Posted on 08/03/2008 7:34:26 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that.
A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind.
Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way of fried sparrows, grilled snake and turkey vulture schnitzels.
The locals insist that Western visitors shouldn't be put off the food on sale on this street - after all, it is mostly 'conventional' Chinese cuisine and great for lunch or dinner.
Indeed, even though dog meat is off the menu for competitors during the Games - they'll be filling themselves up with high-protein drinks and masses of carbohydrates - tourists can still sample dog brain soup or dog liver with vegetables.
As the official Beijing travel guide points out, Westerners should not turn up their noses at these dishes.
'While you might consider things eaten in China to be distasteful, you must bridge the cultural gap and look at it with an open mind,' it advises.
And an open mouth come to that - for as the guide also points out: 'There have been times of severe famine (in China), even as recently as the late Sixties, when tens of millions died of starvation in the Great Leap Forward. Back then, you would have been glad to have had what's on today's menu.'......
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“natural resource development”
~~~~~~~
Is that a euphamism for boobjob?
Even though the traditional method is still widely practiced, modern understanding of the chemistry behind the formation of century eggs has led to many simplifications in the recipe. For instance soaking the eggs in a brine of salt and lye (Sodium hydroxide or Sodium carbonate) for 10 days followed by several weeks of aging while wrapped in plastic is said to achieve the same effect as the traditional method. This is true to the extent that egg curing in both new and traditional methods is accomplished by introducing alkali hydroxide ions and sodium into the egg.
If I can touch them, they are real to me.
Did the health department finally make them wash them before deep frying...
Gnaw off the meat and spit out the bones (although I think it's considered impolite to literally spit them out with a big gob of saliva). The ones I've tried are in dim sum (Chinese hors d'oeuvres) places - they're fried and then slow-cooked in a savory sauce. The resulting product is a little gelatin-like but pretty tasty. It ain't dainty eating - given the continuous regurgitation of bones, but the product is pretty tasty.
Didn’t think to ask.........but as someone who used to have a job counting the number of insect parts in food, I’m not overly sensitive.....
From the article: “Most people eat dog meat and donkey penis rarely, if at all”. That’s good to know that they aren’t gorging themselves on donkey penis.
One word: UGH!
I've tried both. Just writing the names makes me gag.
Call me closed minded but given China's lack of food quality standards, I'm not touching their stuff.
Yep. I went to China on business in early 2001. They really do eat some weird (and gross) stuff.
I’m not sure I even trust these photos. To my knowledge, dog has not been sold on Wangfujang in many many years. Even where dog is available, very few people eat it. Mostly what I see sold now in these markets is squid, lamb, chicken, or beef.
As far as the scorpions etc. go, this kind of thing is sold all over Asia. Taiwan is particularly known for bizarre food.
If I could eat anywhere in the world, it would be in China.
Nope ..... don’t have to do such after SERE and Survival Schools !
The Olympic Team is alleged to be brown baggin their food due scares of certain additives that will cause their blood tests to fail during competition. Sneaky chinese recipe !
...) upset Pamela “The Vegan” Anderson, apparently. Not as much as my... 
"Help stamp out STDs: Don't brake for Pamela Anderson" one.
The Cantonese eat anything that has DNA.
I’ve watched a couple of these on the food network.
And people say we eat weird things in Texas.
C'mon people, don't be so provincial. Remember, when in Rome............ </sarc>
I got one word for ya....
*HLORRRF!*
(That, for the uninitiated, is the sound one can make as you BARF.)
Our hotel was immediately south of where the booths ended. The government officials or police, couldn't tell would shut them down at night and supervise the cleaning of the booths and the handling of the food. Same process about 10 in the morning.
We had 4-5 meals there on the run and never had a problem or saw any unhealthy practices.
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