valikor Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:19 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:19 PM I was unfortunate enough to go to the badaling Great Wall today and saw some fascinating looking 肉串. It appeared to be 4 bird fetuses on a stick. Though it looked absolutely foul, I decided to get one, in the spirit of always trying the most radically different foods. Aside from the horrible visual, and the crunching of bones (they told me I could eat EVERYTHING), the taste was actually pretty good. I'm trying to figure out what I actually ate, though. One person I talked to said that it was probably dove or pidgeon... can anyone give any insight? When I asked the salesperson, they said something I didn't understand. When I asked again, they simply said 小鸟 I will post a picture if necessary.. though I'd need to find one. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:38 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:38 PM How do you know they were fetuses? If so, well, how do you know it wasn't chicken? In a certain part of Shanghai, there is a town where they serve sparrow 串 and also quail 串. Perhaps it could have been either of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valikor Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:43 PM Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 at 03:43 PM I have no way to confirm that they were fetuses... it was perhaps more accurate when I described it as "baby bird" They were, however, extremely small -_- Could have been chicken, but I think they would have told me that when I asked, and I would have understood... But thanks for the info about sparrow and quail. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Horhe Posted February 25, 2010 at 05:21 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 at 05:21 PM I had a chuanr with baby birds in Beijing last year and the guy said they were sparrows, but it could be anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in_lab Posted February 26, 2010 at 06:13 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 06:13 AM I've had 小鸟 before, but not nearly as small as what you're talking about. I'd like to see the picture. How much did that cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2010 at 10:03 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 10:03 AM I have no way to confirm that they were fetuses... There's no way that they're fetuses. Not necessarily young birds even, just a small bird variety (but it makes good business sense to refer to them as "young birds" ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:04 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:04 AM There's no way that they're fetuses. Why is there no way? They eat them in other countries in Asia (see here). Still, I suspect they were probably just small birds, most likely sparrows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:23 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:23 AM (edited) Why is there no way? They eat them in other countries in Asia (see here).What we're talking about here are roasted/ fried birds and what you've shown us are boiled eggs, and that's a huge difference. Edited February 26, 2010 at 11:34 AM by HashiriKata Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:45 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:45 AM What we're talking about here are fried birds Where has anyone mentioned fried birds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM You normally get them fried or roasted, similar stuff. The difference is that they are birds, and not eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:05 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:05 PM Makes a mental to never visit Hashirkata's for breakfast. Chinese term is 毛蛋。 I know you get chicken ones, but you'd probably need the services of a forensics lab to figure out what it was you actually ate by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valikor Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:27 PM Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:27 PM Picture attached (for what it's worth) Probably too big to be fetuses (unless it was of a very large bird). I should have chosen my words more carefully. But, an interesting discussion has arisen here -_- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valikor Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:31 PM Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:31 PM And someone asked... I think it was 3 yuan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:40 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 12:40 PM From the photo, I'm fairly sure it is sparrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:09 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:09 PM Chinese term is 毛蛋。Another confused laowai!毛蛋 are the eggs as shown in anonymoose's link, and not the stuff in valikor's photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:10 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:10 PM People like to eat 禾花雀. Take a look -> http://images.google.com.hk/images?hl=zh-TW&source=hp&q=%E7%A6%BE%E8%8A%B1%E9%9B%80&oq=%E7%A6%BE%E8%8A%B1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=OMeHS-SuFsuHkQXJ_J3zDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCIQsAQwBA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:35 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:35 PM Yeah, I think I was probably referring to the photo that had been posted rather than the one that hadn't. Confused, maybe, psychic, never. Laowai, always Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valikor Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:45 PM Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 at 01:45 PM Some of the confusion in this thread would have been avoided had I not poorly (probably inaccurately) described it as "bird fetuses". The confused laowai in this case was actually me. Anyways, this was an educational experience. Perhaps some day, I can eat the pretty yellow bird in skylee's photo -_- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted February 27, 2010 at 07:45 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2010 at 07:45 AM Another confused laowai!It's a good thing there are so many unconfused laowai to point out corrections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liuzhou Posted February 27, 2010 at 08:22 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2010 at 08:22 AM I can believe that there are non-eggular bird foetuses. Not easily, but I have faith. I can believe that anything on a 串 is possible. No faith required. But an unconfused laowai? Don't be ridiculous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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