In China I ate: Jimihua (鸡米花)

Yes, this particular post is dedicated to Jimihua (鸡米花), or better known throughout the English-speaking world as popcorn chicken. I know they aren't fancy and they aren't even that special, but you see, I was on a scholarship in Jimei, Xiamen, and the end of the first semester came around.

In China, the lunar new year aka Chinese new year aka Chun Jie (春节) aka spring festival in either mid-January or mid-February, is a super long one-month event where everyone, especially students, get a month's worth of vacation. It is THE holiday, and everyone goes on a pilgrimage from the place where they work or go to school to travel back to their hometowns.

I was one of those expats who got to experience the utter loneliness of Chun Jie, as I didn't have a hometown to go back to, and Jimei was pretty much deserted. Imagine a ghost town where hardly any shops and restaurants are open, where there are no night markets, street stalls, etc. That was what I experienced for a month.

As someone who was on a scholarship, I fully relied on my monthly stipend. But as it was Chun Jie and everyone disappeared from town, my donors kind of forgot to send me and my friends our February allowance. We were left with hardly any money. I was lucky I still had 500RMB on me, but my other friends went with a lot less. 

This put me in an awful conundrum. I needed to eat, but also needed to spend the least amount of money as possible in order to survive. So what I did was cook my own soups during the day, and then at night go to one of those Chinese wannabe KFCs like CNHLS or DKG, and order Jimihua.

Why wannabe KFCs as my first-choice rescue restaurant, you ask? Because it was the only cheap source of protein that was available and OPEN during Chun Jie. Well, the McDonald's and actual KFC were open, but those are extremely expensive. A burger in the real chains could cost as much as 30RMB. That's just for the burger.

Meanwhile, a meal at a fake KFC (burger, drink, and fries/jimihua/chicken skewers/small chicken wrap) would be around 12 to 14RMB. Not bad for a starving student. A bag of jimihua would just cost 4RMB. It was a bargain.

So this post is dedicated to all the wannabe KFCs in Jimei, especially CNHLS, because they kept me alive for an entire month on Chun Jie.

Thank you!