Food in China: What's Taboo for You

Prince Philip of the United Kingdom once said "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."   I heard this quote repeated in our tour, and it's very true in China, especially the southern parts.   After returning from China and carefully considering what to write about, I decided not to share all the foods I have tried for fear of retaliation.  I decided my life is more important than to have People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals firing a paint gun at me when I'm walking down the street, or worse yet, firebombing my condominium.  Needless to say, for the adventuresome there's lots of things to try that can be found easily, such as chicken feet and pig's ears, and snake.  Some of the restaurants had horse, dog, and rat available on request.  Street markets had chickens and ducks in cages--talk about fresh!  Other markets had deep-fried silkworms and scorpion.   

Some of these so-called taboos are relatively recent, as some people my parents' age recalled their parents and grandparents preparing tripe, chicken feet, and brains.  In earlier times the entire animal was used, and most likely it was organic, antibiotic, and steroid free Nowawdays it is considered by many to be repulsive, even to those unknowingly eating these parts in sausages and other types of foods.

In general, China has no food taboos aside from the avoidance of dairy products by some due to lactose intolerance and tradition.  Of course we can all think of countries or cultures within countries have taboos on pork or meat in general, but other than questionable hygiene in some situations this doesn't seem to have a huge effect on the health of Chinese, whose average life expectancy is 73 years of age, longer than much of Eastern Europe (Russia's at 65) and Latin America and quite respectable for a developing country.  Hong Kong, with a reputation for eating just about anything under the sun, has a life expectancy of 81.7, topping even France and Sweden.     The more scary thing about China, in my opinion, is watching a younger generation indulge in McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and KFC, the restaurants of which are situated in more glamorous city centers and are perceived to be "clean", whatever that means.  For me, I'll take the cheap and delicious street food (which I'll save for another post).

Comments

[Josh]

welcome back!