Just ridiculous me problems...

[northstarfan]

 When the Vietnamese Market stops carrying your favorite brand of zha cai and you wind up cautiously scrolling the manufacturer's website hoping to fuck Google is translating this page correctly and that you're actually finding what you think you're finding and not contemplating an order of a dozen packets of hot spicy turnip that will fucking kill you...

Comments

[lazaefair]

Are there any other Asian markets in your town?

[northstarfan]

Two others within reasonable reach, and they don't carry it. :/ I may be desperate enough to try Amazon. I think I've found something that MIGHT be it, but I'm not sure because the packaging is slightly different.

[lazaefair]

榨菜

Google translate has a feature where you can draw the characters and turn them into digital characters, which you could paste into search. Try drawing the company name and then searching for that?

Alternatively, email me pictures of the packaging and I can see what I can find.

[northstarfan]

I found the company website pretty easily. And they have a product here that looks very close to what I've been buying:




And it doesn't look like I can order from their site, but I think I've found the same product from their site on Amazon. My major concern is, like I said, the packaging is slightly different (even minus the labels that the store put on, I mean) and I'm a wimp when it comes to the different spice levels in these pickles. But then again, maybe they just changed the look of it. Arg.

I dunno. Can you tell anything?

[lazaefair]

Yeah, that looks pretty close. Might as well try!

[aubergion]

Well the translation's accurate? Student['s] zha cai. Nutritive's a bit optimistic perhaps - I'd imagine it's meant for lunchboxes for schoolkids. Also, hi!

[northstarfan]

...well, that would explain why I can tolerate the spice level. It's Baby's First Zha Cai. Don't mind me and my bruised pride over here. XD

Hi there! <3

[aubergion]

Also, it's technically not a turnip: zha cai is to mustard greens what kohlrabi is to kale (though turnip is also a brassica. so many foods are just screwed up turnip/mustard/cabbage variants.)

Regardless, if you're getting bits of turnip there's definitely something going wrong.

[northstarfan]

Oh, no. I know zha cai is mustard stem. The turnip was reference to the "fragrant turnip" pickles I tried from the same company. We did not get along. XD

[aubergion]

Oooh. Okay. Yeah if anything remotely related to Sichuan cuisine says "fragrant", you should probably run, because Sichuan does not skimp on the spices. Quite the opposite, really. I would not be surprised if you accidentally got yourself some ma-la (numbing-spicy (麻辣)) turnip. Or yu-xiang (fish-fragrant, referring to "cooked LIKE we cook fish" rather than "has fish in it" - it's actually a spicy chili-and-Sichuan pepper sauce).

That sounds exactly like the sort of thing that would be mistranslated as Fragrant Turnip Pickles.

[northstarfan]

It makes me sad. XD We have a restaurant down the way that does authentic Sichuan Chinese cookery and all the stuff on their menu I want, I just can't eat. Even the "mild" level was too much for me. And yeah, they have some dishes that are more my speed, but it's the stuff I can get anywhere - fried rice, lo mein, etc. I want tongue, tripe, tendon, and feet - I love all the gooey, rich cartilage and chewy bits.