Yup, Chinese-American here of southern Chinese heritage, there’s a lot of pork in everything! Also keep in mind that in “nicer” maybe tourist-friendly restaurants, pork is considered richer and more for the wealthy and well-to-do heeled customers, especially if you don’t like to pick slivers of bones out of cleaver-chopped chicken pieces or scary bones out of whole fish pieces!
Certainly home cooked recipes use a lot of chicken and tofu, eggs, and fish— along with a lot more vegetables and simple soups, and side like pickles.
Going to a “fancy” restaurant definitely means a dish you are less likely to eat at home, so there is that too.
With diabetes and obesity on the rise on almost every continent, keep in mind that all those dishes cooked in lard or fatty meats like pork usually aren’t drained of excess fat when wok-fried, it’s all incorporated into the tasty sauces you eat over your white rice or noodles!
My cholesterol levels were high when I moved out of my mother’s house in my 20s with her traditional delicious cooking!
They came down when learning to cook in similar but healthier ways— leaner meats, draining fat, using healthier and less oil. Also eating more whole grains like brown rice (the horror to most older generations of Asians), and using fiber and protein rich beans/legumes in meals!
We live in Thailand now, and I’ve always found it hilarious that Asians tend to use beans and corn(!) in desserts! Or fresh boneless chicken breast is by far the cheapest (most unpopular) form of chicken parts sold at the supermarket!
And another laugh: my brother’s Korean in-laws in response to suggestions of o eating more brown rice: “That’s what prisoners eat.”😆
Enjoy the food, love the write ups! Nice to hear from former Seattlites too!🥰
Do you think we’ll ever be able to afford living there again?? Or…will we want to??😵💫🥺
So many great eating experiences! I love the bamboo tubes filled with rice and chicken, separately! And so much more, and great photos too (of course).
Everything pork made me laugh. Especially the tofu pork. And veggie pork. I get it. Pork is good but I agree about the animal factory farming. I wonder if China has any more humane farming practices. I kindof doubt it. Thanks for the laugh this morning.
You're not on your own with the pork aversion, just do an internet search for 'highrise Chinese pig farm.
If you are ever unlucky enough to visit a pig farm, not necessarily in China, but in the western world as well, you'll never look at a pork roll in the same way.
Well we'd be right at home then in China, cause Pork is King at our house. But I understand completely your aversion to it. My oldest daughter when she was still quite young, on a road trip, saw both semis hauling beef and a huge feed lot and decided then she wouldn't eat beef again. She would eat our beef we bought from a friend who's cows were raised in bucolic setting. But generally any factory raised animal is stressed and very sad. I also realize I'm in a very priviliged position to buy meat from my local farmer/rancher where I know they've been humanely raised and butchered. Your stories from China has made me want to go!
Haha--I'm glggling about your Vietnamese chicken dish experience. I like to think we'd brave our way through new experiences like that, but I know we would struggle.
So this would be an issue for me, and not one I had considered at all! My Chinese American and Chinese Canadian food can all be ordered with substitutes, but I can see that this would be nearly impossible at restaurants in China...
I had already planned on three months in Taiwan when I got the news my cholesterol was "dangerously high," so I had to cut way back on meat and animal products. It was.....challenging.
Haha yes. Everyone says, "There are vegetarian options!" Which is true! There is ONE restaurant in every neighborhood that is vegetarian. But the options are GREATLY diminished, and the cost is quite a bit higher.
We consider ham, bacon and sausage to be breakfast foods, so why not pork? Truly, though, I agree with you about pork and try to avoid it myself.
My favorite line in this piece is "bones and other things." "Other things" is doing so much heavy lifting in that sentence, emphasizing the tactful diplomacy of your guide ;-D
When we left America, I did think, "The more authentic food is, the better it is!" But now I understand that tastes, like everything, are partly relative. And that's okay!
I'm a vegan and after reading this I'll NEVER go to Red China as long as I live! Taiwan sounds way better.
I remember my grandparents used to raise hogs by feeding them culled potatoes and butchered them and made smoked ham and bacon. Grandma would make pie crust using lard and fry vegetables for spaghetti in fat
It actually all looks delicious, although I hear you on the inhumane practices in raising pigs (and, I know, other meat). Also agree that it’s unfortunate that chickens and fish tend to be hacked up indiscriminately. But, I loved the food in China, especially the most wonderful mapo tofu of my life, in Chengdu.
Yup, Chinese-American here of southern Chinese heritage, there’s a lot of pork in everything! Also keep in mind that in “nicer” maybe tourist-friendly restaurants, pork is considered richer and more for the wealthy and well-to-do heeled customers, especially if you don’t like to pick slivers of bones out of cleaver-chopped chicken pieces or scary bones out of whole fish pieces!
Certainly home cooked recipes use a lot of chicken and tofu, eggs, and fish— along with a lot more vegetables and simple soups, and side like pickles.
Going to a “fancy” restaurant definitely means a dish you are less likely to eat at home, so there is that too.
With diabetes and obesity on the rise on almost every continent, keep in mind that all those dishes cooked in lard or fatty meats like pork usually aren’t drained of excess fat when wok-fried, it’s all incorporated into the tasty sauces you eat over your white rice or noodles!
My cholesterol levels were high when I moved out of my mother’s house in my 20s with her traditional delicious cooking!
