A nosy foodie 隔鄰飯香

My colleagues usually bring their own lunch to work and we gather in the tea room for lunch every day. When I have lunch together with the Chinese group, we all like to peek into each other’s lunch boxes, sing praises of each other’s food and exchange a few cooking tips.

But when I sit with the locals, we hardly pay attention to, let alone comment on, other people’s food (although I still carry the bad habit over from the Chinese group!) I guess that’s partly because there isn’t so much to talk about on sandwiches or the standard fare from the hospital canteen, and partly because it’s probably only kids who are so nosy about other people’s food!

One of my colleagues is a mother of two and both children are attending primary school. In their school, pupils are only allowed to have lunch in classrooms under supervision so that they won’t be able to swap food and eat something wrong in so doing (especially food that triggers allergy or other undesirable reactions). With so many people crowding in a small place during lunch, however, it’s inevitable that some food will catch the attention of other classmates. My colleague had once given her son salmon fillets marinated with dill for lunch. She thought her son would like it because salmon was tasty, nutritious and easy to eat, but her son ended up copping a lot of peer pressure from his friends who made fun of how ‘different’ his food was from every else. She also figured that not everyone would like the smell of fish, so she stopped giving him salmon after a while.

While she was telling me this story, she was indulging in her treat of a mini-yoghurt and she was enjoying it by the spoonful. The mini-yoghurt fitted into one of the compartments in her lunch box, and when I saw it for the first time, I joked that it looked like airline food! (That’s my nosy bad habit!) Although the yoghurt stated that it was suitable for consumption by 6 months of age or above, she said she couldn’t care less that it was in fact baby food as long as it was yummy. Her daughter was also a fan of the yoghurt and had one for lunch every day. But one day one of her friends teased her about eating baby food. My colleague said to me, ‘I asked my daughter, “How did you reply? Did you say your mummy like it too?” My daughter replied back to her classmate, “So what?” The other person couldn’t tease her any more and admitted that she also liked the same yoghurt.’

Good food knows no boundaries, be it of age, of race or of other things.

My other colleague is a perfect example. Recently he started eating Chinese instant noodles for lunch every day. One day my nosy bad habit struck again and I took a good look at the packaging, which came with only a few graphics and was written entirely in Chinese. I asked him if he really knew what he was eating and how he knew to buy these noodles.

He told me that he went to a Chinese grocery store and bought one packet from each brand to try them out. He told me that the noodles he was eating on the day was the best because it was still al dente.

He has shown himself to be quite a connoisseur and he certainly knew what went into his mouth – that was indeed a very famous brand which most people in Hong Kong and Mainland China should have heard of. Maybe he should not be underestimated after all, as he was born of Italian parents and liked making food himself, from pastries, pasta to even goat cheese. I can well imagine he has certain minimum standards for what is good when it comes to eating.

In these days when many Westerner’s knowledge and taste on Chinese food are still stuck in sweet and sour pork and lemon chicken, and when many Chinese people aren’t really too fussy about instant noodles, it really impresses me a lot to find a non-Chinese person who cares about the quality of this modern staple food.


研究所的人通常都自帶午飯上班，中午時聚在飯堂吃。跟中國人同桌時，大家都喜歡八卦一下其他人做了甚麼菜，然後互相抬舉、觀摩一番，交流煮食心得。

到跟外國人一同吃飯時，大家甚少留意其他人吃甚麼（祇有我把這個陋習從中國人那桌帶過來），一來他們都是吃三明治或買醫院飯堂食物，沒啥特別，二來那可能祇是小孩子才會做的事情！

有個同事，兩個孩子都唸小學，午飯規定祇可在教室有老師在場才可以吃，以防學生胡亂交換東西吃後有甚麼過敏或其他不良反應，所有同學擠在一起吃飯，有些人帶的食物不免會令全班同學注目。她試過給她的兒子吃醃過蒔蘿（dill）的鮭魚（又稱三文魚），本以為鮭魚營養好味道好又方便，兒子一定喜歡，但在校被同學取笑他的午飯「與別不同」、不入流，而且她後來也想到魚的腥味不是人人喜歡，所以也沒有給兒子午飯時吃魚了。

那天她跟我一邊說起這個事，一邊拿着小匙，一口口細意品嘗一杯迷你酸奶（乳酪）。她每天都帶一個午餐盒，盒內其中一格便載着那杯酸奶，第一次看到時跟她開玩笑說那很像飛機餐的大小（哈，八卦陋習發作）。那個同事告訴我，酸奶雖然寫明適合六個月以上人士食用，應該是嬰兒食品，但她也不管了，因為實在太好吃，她確實很愛吃，她的女兒也是，所以每天午飯必吃一杯，但有天她的女兒被同學取笑說那杯酸奶是嬰兒食品。我的同事說：「我問女兒，那你怎樣回應？你可以說媽媽也吃啊。我的女兒倒是跟那個同學說了句『So what?』，那個同學也得承認她也喜歡那種酸奶。」

好吃的東西，是沒有年齡、種族或其他界限的。

就好像另一個同事，最近每天中午都吃中式方便麫。有天我又八卦起來，拿起那包麫的包裝打量，包裝除了圖像外，祇有中文說明，我便忍不住問他其實知不知道自己究竟吃甚麼，和他如何懂得買這些麫來吃。

原來他是在一家中國雜貨店，每個品牌都買了一包麫嘗嘗，每天吃一包，他更說我跟他聊的那天，那個品牌的麫最好吃，因為麫質夠爽口。

他果然很講究，而且很懂吃——那個品牌的確是很出名的品牌，香港和國內的人應該無一不知。畢竟他是意大利人後代，而且時常自己弄東西吃，糕點、麫條不在話下，連羊奶乾酪（又稱芝士、起司）也會自製，我想所以他對吃總有一點要求。

今時今日很多外國人對中菜的認知和口味，仍停留在咕嚕肉和檸檬雞片，而就算是中國人，也不一定對方便麫那麼講究，但此君連方便麫都會品評，的確令人刮目相看！