Dim sum =? savory snack

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/18/2011 02:55 AM, victor steinbok wrote:

>I'm a bit concerned about this thread because many of the post do not
>necessarily reflect my own experience with dim-sum. I tried to put some
>notes together--some may be wrong, so feel free to correct them at any
>point.
>
>First, the word has come to represent many things, some likely broader than
>I would feel comfortable using. It refers to a style of meal, the meal
>itself, items served at such a meal, items typical of such a meal but not
>necessarily served at one, all Chinese savory "mini-bites" such as shao-mai
>and har-gao. Furthermore, restaurants that serve such a meal are also
>sometimes referred to as "dim-sum" or "dim-sum X", where X stands for
>anything that traditional may identify a restaurant (e.g., restaurant,
>place, joint, house). "Going for dim-sum" usually means a visit to such a
>restaurant--irrespectively of whether this is a specialty of the house or a
>sideline, perhaps offered only once or twice a week. And if you go to your
>local Costco, you may find a plastic tray full of prepared dumplings (to be
>microwaved), with a big "Dim-Sum" label across the top. I've also seen some
>simple shao-mai packages labeled as "dim-sum".

I imagine many of Victor's senses above would be treated by a
dictionary as attributive uses.  To me, dim sum are what is aet.

>...
>Meal content: Most of the items are quite small and served on small
>plates--sometimes still inside the individual steamer baskets in which they
>were prepared (if steamed). But this is by no means exclusive. Such
>specialties as steamed greens, clams, jellyfish, chicken feet, etc., are
>often served on larger plates and must be ordered separately. To the best of
>my understanding, this is not an Americanized addition, but a part of a
>traditional meal.

I would argue that such dishes are not dim sum themselves, but dishes
that are offered -- and sometimes selected and aet -- at "dim sum
restaurants", or "dim sum meals".

>... The most common
>service consists of "waitresses" pushing carts around the floor of the
>restaurant, each cart containing stacks of plates, usually representing a
>particular kind of items.

The best, and freshest and hottest, dim sum I've ever had were served
at a hotel restaurant in Taipei (in the 1980s), were ordered off a
menu, and were brought from the kitchen by the serving staff on
trays.  (They were still on small plates for each group of 2-4
identical items.)

>... Not all cart contain pre-plated items.
>For example, hot soy milk or hot almond-flavored "soup" may be ladled into
>individual bowls at the table.

This too I would not call a dim sum item.

Joel

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