I didn't know the language/food when i got there and i got on fine, i could order in chinese after a couple of weeks and get the jist of menus in chacters, pinyin was a lot easier though.
You planned your travel. I was 18 when i reached china and the decision to go there was made in a week. I had no idea what pinyin was back then neither did i have my accommodation booked. Back then the thought of eating anything other than what i have already had in india was a big no no for me.
They guy who came to recieve me at the airport was so drunk off his ass (i later learned that he filled himself with 2 bottles of brandy while he was on his way to get me) that he fell asleep outside the airport waiting for me and only woke up when the cops took him in. I met him 4 days later in my university.
Ordering food in nice fancy restaurants or big cities in china is easy. But elsewhere it a fucking nightmare (at least in the first few weeks when eating a snake or half developed duck embryo was unimaginable for me)