Ah, China. Where my toothpaste tastes of tea, and my shampoo is minty…

I have never seen a more disappointed face than my then nine-year-old’s when he bit into his ice lolly to discover that it was durian flavor. But all China expats know the feeling. Red bean is the worst offender, lurking at the center of cakes, pretending to be chocolate, but there are other unexpected tastes to be encountered by the unwary. Pea-flavored ice cream? Blueberry pizza? Mung bean popsicles? You’ve got it.

In part this stems from the days when China was less open to the world, and chocolate imports were negligible. Candy and desserts were made with locally-grown products instead. Mainly though it’s just a cultural thing. There’s no objective reason why toothpaste should taste of mint, and pineapple on a pizza is as much of an outrage as blueberries. Many would argue that we should open our minds to a broader palette of flavors, and learn to love that jackfruit.

However if you’ve got kids, then good luck persuading them that red bean is better than chocolate, or to brush their teeth with green tea paste. We learn to dislike flavors when they arrive unexpectedly, our bodies concluding that if it doesn’t taste like it should it must be bad. And we’re most vulnerable to getting the wrong thing when we’ve recently arrived, struggling to read labels and to adjust to a new environment. This is when kids can take a violent dislike to a flavor they might learn to love if it was introduced carefully instead of coming as a disappointment. So here’s a guide for China newbies on some of the taste traps to avoid.

Red bean paste – 红豆沙 – hóng dòu shā

This isn’t too hard to learn. Look at the middle character, dòu. It looks like a bean! Well, kind of. If you squint.Hóng means red – you’ll hear a lot of talk about hóng bāo, the red envelopes given as gifts or as, erm, financial incentives. The character’s a bit trickier, but not impossible. Like a lot of Chinese characters, it has two parts, one suggesting the meaning, the other the sound. The squiggle on the left means, roughly, “writing”, and is included in most colors. The other part, 工 gōng, is he pronunciation (gong, hong… who’s counting?). It means “work”, looks like a hammer, sort of, and sounds like the ringing of a hammer on an anvil. If you can’t read the packaging, or there is none, then you can ask:

yǒu hóng dòu shā ma?

The answer will either be yǒu (“yes, it does”) or méi yǒu (“no, it doesn’t”).

Chocolate – 巧克力 – qiǎo kè lì

This is easier to say, because it’s a “loanword”; it sounds like “chocolate”. (Chinese ideas of what sounds like what can be baffling. May 20 is one of many “Chinese Valentine’s Days” because “5-20” wǔ èr líng sounds like “I love you” wǒ ài nǐ. NO IT DOESN’T.) The characters are harder, but it might help to think that 克 kè looks a bit like a key, and 力 lì means strength, and looks a bit like someone flexing their muscles. Again, you can ask:

yǒu qiǎo kè lì ma?

Yǒu means “have”, and ma makes it a question.

Tea – 茶 – chá

The sound is easy to remember if you’re from Britain, where “a cup of char” has long been slang for what we too consider our national beverage. Unlike Brits though, the Chinese put tea in everything, including desserts and toothpaste. The character’s not too hard. The line across the top, with two smaller lines cutting it, indicates a plant.The arrow shape underneath resembles a tea leaf.

The “spearhead” shape of tea leaves is imitated in the Chinese character

Mint – 薄荷 – bò he

Mint isn’t much used in Chinese cooking, and you won’t find it in most supermarkets. So it must taste like an exotic and challenging ingredient. You can find it in toothpaste though, due to western influence. The first character is a really tough one to remember (though see the “plant” lines over both characters?) You only really need to remember the second one though. I don’t know any mnemonics for it, but it’s derived from the hugely important character 可 kě, part of the ubiquitous phrase 可以 kě yǐ, meaning to be allowed to do something. If you learn only one word of Chinese this might be the most useful:

kě yǐ ma? (Can I? Is it OK?) kě yǐ. (OK)

So there you have it. We encourage you to introduce your kids to the new world of flavors available in China, but when they know what’s coming, and are open to it. That durian ice lolly? It went in the bin, and we got him a strawberry one instead.

