A scene from Guidry's Spring Festival special video Photo: Courtesy of Richard Guidry

"You are what you eat" is an extremely common saying. However, for many Westerners in China a more appropriate saying might be "the Chinese eat everything."

In her book Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-sour Memoir of Eating in China, UK food writer Fuchsia Dunlop shares her incredible experiences in discovering China's famous food culture. An open-minded girl willing to eat anything she's offered, she opens her book by describing the disgust she felt when she attempted to eat pickled duck eggs for the first time.

So just how difficult a challenge is it for a person to enjoy food from other parts of the world? Like Dunlop, Richard Guidry, a 25 year-old from Texas in the US, enjoys sharing his experiences.

Understanding Chinese cuisine

Guidry first came to China in February 2011 to study Chinese at Lanzhou University of Technology as an exchange student. After a semester of study, he went home for a year but later decided to return in fall 2012.

Although he has been making videos about all aspects of life in China since 2011, it wasn't until recently that Chinese netizens noticed Guidry's video posts, Chinese snacks and food, on local video site youku.com.

"While video blogging is really common in the West, it is rare to find a Westerner in China who video blogs. There was a big gap in the information out there, and I guess I just wanted to fill that in a little bit," Guidry told the Global Times in an e-mail interview.

During the past Spring Festival, Guidry posted a video, Eat Everything, covering the typical festival dishes that most Chinese people enjoy during the lunar new year. The video was viewed about 3 million times on Youku.

"Food is colorful, varied, and seems alive here," Guidry gave his impression of the food.

Not everything, however, has been a big hit as sometimes local snacks prove to be too much for the daring blogger. Stinky tofu, for example, once made him almost vomit during filming.

"I guess the sheer variety of snacks is one thing. China is a big, diverse country with a lot to offer as far as food is concerned," he explained.

Guidry's videos on both youku.com and YouTube have won him a lot of attention.

Many reviews give him suggestions on what to try next. However, his viewers on YouTube seem less thrilled. Most of the comments, according to Guidry, are things like "Dude, that looks terrible" or "Don't eat that!"

For Guidry, who has tried scorpions, crickets, animal heads and many other types of Chinese cuisine, all these strange dishes are gradually becoming less weird.  "People just need to let go of what they know and just jump in," said Guidry, who plans to speak Chinese in some of his future videos.

Authentic cuisine

Outside of China, Chinese takeout probably constitutes most people's ideas about Chinese food.

Looking at the amount of characters that eat Chinese food in popular American dramas gives you a hint of its popularity in that country.

The same situation exists in the UK. As Dunlop writes in her book, "In 2002, Chinese food even overtook Indian as the country's favorite ethnic food."

Yet, both Dunlop and Guidry admit that the food found in China "is different."

"I heard someone say that American Chinese food is basically Guangdong food. The boss of the restaurant is from Fujian, the waiters are from Taiwan, the cooks are from Mexico, and the food is bought in the US. It's chaos," Guidry said, adding that a similar situation exists in China when it comes to local specialties.

Examples are easily found everywhere. Roujiamo, a Shaanxi-styled burger, just isn't as tasty outside Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Whereas Lanzhou beef noodles found outside Lanzhou don't have the same flavor they should.

Guidry understands that there are many reasons for this: Different styles and cooks in different restaurants as well as different production and agricultural practices naturally lead to different results.

"Or there might be something special about a particular place. People say Lanzhou's water is different from other places, and so it makes the noodles taste different," he explains.

Food culture

There are plenty of documentaries and programs available for people who would like to know more about the secrets behind Chinese cuisine.

 A few of them, such as Taste on CCTV-10, are even hosted by foreigners.

For example, another newly produced documentary about Chinese food The Walking Table, which will broadcast on CCTV-9 in June, has a Polish host.

The CCTV press release about the show states that the intention of having a foreign host is to bring a fresh point-of-view to understanding Chinese food and culture.

The channel also hopes that the show will bring in an international audience and help reduce the knowledge gap that exists when it comes to Western and Chinese food.

Young Chinese people now have this so-called chihuo culture, which means eating is a big part of their life, like a hobby.

They love to try different kinds of food, take photos and share their experiences on social networks.

Guidry sees China as a place full of this chihuo culture. When he first arrived he was constantly impressed by the food culture in China as everyone treats eating as a lifestyle.

However, at the same time he was also bothered by certain table manners that exist in China.

"I was shocked by how great the pressure is in China to drink. If you tell someone you won't drink, they will look at you like you just killed their grandma! Holidays, the New Year, business meetings… it makes me crazy, but it's part of the culture," he said.

For a special Spring Festival video, he drank half a bottle of Chinese liquor and smoked a few Chinese cigarettes (despite the fact that he's not actually a smoker) after finishing his meal in imitation of what he observed most Chinese men doing.

It's not easy for Dunlop, Guidry or anyone who travels abroad to experience another country's food and culture, but it's never a bad idea to try new things. As the old saying goes "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."