I traveled to Sanya (三亚) in Hainan province to visit my family for the holidays. Sanya is a beautiful island surrounded by ocean and its rich coral reefs making it ideal destinations for scuba diving, surfing, and other water sports.
Around 50 years ago the area was dominated by salted fish stores. Workers would dry their products on rooftops and sell them on the ground floors. Today, these stores sporting strange and exotic fare are fantastic insights into local food and health culture. In the mornings, trucks line the street replenishing the shops, which soon become choked with housewives inspecting the likes of endless variety of dried fish, sea cucumber, black moss, dried snakeskin, expensive dried scallop, and the controversial sharkfins. The street is particularly lively in the run up to Chinese New Year when households are preparing for festive dishes in family banquets.
Many of the dried goods are believed to contain medicinal properties. Majority of Chinese think that medicines made from a certain animal often purport to have properties which are associated with the animal. For example, eating turtle stew is supposed to make you live longer since Turtles have long been associated with longevity. Bird nest soup is supposed to prolong erections. Deer musk is rubbed on private parts to stimulate sex.
Dried seahorses are consumed for virility because seahorses are a species in which the males get pregnant. Seahorses are also prescribed from ailments such as asthma, arteosclerosis, dizziness, joint pain, impotence and incontinence.
Some dishes are also made for consumption out of superstition and good luck such as dried oysters and black moss. These two delicacies are popular during Chinese New Year because of their auspicious names. Dried oysters (bottom) are called ‘ho see’ which sounds like good deeds, good fortune, or prosperity, while black moss (top) is a pun on ‘fa choi’ which means ‘to get rich.’ And, you will have good fortune upon you when you ate them together.
Picking the best quality ingredients is a very difficult task to the untrained eye. As for black moss, I learned from my uncle to keep an eye out for fakes. The best way to tell is to soak a small section in water — fake black moss turns the water murky.