They came down when learning to cook in similar but healthier ways— leaner meats, draining fat, using healthier and less oil. Also eating more whole grains like brown rice (the horror to most older generations of Asians), and using fiber and protein rich beans/legumes in meals!
We live in Thailand now, and I’ve always found it hilarious that Asians tend to use beans and corn(!) in desserts! Or fresh boneless chicken breast is by far the cheapest (most unpopular) form of chicken parts sold at the supermarket!
And another laugh: my brother’s Korean in-laws in response to suggestions of o eating more brown rice: “That’s what prisoners eat.”😆
Enjoy the food, love the write ups! Nice to hear from former Seattlites too!🥰
Do you think we’ll ever be able to afford living there again?? Or…will we want to??😵💫🥺
Oh, that all makes perfect sense! Yes, our guides often have Chinese guests too, so obviously they would be trying to impress them.
Isn't that fascinating about how "relative" brown rice and white chicken breast is? LOL
Haha, at this point, we'll be going back to Seattle to VISIT only. You're right -- the prices are CRAZY.
So many great eating experiences! I love the bamboo tubes filled with rice and chicken, separately! And so much more, and great photos too (of course).
Yes, it was very fun! And tasty.
Everything pork made me laugh. Especially the tofu pork. And veggie pork. I get it. Pork is good but I agree about the animal factory farming. I wonder if China has any more humane farming practices. I kindof doubt it. Thanks for the laugh this morning.
Right? It's TOFU. And vegetables!
Sadly, I think they might be even worse than America.
You're not on your own with the pork aversion, just do an internet search for 'highrise Chinese pig farm.
If you are ever unlucky enough to visit a pig farm, not necessarily in China, but in the western world as well, you'll never look at a pork roll in the same way.
We're on the same page. I don't eat much meat ever, but I've long thought pork is just beyond the pale, given the horrible way it's raised.
Well we'd be right at home then in China, cause Pork is King at our house. But I understand completely your aversion to it. My oldest daughter when she was still quite young, on a road trip, saw both semis hauling beef and a huge feed lot and decided then she wouldn't eat beef again. She would eat our beef we bought from a friend who's cows were raised in bucolic setting. But generally any factory raised animal is stressed and very sad. I also realize I'm in a very priviliged position to buy meat from my local farmer/rancher where I know they've been humanely raised and butchered. Your stories from China has made me want to go!
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.
I wonder when I first realized "meat" was "animals," and I wonder what I thought...
Haha--I'm glggling about your Vietnamese chicken dish experience. I like to think we'd brave our way through new experiences like that, but I know we would struggle.
Michael -- who is usually the more intrepid one -- refused to eat it. But I was raised Catholic (with lots of guilt) so I persisted. hehe
Oh the guilt! It'll get you every time.
So this would be an issue for me, and not one I had considered at all! My Chinese American and Chinese Canadian food can all be ordered with substitutes, but I can see that this would be nearly impossible at restaurants in China...
Yes, I hadn't considered this either. Although maybe if we had been more insistent. Others have said: just say, flat out: I want vegetarian.
I guess that would be the only way. I’d have to be insistent for sure.
I had already planned on three months in Taiwan when I got the news my cholesterol was "dangerously high," so I had to cut way back on meat and animal products. It was.....challenging.
Haha yes. Everyone says, "There are vegetarian options!" Which is true! There is ONE restaurant in every neighborhood that is vegetarian. But the options are GREATLY diminished, and the cost is quite a bit higher.
We consider ham, bacon and sausage to be breakfast foods, so why not pork? Truly, though, I agree with you about pork and try to avoid it myself.
My favorite line in this piece is "bones and other things." "Other things" is doing so much heavy lifting in that sentence, emphasizing the tactful diplomacy of your guide ;-D
LOL
When we left America, I did think, "The more authentic food is, the better it is!" But now I understand that tastes, like everything, are partly relative. And that's okay!
At least there were no pork drinks?
That's a separate article.
I'm a vegan and after reading this I'll NEVER go to Red China as long as I live! Taiwan sounds way better.
I remember my grandparents used to raise hogs by feeding them culled potatoes and butchered them and made smoked ham and bacon. Grandma would make pie crust using lard and fry vegetables for spaghetti in fat
I'm afraid the Taiwanese love pork just as much.
Yeah, not a big fan of lard either! LOL
Keep in mind, the Taiwanese also love their pork! But yeah, it's more avoidable, for sure.
Super enjoyable read: definitely smile-inducing! (And I’m now hungry…)
Haha thank you!
It actually all looks delicious, although I hear you on the inhumane practices in raising pigs (and, I know, other meat). Also agree that it’s unfortunate that chickens and fish tend to be hacked up indiscriminately. But, I loved the food in China, especially the most wonderful mapo tofu of my life, in Chengdu.
There is much to be admired! (and eaten)
Yeah, the cruelty thing... it's gotta stop.
Hilarious! As a pescatarian, I have now been forewarned about Chinese cuisine. It would be a challenge.
haha yes. Smart choice on your part. I do still eaten chicken.
China has really never been on my list, and this kinda solidifies that. But this was a fascinating read! Good luck with the pork detox. :)
haha thank you.
Southern China wasn't really on the top of my travel bucket list, but without options to avoid pork or beef, that's kind of a clincher. Unfortunate!
Still much to admire, but...yeah.