The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 902

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: An idea regarding Chinese food

Chinese food varies greatly on where you eat. Here in Nanning food is of a pretty poor standard. Having thought about this, a little, I thought to seek your views. The basic tool for eating is the chopstick. essentially little different to a stick broken off a tree. Hell even chimpanzees use tools like this, and I am not implying Chinese are chimpanzees, I am just showing the simplicity of thought that goes into producing such a tool. Cooking is usually done one of two gas rings and a metal bowel called a wok. In itself a gas ring is only a modern version of the campfire. The net result is a meal is often served cold over a period of time simply because two gas rings cannot cook a family meal all at once. There are virtually no ovens, other than the small table top variety. Tools for preparation consist of the almighty butchers cleaver and maybe one or two other accessories. It seems that cookery here is done the same way as everything else. That is the quickest easiest way to get the job done, heaven forbid that someone would develop a little finesse into the task. Yet Chinese food has developed a worldwide reputation, or does this come from Chinese food as prepared in foreign countries, we al know Chinese food back home is very different to here. But if the reputation does come from the very simplistic way of producing food here what does that say about some of the other great cuisines of the world where finesse is definitely required, such as French or Italian amongst others.

9 years 33 weeks ago in  Food  - China

 
Highest Voted
Posts: 2578

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

a little more about Chinese food .....  I like Chinese food, always have, and it is good here in China even. I have learned to disregard some stuff, I don't eat the big fat chunks of pork....  I use my hands when necessary...  I hardly even attempt to eat around the splintery bones........  BOTTOM LINE FOR ME IS....  VARIETY is the spice of life, and that is the only thing Hong Kong has on my home town.  I would love to go out and get a Greek salad, or an Indian Samosa or Naan, or Texas Chili, or Pigeon Pie, or lasagna (not Pizza Hut). a Prime Rib roast would be good today.. ,,,.. hope you expats are all salivating now, cause I am, and a Hong Kong visit seems imminent. even Shenzhen, I think now has a little more international decent foods. VARIETY!!!!

Report Abuse
9 years 33 weeks ago
 
Answers (4)
Comments (11)
Posts: 928

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Chinese food isn't really good at all.  Sorry, I hate hot pot because boiled meat doesn't taste good at all.  Totally kills the natural meat flavors when you soak it in a pot of soup.  

 

I remember seeing lots of posts about some famed "Kou Rou" 扣肉 and wondered what that was...  Finally ran into a few places and tried it out 2-3 times, just to get an idea of what I was eating was standard stuff or not.  It's pretty terrible, just a few strips of meat covered in fat.  

 

Not crazy about fried foods, so fried pork chops or fried chicken patties are out of the question for me... Not trying to catch cancer willingly here.

 

Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉) is pretty good, but again...  75%of the meat cubes are covered in marbled fat, which I cannot for the life of me allow myself to eat. (Not so big on that heart attack time)  

 

Lean meats don't really seem existent here. Like lamb but can't eat it often enough in restaurants cause of the fat problem.

 

All of the greasy meat makes me think heart disease is gonna be a real big thing here...........

 

 

 

 

Report Abuse
9 years 33 weeks ago
 
Posts: 9631

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

The problem with Chinese food is that it suffers from the 5000 years of history. There is very little development going on. 

 

I think your assessment of what tools are available is pretty much correct. 

 

Look at what a western kitchen has. 

 - Several different types of knives depending on what is being cut (try deboning a duck with a Chinese meat cleaver) 

 - Ovens

 - Fancy new age stuff like sous-vide, microwaves, electric food processors etc. 
 

I know that the average Chinese house wife has a lot of extra gadgets, but they are not used. It is always the same wok, the same thing to stir etc. The toolbox is just simpler. 

 

The fact that there is a farced perception that food must be eaten with chopsticks means everything must be prepared to be little pieces. I have no clue why, but I sure love seing people try to eat a steak with chopsticks. In the west we have mastered using chopsticks for different Asian dishes while using fingers for American food, knife and fork for our own food, and drink tea f a little cup with the pinky sticking out if we are having English Breakfast Tea. 

 

And why the hell is there ginger in everything. 

Burak43:

Ginger is amazing though , good for the body and shit. I've become so sinofied that even I put ginger in to most of the stuff I'm cooking here.

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

BHGAL:

My wife recently cooked dinner for 12. She has the typical stuff at her disposal. 2 burners, a wok and a boil pot, and a rice cooker. Guests gathered at various times and other women helped out.

1.       Prawns - wok

2.       Crabs - boil

3.       Pork (s&s)- boil and wokk

4.       Duck – imported

5.       Chicken – imported

6.       Green beans - wok

7.       Vegie variety - wok

8.       Spinach-  boil and wok

9.       BBQ beer pork – boil and wok

10.   Rice

11.   Chow mein

12.   Vast amount of different sauces and chilis and garlic and ginger.

13.   Note: not normal… no fish or two with head and tail attached….odd!!

This is just a 2 day later guess of mine for what she served me, family and friends. Another one or 2 I’m sure, of vegie/pork mix.

She is a good cook, the best in ‘the family”. We gathered for dinner around a table at my home suitable to seat 6, at the most, really just 4.

It only took her a couple hours of chopping, with her cleaver ( I have a whole set of knives – she doesn’t use them), and seasoning and and and …..  she sat down not long (10-15 minutes maybe) after I had finished eating…. STUFFED.  All chopsticks, even me.

Friends and family eat and run, leaving her to clean up her mess. Of course I help, but the point is eat and run…..little chatter after dinner, but not much…..  some real hungry guys were actually still at the table with my wife while she ate.

I still have leftovers in my little fridge.

 

Yesterday we went out for lunch at a “Western Restaurant, 6 of us. I wasn’t first to get my plate, but I was finished before the last person was served her menu order.

