The Food Process Issue

This is the first in a series of posts about food ... in China and elsewhere. To start with, you'll hear many Americans and many Chinese talk about how Chinese food is healthier for you (than American food) because the Chinese eat more fresh vegetables and naturally grown foods. Let me be clear -- THIS IS A LIE.

I have never seen foods as processed as I have seen in China. The foods for sale in China would make an American food executive blush. Not blush red with embarrassment, but green with envy. They would think "Wow, can we do that to food and still sell it? People will eat that? They like what kinds of flavors?." They would think they had died and gone to processed food nirvana.

I have seen meats and vegetables sliced, diced, pureed, liquefied, freeze-dried, vacuum-packed and then combined (you know, for kicks) and then sold to consumers who love it. Some of the processed meats that are sold here make spam and beef jerky seem like organic, natural food. I have even seen spam in a German restaurant listed on the menu as "meatloaf" (I was not amused).

Is this bad? Am I complaining? No, not really. I have tried a lot of new foods and you'd be surprised at what's tasty after it's been processed. Is the fact that it's processed bad? No, not really. People should be given options on what to eat. It's their responsibility on when to choose healthy and when to choose pure, fully-adulterated pleasure.

Anyway, in China, it's not the processed foods you need to worry about. It's those pesky unprocessed foods that can make you sick (another friend fell victim to a bad salad last week) or ... make you sick (half-formed chicken embryos on a stick, anyone?).