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Q: Water in Food, esp. Soup...
tap water here (guangdong) taste like some kind of poison ! I have a feeling that's true in most of the Mainland. My question is- is it hurting us much to be ingesting this water over a long period of time? I do not drink it directly, but I brush my teeth, shower, eat all the different foods prepared with water, and I suppose the biggest thing I'm worried about is eating the soups and broths.
I probably eat between 200 - 250 bowls of noodle soup a year here. Most of the time I finish the broth too. Any experts out there have any knowledge about this (ingesting tainted h2o) they would like to share?
11 years 25 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
All I know is that i'm constantly amazed at how common it is for people to have quite serious health problems in China. Liver problems, kidney problems, all sorts. I'm certain the water plays a very large part in this. Hard to avoid though on thinking about this, and not for the first time, I have resolved to cook my son's food in spring water, at least as his body is going through these first, important, formative years of development.
diverdude1:
yeah, I suppose all these kidney failures could definitely be traced back to drinking tap water. I use bottled water at home for my food, but I eat out 90% of the time. Lately I have not been drinking quite as much of the broth as I used to. It tastes good, but I can't help but think about what it really is I am putting into my body....
Scandinavian:
are you sure this is not just TCM playing a trick on you. E.g. a TCM doctor told me a have a week kidney and was told to take some small pellets for a while. My "kidney problem" is based on the theory that the organs are not balanced. This happen to take place a mere 2 weeks after I had had a full health checkup at my doctors place back home, everything was fine. If you go to a Chinese doctor there is ALWAYS something wrong, as far as I can tell it is impossible to be healthy according to TCM.
In past times I had cause to spend some not inconsiderable time in Arab nations, the medical advice from both UK (and indirectly US) health authorities was to use bottled water even for brushing your teeth.
In China we have an after market filter system, one to a tap in the kitchen and another to the water feed into the fridge and that, allegedly, makes the water drinkable so we use that water for anything that we may ingest, and it seems to work, I chug a fair amount of ice water from that fridge and, touch wood, no extended toiletry visits so far.
There isn't much you can do about restaurants though and that is one reason why I don't eat soup noodles, only 'dry' noodles. I then have to hope any foods cooked in water, (or that have water added) have used boiled water. Of course that wouldn't remove any metal / heavy chemical pollutants.
I do remember an old former colleague of mine (much my senior) absolutely insisted that you should only drink gin and tonic, and even brushed his teeth in tonic water, "its the quinine, in the tonic don't you know".
I live in Nanning, and I have come up with a system that does work for me. I take water from the faucet, boil it for 5 minutes, and let it cool down. Once at room temperature (covered), I pass it thru an stone filter system. The resulting water is tested with an electronic device, and always comes in above 99.7% pure.
The best bottled water has ever tested on my machine is 95 %. So, I have drank it for 2 years now and no problems, no Montezuma revenge, nothing.
diverdude1:
I did similar in S. Texas long ago. Steam Distillation method. I agree it is best if one can control one's own h2o supply. well, I guess my answer to myself is fk it . I'm gonna eat local; I'm gonna travel; so,,,,, I guess I'm gonna ingest some dicey shit. well, we all gotta go someday... who am I to complain....
In place where I live (KaiPing, Guangdong) I have no problems with water, even if I boil it directly from the tap when making some dishes. (I would never dare to drink it not-boiled off course...) but I try to use previously boiled off course.
When cooking I usually use water boiled in smart portable device, that first boils a water, and then keeps it at 90C temperature... and it works well.
Off course it will not remove non-organic pollution, but I used to live with that.
For dishes that are cooking shortly, and when I have to use cold water (for example - when I add a dash of water when making a sauce) I use bottled.
We will see after Year or two if I'll not become metallic statue or something... 
The water quality is probably different from city to city, and even within cities. We only use the tap water for flushing the toilet, showering and teethbrushing (you are not supposed so swallow toothpaste anyway) Any water used in the kitchen is boiled in advance, and for making e.g. soups we use bottled water.
My mother in law has recently had a filter installed that filters all water to her apartment. That water is definitely drinkable, I have not felt any discomforts in the lower stomach region after drinking it on many occasions. She does however still use bottled water for most things as she often hears that "there is something in the water" But it's nice to know that at least the toilet gets flushed with filtered water.
