Food

All over the city food related sounds contribute to the score of everyday life - from the hubbub of the huge indoor markets to the tiny tearing of wood when disposable chopsticks are separated.

Apart from the supermarkets, food is mainly purchased from individual traders who either set their produce out wherever they have set up or carry it around, usually in baskets that hang from either end of a thick bamboo stick. Whichever method is used their presence is made known by shouting out of their wares, and often in competition with the other sellers near by.

The toffee seller doesn't use his voice and yet his presence can be heard from the largest distance. He carries his produce as one slab which he breaks off using a special hammer and chisel and he uses these tools to tap out a two-tone rhythm of the name of what he is selling.

There is much eating out to be done in Chongqing, and one doesn't have to travel far before the sound of cooking food informs the listener what might be being served around the corner. The easiest to identify are perhaps the gentle white-noise roar of the dim sum (dumpling) steamer and, of course, the sizzle and scrape of the wok. My favourite though is the gentle 'chink' of china in the quieter of the teahouses that are scattered across the city offering peaceful recluse.