BY ZEYU YIN
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I still remembered my first lunch in Emory was a lunchbox in Multipurpose Room.
The lunch box had an attractive package. However, when I took my first attempt to try, the sour cheese mixed in the vegetables successfully cause repulse in my stomach. I was totally unfamiliar the American food at my first week. My Chinese stomach seemed to not mesh with the “raw veggies “in America.
Thanks to my Chinese hall mates, they brought me to the BoBo Garden during the first weekend at Emory. “ I really don’t care about whether the chefs are good or not, as long as they provide me a bowl of warm rice and veggies with soy sauce.” I said to my hall mates. “ It will fit well with your Cantonese Stomach. My aunt recommended this place to me. She had lived in Atlanta for 10 years,” said one of my roommates. After hearing this, I had a higher expectation toward the food in BoBo Garden.
The waitress asked us how many people in Mandarin. Without a second thought, I replied “ Looke Wei a, Ng Gai.” which means “ six people “ in Cantonese. Fortunately, the waitress understood my Cantonese and showed us the way to the table. I did not know why, but I just felt the happiness to use my homeland’s language in a foreign country.
What made me surprise was the food served later. On the menu I found all the food names that I had been seeing them since I was four. I chose two dishes, which are so classical in Cantonese food. One dish is called “Bao Zai Fan.” In English, it means the rice cooked with earthenware. What’s special in this food was that the rice cooked with earthenware would cause some of rice crispy, which adds unique texture to the whole dish. Secondly, chefs will add different ingredients into Bao Zai Fan according to different seasons. For instances, in ancient time during winter, chefs will add more meats, such as pork with fats into Bao Zai Fan, in order to keep more fats in people’s bodies.