The China Thread

[RedLagoon]

 

[Read_Lives_of_Saints]

I'm a pretty discriminating eater, and am still puzzled by your assessment of the quality of food in China. Even if you don't love Chinese food, you can get things like a roast duck or BBQ pork that any meat lover can really appreciate.

I love all that, but over a period of years I saw that food & drink fraud, and low quality cookware leeching aluminum, was the norm there, and the effects of it on my own health were obvious, as well as it apparently affecting others.

When you get a bowl of thin slices of meat for hot pot, you have no idea of the origin and this is not theoretical. It comes from experience, a lot of which has been captured on video and is floating around. OG Chinese diners prefer fowl because the bones attest to it being less likely fake than other meats and is probably why KFC has become much more popular there than McDonald's.

There seems to be a consensus of awareness of the quality problems of Chinese food, just as there is of Indian food, and American food, all of which have their particular areas of concern. I've been following this for years and am probably a lot more aware and concerned about it than most people because food from all three of those groups have caused me trouble.

If you're not in the health field, nor you & your family affected, this could be under your radar, but it's still there and common knowledge with lots of references readily available.

 

[Cooper]

I love all that, but over a period of years I saw that food & drink fraud, and low quality cookware leeching aluminum, was the norm there, and the effects of it on my own health were obvious, as well as it apparently affecting others.

When you get a bowl of thin slices of meat for hot pot, you have no idea of the origin and this is not theoretical. It comes from experience, a lot of which has been captured on video and is floating around. OG Chinese diners prefer fowl because the bones attest to it being less likely fake than other meats and is probably why KFC has become much more popular there than McDonald's.

KFC is also more popular than McDonalds in Japan, it is more a matter of fried chicken being closer to local Asian tastes than burgers.

A lot of the criticism of China and Chinese society tends to be based on features that are common across east Asia, like your post about the introverted dining experience, or the cultural insularity, or the brutally demanding school system. Those are all east Asian cultural characteristics.

 

[Read_Lives_of_Saints]

A lot of the criticism of China and Chinese society tends to be based on features that are common across east Asia, like your post about the introverted dining experience, or the cultural insularity, or the brutally demanding school system. Those are all east Asian cultural characteristics.

You're probably right about KFC. That's a much better explanation for the primary reason for its popularity in China and Japan. BTW, my own experience with chicken in China is much, much better than in the USA, where I would say that what is commonly sold here has so much more detrimental effect than nutritious that it should be avoided entirely, whereas chicken, pigeon, duck and goose in China was always good and I actually miss it.

However, the criticism of China that fits into East Asian cultural characteristics is about intensity, extremity and frequency and not a misunderstanding of an overall baseline that exists in several different countries.