Photos: chooyutshing, Florin Gorgan via Wikimedia Commons

So it’s time to start making that list of what to take back to Beijing. My youngest is nearly three, so we no longer need to be stuffing our cases full of swim nappies, onesies, wipes, and other baby paraphernalia. With a very generous baggage allowance we always make the most of it, filling every available space. Some of the things we bring back from the UK can be found in Beijing, but it’s either a hassle to source them or they’re at least twice as expensive. So we’ll fill up our cases with essentials for the kids, essentials for us adults, whilst of course leaving a bit of room for a few home comforts.

I’ve had the kids feet properly measured, and kitted them out in Clarks shoes and trainers for school. I had no idea my daughter’s feet were as wide as they now are, highlighting how important it is to have their feet regularly measured, whilst they’re still growing so rapidly. Talking of growing, vitamins are essential for their healthy development, and even with a healthy and varied diet, there are some vitamins that are difficult to get enough of through food alone. That’s why we stock up on kids vitamin A, C and D drops. Most health professionals now recommend that all children from 6 months to 5 years old are given supplements for these vitamins.  

I have their teeth checked every six months with the fantastic Dr. Huang at BJU, and always opt for the topical application of fluoride on their teeth. In the UK we drink water from the tap, which contains fluoride, but of course in Beijing it’s bottled so they’re not getting this protection. Using the right toothpaste is vital, so that’s another thing on the list, as well as toothbrushes that are the correct shape and softness for their young teeth.

For me, having a properly stocked first aid kit is so important. What people sometimes forget, is certain items have use by dates, so before each trip home we’ll check the kit and see what needs replenishing. The basics that are essential in any kit include decent plasters, of different sizes, alcohol-free cleansing wipes, sterile dressings, cream to relieve insect bites and stings, antiseptic cream, ibuprofen tablets (age appropriate syrup for the kids), antihistamines, eye wash, and a cooling burn spray. In terms of medicines, the only other thing we’ll bring back is Lemsip, a brand of cold and flu remedies in the UK. Their original and best known product is a lemon-flavored hot drink containing paracetamol, and a decongestant. For me, nothing beats it for relieving a headache, blocked nose, and those aches and pains associated with a cold.

With the kids sorted, it’s time to think about what I need. There’s Tampons, because it’s nearly impossible to find the applicator versions here in Beijing, Elnett hairspray (it really is the only hairspray that completely brushes out), YSL Touche Éclat (always on offer at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5), and MAC lipsticks (ditto T5). And of course underwear, because I still have no idea how the bra sizing system in China works and even if I did, there are no decent lingerie shops.

I like to bake, so will use the trip to replenish my baking cupboard. This will include some Star Kay White food extracts, including vanilla, almond, lemon, orange, and lavender, some 100% natural food colorings and flavorings, my favorite flavors being raspberry, violet, and rhubarb. I’ll get some vanilla bean paste, agar (used instead of gelatin), xanthan gum (a flour replacement used to thicken sauces and gravies), and suet for baking traditional British pastry and puddings.

Whilst the local and western supermarkets in Beijing stock dozens of types of breakfast cereals, I like to stick with certain brands and definitely those with no added sugar, honey, chocolate, or frosting. The decent brands are also so much cheaper back home, so we’ll stuff one of our cases with kilo boxes of shreddies, shredded wheat, weetabix, bran flakes, and cheerios. We’ll leave room in that case for some catering size packs of PG Tips teabags and for treats some Scottish oatcakes, short bread biscuits, chocolate, and Hellman’s mayonnaise, because there really is no other mayonnaise. The easy part is carrying all the stuff back to Beijing. The hard part is rationing all of those treats, so that they last until the next trip home. 

beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent Sally Wilson moved to Beijing in 2010 from the UK with her husband and son. Her daughter was born here in 2011 and both her kids keep her happily busy. In her spare time, Sally loves to stroll through Beijing’s hutongs and parks. She is a (most of the time) keen runner and loves reading: books, magazines, news, and celeb websites – anything really. Sally is also a bit of a foodie and loves trying out new restaurants.

Photos: Matthew Coughlin, Shawn Thorsson, Sean MacEntee, Benson Kua (Flickr).