Isabella reads the unfamiliar stories.

"Dinner?" wonders Xander some hours later.

"吃," she agrees, then shakes her head. "Sorry. Yes, it does seem to be the time for it." 

"Chirr? What does chirr mean?"

"Eat."

"Huh, how about that."

What all is there to eat besides Chinese food?

The food isn't really divided into "Chinese" and "not Chinese;" there's just food, some of which happens to be identifiable as Chinese in origin to someone from the relatively cosmopolitan but still relevantly culturally segregated year of 2006. 

Eventually Isabella tiebreaks in favor of hot pot.

"This is more like dumplings than sour soup! I'm learning so many things I like today!"

"What's food like where you're from?"

"It's...food...wow that's not helpful...bread, meat, lots of mushrooms, vegetables if you're lucky, zeefood, rat on a stick, sandwiches, soup--I've had khaganian food, which is kind of heavy on the meat, and they have an apparently very distinct kind of liquor? I don't know I've never tried it. We have lots of mushroom wines, though, I think that's notable and on the Surface they use grapes instead?"

"Rat?"

"Not rattus faber!"

"Not actually my issue here!"

"Different cultures eat different things. Though I've never heard of mushroom liquor."

"We have a lotta fungus and not a lotta plants down there. Except right near the Mountain." 

"That makes sense. Maybe the mountain light's preventing you all from being malnourished."

"That would not remotely surprise me. I don't actually have to eat at all, it only gets kind of uncomfy if I don't and then plateaus."

"Keen. Should we read more or call it a day?"

"If we're going to call it a day I'd like to at least check to see if the general store's still open to get paper from so I can organize what I learned today."

"Good idea. You want us along?"

"Well, you have the money, so I definitely need either you or it."

"I guess I'll come in case paper is weirdly expensive or there's something else that needs bought in case I have to trade another pearl."

"That sounds much easier than attempting to convince him to buy a fingernail-sliver-shaped piece of diamond!"

"How do you even get diamond fingernails to come off?"