路人也被这一景象、或味道、或者甚至人们陶醉的信息素吸引过来，加入了他们的行列。你可能会惊奇，这究竟是什么？

    麻辣烫似乎比令人上瘾的其他多数街头小吃更具吸引力。这极可能是因为你选择的范围更广，花样繁多。虾、鱼丸、豆腐、藕片、蘑菇、鸡块、牛腩、面条等等煮在一方托盘冒着热气的肉汤里，里面调和了四川胡椒粉和芝麻油。你拿个盘子或外卖食品盒，即可以随便拿几串，也可精挑细选，并尽量记得用你的汉语手册问清楚肉块上是否有出厂商的印章。不要紧，因为每样东西都是煮熟的，并且通常比生的好吃的多。1串卖1元或5角，花3块钱你就能小吃一顿，10元就能饱餐一顿。



    今天我在钟鼓楼东部的一个名为南锣鼓巷的胡同吃过麻辣烫。我要了一份海带、鱿鱼和鱼丸，豆腐卷，上面撒着芝麻红辣椒调料，坐在一家庭院的露台上吃了起来。胡同的居民骑着他们的结实的老式钢架自行车来来去去。我旁边的一对年轻情侣在相互喂食豆腐串。一群老奶奶正在为一个脸蛋儿红晕的小孩刚学会迈步喝彩。这可能会是我某天离开北京后难忘的这座城市独有的情景之一。

    麻辣烫源自四川省，但已经遍布中国的各大内陆及沿海城市，如北京、上海，我确定还有许多别的城市。

                                           Malatang


If you have been to Beijing, you've most likely come across this street scene: a bunch of people crowded around a street vendor, picking out skewers from a bubbling hot red broth. Others are standing around munching on the their bounty with a look of ecstasy on their faces. Passersby, drawn by the sight or smells or possibly even the pheromones of the people in ecstasy, join the crowd. You wonder, what is all this?

Malatang seems to be more of a magnet than most other highly addictive street food. Most likely it's because of the number of choices you get. Shrimp, fish balls, tofu, bean curd, lotus root, mushrooms, chicken, beef tendon, noodles, and much more get cooked in a pot of steaming broth laced with Sichuan peppers and sesame oil. You get a plate or take-out container and make your selection either blindly or informed, by asking nicely and trying to remember if there's a chapter on animal parts in your phrasebook. No matter, because everything is cooked through and more often than not, delicious. At 1 rmb or 50 jiao per skewer, you can have a light snack for 3 rmb or stuff yourself for 10 rmb.



I got my malatang fix today in Nanluoguxiang, a hutong just east of the Drum & Bell Towers. I got my helping of kelp, squid and fish balls, and bean curd rolls, topped them with a sesame chilli sauce, and sat down on the stoop of a courtyard home. Hutong residents road by on their sturdy steel ol' skool bikes. The young couple next to me were feeding each other tofu skewers. A bunch of grandmothers were cheering on a ruddy-faced toddler as he wobbled his first steps. It was one of those amazing only-in-Beijing moments that I'll remember long after I, someday, leave the city. 

Malatang is originally from Sichuan province, but has spread to coastal cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and I'm sure plenty of others