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Q: Have you changed your eating habits drastically after coming to China?
Obviously moving to a different country always implies a change in your eating routine, specially if the culture is very different.
However, I am talking about very drastic changes. Some of my friends have become vegetarian after decades of feasting on meat after. There is one who have gone from a vegan diet to suddenly eating fish and meat. And I also know quite a few that are surviving on McDonalds and KFC but were completely against eating fast food back in their home countries.
I can understand that the concern about the quality of the food has a great impact, but still seems shocking sometimes. Have you seen a similar behavior from your expat friends?
My breakfasts used to be a bowl of chocolate milk and a chocolate croissant fresh from the bakery.
My lunches and dinners used to be my mom's fresh, healthy cooking.
I used to go to Mc Donald's about 5-6 times a year top, and rarely drank soda or ate junk food in general.
In China, my breakfasts were youtiao and baozi.
My lunches were either Chinese food, Mc Donald's, or snacks (like potato chips, cookie, etc) with a sugary drink.
My dinners were either the same as lunch, or my mom's cooking when I was home.
My junk food consumption rose by about 500% in China, due to the low prices and availability. But I'm not complaining.
My eating habits are almost the same here. At home I ate chicken and ice cream and drank milk and coffee, with something different now and then. Here I drink more soy milk than cow milk.
I like the KFC chicken without the skin but the 'hamburgers' are as fat as any other fast food. Does anyone here make a 'hamburger' or hamburger without mayonnaise?
At home I ate in a dining hall, lots of different delicious options- healthy and unhealthy. I constantly made bad decisions and ate junk. On top of lack of exercise I managed to work my way up to an unhealthy, obese weight. I'm using the tons of free time I now have as a uni teacher to diet (mostly just less food, rather than different food), exercise, and read up on health. Oh, and the dozens of girls that are way out of my league spontaneously saying "you're handsome, but too fat..." was pretty good motivation.
