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Q: Can eating Chinese street food kill you?
I am asking this question since I've been living in many developing countries like Pakistan in the past and I've learned that sometimes it's better for the sake of your life (food poisoning) not to eat street food. Do you think it's also the case in China? I've seen many cheap vendor stalls offering 辣面, but I am still not convinced whether I should try it.
best not to think too much about what goes on in the kitchen around here...
best not to think too much about what goes on in the kitchen around here...
Yes - but so can eating food (from the street or anywhere else for that matter) in any other country. There is, of course, a greater risk attached to food items purchased in China but, for sure, E. coli 0157 is a killer in many meat products right around the world.
It depends on where you are in PRC. Sounds like you want to try it out. To play safe it is better you find out where the nearest hospital is and how much they charge / opening hours beforehand. It is always a good idea to know these things wherever you choose to settle anyway. It is never time wasted. It is not just for your own sake, who knows, someone else may benefit from your knowledge one day.
Also, before you go on such a binge, make sure your home is well stocked... food, water, vitamins, salts, toilet paper! Anything that you'll be needing, but won't be able to leave the house to buy for a few days.
Also, remember to stock plenty of toilet tissues, for when you go to work... (like, buy the big packs!)
And, of course, make sure you have people you can contact to help (I'd also suggest have a good, trusted person who has a spare key... you don't want to have to get up out of bed when they come over!)
Bollards are my favorite. It takes about 2 weeks to boil down, but once you get them to a mushy constituency, just add road chips, a few bay leaves, and you have a meal fit for a king 
Yes it can kill, if store is on the other side of the road ....
Tomorrow, I am making scampi&snapper risotto with Mages, French vino, 2014, 2 bottles for 90 Rmb (nothing special, beaujolais taste)....
Well, it is hard to say. I have eaten quite a lot of street food and never really got food poisoning. Chinese are quick to shun a crappy food selling street merchant.
I have actually seen some fenqing... smash a vendor's cart cause she sold his girlfriend food that wound her up in the hospital or something.
But overall, I would say it is mostly safe. Just consider that most of these vendors are rural people and have no commitment to the community. If they sell crap, they can just take off back home and never come back. So if you do choose to eat street food, maybe ask them where they are from first... if they are local... lower chances of dangerous food.
I've been poisoned a few times, each time after eating in a proper, clean looking (with Chinese characteristics) restaurant.
Locals will often tell you it's safer to eat in the more expensive restaurants and they're probably generally right, but I tend to think that whoever buys the food they serve you is going to buy the cheapest they can find, just like the street vendors will and the cooks idea of hygiene isn't much different from the guy selling food on the street.
After 3 years in China I prefer street food (fresh) rather than old beef steak in rarely visited steak restaurant.
Stats: 3 years in China, 0 problems with street food, 2 stomach aches from old beef steak.
Bump 
and pints! I want my jackets soon!
Please, award 2 pints for this bump! I am over the daily pints limit!
Let's break 'Redeem bank'!
As everyone is living to death, eating 'rare' food in different country is an experience. Trying is always good?
