It’s easy to know what is on the menu at that 5-Star Radisson in Shenzhen or Shanghai. It’s in English and contains all the items you are accustomed to seeing on a menu - only much more expensive. But that is not really Chinese food, and so I won’t write about these. What I think is more important is for you to learn about what Chinese people eat, and why it’s healthy and good for you.

While many of the middle class restaurants I speak of have pictures on their menus, those pictures may not always be what they seem. Fish certainly looks like fish, but what is that stuff that looks like grandmas beef stew, and why does that look like seaweed?
Well the answers are simple and yet complicated. It very well could be seaweed, or it could be tofu, but either way it’s very healthy eating.

The Chinese eat lots and lots of vegetables of every variety. Many varieties of spinach, and lettuce, along with radish, carrot, turnip, broccoli and celery. And how many times have you heard US doctors and other advice givers saying that we need more vegetables in our diets?
Chicken, duck, fish, turtle, frog, and pork are the ‘meat’ mainstays, along with the occasional lamb and beef dishes. During holidays, dog is very popular. With each of these dishes you get everything except the intestines. Which means that the fish, turtle, chicken and duck all come with their heads and feet and the dog with his genitals. Beef, pork, chicken and duck liver is also plentiful and very popular, so people are also getting their daily iron supplement. Many times you will see some stuff that looks like some fungus or something.... It’s probably just tofu, but could also be an offshoot from the mushroom family, of which there are dozens here in China, and these are most welcomed from a mushroom lover. Many dishes are available with either rice and/or wheat noodles, along with a large variety of soups to warm your innards, especially in winter.

You will see that many of the dishes have little seeds in them, or slices of what look like green or red bell peppers. This means it is probably on the spicy side. Some locations are more noted for their spicy food than others, but with the exception of Shanghai - which is known for its food being ‘sweet’ - most food with these peppers means “spicy”. Oh and in some places, they will make you forget you ever heard about Mexican food....

Rice.... ah yes, rice. Rice is generally consumed at every meal when eating at home. Yet many times, while it is always available at restaurants, when Chinese people dine in a restaurant they do not eat rice. Especially when (paying the bill) entertaining bosses, girlfriends, foreigners, and/or other important people.

Finally, I always looked at the situation with this thought. There are 1.5 billion or so Chinese people, and they have been eating all of this for 5,000 or so years - according to their culture. So it can’t be harmful.

Next.... Some protocols of Chinese dining.