plain rice.
Plain rice.
But I always remember when my dad, because he loves Chinese takeaways. When my dad came to China, I asked him “what do you want to eat?” And he said “I have some special fried rice” and I just said “Dad, this is China, fried rice isn't very special”.
算不上特别美食.
I forgot does it also come in just numbers on the menu like No.68, No.57, that sort of thing.
And you know the reason for that is.
Why?
Because many of the dishes people couldn't pronounce.
Okay, well, special fried rice is not Chinese.
But these are just some of the typical dishes. They do have some dishes, for example, like a version of 麻婆豆腐. They've got a version of that, but because not many people can say that.
Mapo tofu, it's not that difficult. Kung Pao chicken, it's not that difficult.
But it is difficult for somebody who's not really traveled and doesn't really know. So what they do is they use numbers.
Another reason as well is that you have to think it was immigrants that opened these restaurants.
And sometimes not even Chinese immigrants.
Sometimes not even Chinese immigrants. Many of the takeaways were run by immigrants, and you have to think that their English was probably not completely proficient.
Emm.
So this was a way of both sides being able to communicate. So instead of saying “okay, I want crispy duck pancakes”, they'll go “I'll have number18”.
Ah, I see.
So it's very clear.
I see.
For what they want.
This is more very efficient system.
Exactly.