It all just seems foolish, or simple to me... working more on educating than I am on acceptance of simpleton practices.

 

forgot Oysters... they were delicious!! couple different soups.... before and after soups

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

Scandinavian:

@BHGAL


Simple is good. 
My breakfast this morning. A piece of bread with cheese and a glass of cold milk

Wifes breakfast: Home made soymilk, fried egg, toasted bread, jam

MILs breakfast: Home made soymilk, a rice porridge, a steamed sweet potatoe, 4 almonds, a bit of yogurt (thinned with water???) a boiled egg, a spoonful blended garlic/ginger(sesame oil)

 

My breakfast is awesome. The bread is fresh, the cheese is real. And I am done in no time, but full of enjoyment for the breakfast. Simple !

 

@Burak43: Seems the sinofication of you is more the belief that ginger has special properties than the fact you like the taste. Ginger can be OK, just not in every single dish. 

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

Lord_hanson:

I used to like ginger till I came to China. The 5000 year old history thing is about right. In most countries it would mean they have been improving themselves over this time period. In China it means they achieved this 5000 years ago and then stopped.

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 33 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2578

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

A little thing that I have seen happening here, in China at my home, the cost of dining out is going up. I learned this many years ago back home, that it is cheaper and better to eat at home. You buy exactly what you want and you cook and eat it. In the past year, here in Zhanjiang, the confirmed "best place", to eat was at the fish market restaurants. Now they charge a similar price for the fish and the extras, but then they add a variety of extra costs to cooking and serving it for you. Not unlike Airlines and baggage or in flight meals. They just add  stuff on....  never know what you are paying, but you can be sure it is not what it says on the old menu.

Scandinavian:

My estimate is that it is at least twice the price eating out (the difference would be way bigger back home)  But to get good food out, you need to get to 3 times the price. 

 

Prices of vegetables and meat is also rising quickly. Unless you are happy with garbage, proper food costs a lot more now than it did just a few years ago. And it will only continue to rise

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

RiriRiri:

More and more people eating meat/fish, a pressure on the industry that goes equivalently heavier (never forget, a kilo of meat and has a ratio in the range of a dozen of what a kilo of cereal needs for production). Enormous amount of space occupied by other industries, so if you count the pollution influence area, it really eats on the useable space for agriculture (I know they don't give a shit, but still, there's always a moment where stuff stops growing).

Do the maths, it doesn't look good. I suspect that China is already struggling to sustain the feeding needs of its population, but fortunately the modern world has all sorts of way to buffer reality, like funny pricing, or chemicals*, but when you look through that, it really, really doesn't look good.

* Like that disgusting orange juice from Minute Maid. How many liters can they produce from a single orange, just with water, additives and color? Probably a lot. Now when greedy you buys a few oranges from the store, how many bottles of disgusting Minute Maid are you stealing from the otherwise undemanding customer base?

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

BHGAL:

Little confused...simple me.. do your numbers say that an acre of grains or cereals can produce 12 times what an acre of animal pasture/animals can produce for me as a food and nutrition?

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

RiriRiri:

Animals eat cereals and grain before producing meat. Lots and lots and lots of those in a lifetime, even short. That's as much cereals and grains not going to the market for humans.

Additionally, they drink water, much more water than crops would need.

Lastly, they need space (at least, when you try to do this humanly, but granted it's optional, but quality-wise, you really can make the difference if your meat has been shitting on itself and never saw the light of day).

Dozen is on the optimistic end. Talk to an environmentalist, he'll quickly take you to the hundreds.

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

BHGAL:

so....  vegetarian is AN answer? I am quite open to anything that can fix world health and population and prosperity issues.  Maybe I will try Tofu...is that kind of like Soya bean stuff.....  sort of joking... I think I know...  but it would mean I would have to  grow my own little bits of meat... just to wean me off of it...  I like seafood and I like meat....raised on it....  peanuts around this home have been plentiful lately.(protein?)

wish I could get fresh bread (a variety of it), some good cheese (variety of it) and a really good Tofu burger.....I'd be happy.

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

RiriRiri:

If you're looking for an answer, the market already has several alternatives ready for you: less human treatment of animal, use of chemicals, and of course if you eat outside, you'll see all the funny pricing, cut corner attitude, diminishing quantities and all.

If you persist in wanting your real, decent quality meat, well, you'll just have to pay more, until you give up.

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

BHGAL:

I am an easy sell ....  for the good of all, I can change old habits.....  now my wife, who grew up with nothing....some rice, some vegies, some 2" fish and from time to time a chicken foot or a pig foot......... really sometimes nothing (she's47) ..a harder sell, she can afford the much desired seafood, or the pig, or 2-3 chickens for dinner...good luck telling her or any of her friends that the good old days was better. I will work on it...  but ..always a but...  I have an open worldly mind, she and her friends and compatriots that count in the millions, do not have an open mind...  

9 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
9 years 33 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2578

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

a little more about Chinese food .....  I like Chinese food, always have, and it is good here in China even. I have learned to disregard some stuff, I don't eat the big fat chunks of pork....  I use my hands when necessary...  I hardly even attempt to eat around the splintery bones........  BOTTOM LINE FOR ME IS....  VARIETY is the spice of life, and that is the only thing Hong Kong has on my home town.  I would love to go out and get a Greek salad, or an Indian Samosa or Naan, or Texas Chili, or Pigeon Pie, or lasagna (not Pizza Hut). a Prime Rib roast would be good today.. ,,,.. hope you expats are all salivating now, cause I am, and a Hong Kong visit seems imminent. even Shenzhen, I think now has a little more international decent foods. VARIETY!!!!

Report Abuse
9 years 33 weeks ago
 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change student visa to labourer one is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77