You know what? This bao and this dim sum, they all make my old head spin! I heard folks talkin’ ’bout it, so I gotta try to figure it out. See, back in my day, we just ate what was put in front of us. Didn’t have all these fancy names. But now my grandkids, they like to eat out, and they talk about these things. They know I want to learn.
So, this dim sum, I hear it’s a whole bunch of little things. Like a whole meal, but with little tiny dishes. Kinda like when we used to put out a spread for the harvest festival. Lots of different stuff, all in small bowls and plates. They say it’s a Chinese way of eatin’, where everyone shares everything. Sounds kinda nice, now that I think about it.
- Dim sum is like a big party of food!
- Lots of little dishes, not just one big thing.
- People share it all around.
- And you eat it in the mornin’ or lunchtime, they say. Not for supper!
Then there’s this bao. Now, that’s more like what I’m used to. It’s like a bun, you see. A soft, fluffy bun, but it’s got stuff inside. Could be meat, could be veggies, I guess it depends. Like a little pocket of food. We used to make somethin’ similar, but we just called them filled buns. Nothin’ fancy.
From what I gather, this bao came from a place called Xi’an. That’s up north in China, far away. They usually put pork in it, I hear. And some green onions and garlic and some sauce. Sounds tasty, right? My old man, he woulda loved that. He was a meat-and-potatoes kinda guy.
Now, here’s where it gets tricky. This dim sum, it can have bao in it! See, that’s why my head spins. It’s like, the bao is just one little part of the whole dim sum thing. Like one little dish in that big spread I was talkin’ about before. So you could have dim sum, and inside it, there might be some of these bao buns.
I heard them talkin’ about somethin’ called xiaolongbao. Sounds real fancy, don’t it? Turns out, it’s a kind of bao, a little meat bun with soup inside! Imagine that, soup inside a bun! These young folks come up with the craziest things. But it’s a type of bao, and bao can be part of dim sum. Get it?
- Bao is a bun with stuff inside.
- Xiaolongbao is a special bao with soup in it!
- Dim sum can have all kinds of bao.
They say there are other things in dim sum too. Not just bao. There is something called, shumai? Sounds like “shoe-my.” That’s some other kind of little food they eat in dim sum. And somethin’ that’s like a cake, but it’s made with eggs and it’s fluffy. They call it a “steamed egg cake”. A palate cleanser, whatever that is!
My granddaughter, she tries to explain it to me. She says, “Grandma, dim sum is like a buffet, but they bring the food to you on little carts.” Well, that just sounds like a regular meal to me, but what do I know? They have different things on these carts, all kinds of little dumplings and buns and rolls. Different shapes, different fillings. I’d be lost for sure.
So, to put it simply, dim sum is the big meal with lots of little dishes, and bao is just one of those little dishes, usually. It’s like, all bao can be part of dim sum, but not all dim sum is bao. It is like, a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle ain’t always a square. My grandson told me that one time when he was doing his schoolwork. These new math they teach!
I guess the best way to learn is to just try it. Maybe next time we go out to eat, I’ll tell the kids to order some dim sum. And I’ll try some of those bao buns too. Might as well see what all the fuss is about. Who knows, maybe this old lady will learn somethin’ new. I reckon it’s never too late, as they say. It ain’t gonna be like mama’s cooking but it will be okay.
I still think it is a lot of words for some simple food. In my time, we ate, we liked, we did not talk so much. But it is good to learn what the young folks are doing, what they like. And those little bao, they do sound kind of interestin’. But I bet you I have had it before in my life, just called it a different name. Food is food I say!
