I wish I never tasted my first chee cheong fun

What was your first introduction to chee cheong fun? 

My earliest memory of it was the pre-made type kept in a food warmer alongside a variety of similarly mass-produced bao and siew mai. It takes no time for it to be dumped on a plate and topped with sweet sauce and if you are lucky, sesame seeds. As a picky eater who disliked vegetables and complicated food, that was often my go-to "meal" during recess in early school years. I think I liked it very much then. 

I wish I could remember when was my first introduction to the other chee cheong fun. I am referring to the freshly-made type using steam to cook the liquid rice flour on a cloth into translucent rice sheets with savoury ingredients such as char siew or prawns. Served steaming hot with a super light soy sauce. Okay, I am salivating as I am typing here. This is the only type of chee cheong fun I allow into my stomach now.

I was pondering this question of why was my first chee cheong fun not the second version as my husband and I were enjoying this very delicacy bought from the newly opened Chef Wei HK Cheong Fun in our neighbourhood. I really love this version of chee cheong fun!!! And I seriously feel shortchanged somehow that I grew up thinking the first version was acceptable..

As mentioned, I think I liked it then as a child. It was enjoyable then even though the rice rolls were way too thick and the dish had minimal nutrients. Perhaps in a school setting where the turnover rate is high, all the chee cheong fun I had then were soft and warm. It was during my working days when in the interest of time and convenience, I ordered a plate from the drinks stall at a coffeeshop and was served one with rice rolls that were dried up at the edges and a sweet sauce that was too watery, and no sesame seeds. Oh, the indignation I felt then. 

I can't be sure but after getting my first taste of the Hong Kong style chee cheong fun, I believe I have never (in the words of the famous doctor photographer) wasted another calorie on the version made for convenience. 

Convenience. Just a word. Who doesn't like convenience right? Me. It has become a word with negative connotations to me now. I do like ease, honestly who wouldn't like life to be easier, but no, not at the expense of life itself. How did we come to this point when convenience takes precedence over our health, our wellbeing, our only home, our planet? 

Back to the question to which I have no answer. It is hard to imagine a Chef Wei in even one school canteen. With an average of 30 minutes for recess, who has time to wait for freshly made chee cheong fun? How else to serve the masses but with mass-produced food? Yet, I can't help thinking how I would never ever stomach the pre-made convenience version if my first taste had been the freshly made authentic quality food that we deserve.