16 May 2011:
What shall we eat in China?
Not that I'm heading to China in the next few days, but I read an article about China's food safety (or rather, lack of) in Saturday's issue of Today, and I wanted to talk about it.Since [insert year here], China has been plagued by food scandals. And, may I emphasise plagued. The number of small and big food scandals China face is seriously alarming, yet the situation does not seem to be rectified in any way.
Among the most disgusting and [insert word here] incidents are those like the soy sauce incident back in 2004. Soy sauce was made from human hair. They used a kind of hydrolysis process to extract amino acids from human hair. By the way, the human hair was taken from hospitals, salons, so it was mixed with germs, bacteria, viruses, and condoms. (Link included to prove that I am not faking it ...)
I also wanted to mention the cardboard bun scandal, but according to Wikipedia (the same link as up there), it was a hoax. Frankly speaking, I don't know if this was a cover-up done by the Chinese government, or did the reporter really made up the whole news item.
My point is ... These people are doing all sorts of stuff to reduce their costs, while maintaining their foods' flavour, but it is of course inedible! The result? People in China are, themselves, afraid of their own food. Isn't it very ironic?
I must admit: the Chinese are very clever. But aren't they doing it the wrong way here? Instead of spending dollars on R&D of foodstuffs, they rather keep the money by using illegal and harmful methods of food production. In the short-term, it may seem beneficial for them, since they get to cut costs. In the long-term, once anyone falls sick and finds out, they are GG.
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I wonder in China, are there any old folks who are passionate about foodstuffs, who have carved a brand name of their own. With all the food scandals and scares, more and more local Chinese are turning to foreign products. The younger Chinese have probably ruined it for the older Chinese which I mentioned, those who really use their heart and soul to produce foods, and have never wanted to use the industrial chemicals and that.
I would want to go in search for foods in China that have never been subjected to such chemicals. Is it possible? What shall we eat in China?