Chinese Food for Thought

In gastronomic matters, I am squarely among the less intrepid of men. Raised by a vegetarian mother who wouldn't allow meat in her kitchen and a near-vegetarian father, I only had chicken and goat meat a handful of times during my teens -- egged on by parents who nevertheless held meat to be salutary for a growing boy. My introduction to fish and prawn came only in college. Thereafter, living outside India, I began eating other animals too -- cow, pig, sheep, crab, calamari, etc., once even lobster, snail (Paris), guinea pig (Cuzco), and wild boar (Patagonia). Then one fine day six years ago, I renounced eating mammals, and now prefer veggies over even chicken and fish (though I retain a weakness for Bengali style fish). Long live tofu, beans, and lentils!

Most Indians are even less "experienced" than me. It is no small wonder then, that in neighboring China things are dramatically different. What restaurants serve there would make many a hardy Indian stomach churn. Here are selections from a typical and popular restaurant in Beijing:

1. Traditional Peking style boiled sheep's head
2. Duck blood in a spicy Chongqing style
3. Royal duck tongue / Marinated duck head
4. Braised donkey meat in superior soup
5. Spicy bullfrog
6. Delicious black fungus
7. Braised pork treasures (sic)
8. Duck heart with cumin
9. Eel sects with brown sauce / Toasted Eel
10. Pork ear slices
11. Hot quick duck gizzard
12. Hot duck viscera w/ sunny egg
13. Barbequed suckling pig Lashu style
14. Young frog in bamboo
15. Pig bellies with garlic
16. Hot tasting chicken feet / Duck web [feet] with mustard
17. Stir-fried duck gizzard
18. Chicken claw with pepper
19. Dry fried ass meat in Xiang style
20. Braised pork trotter tendon and sea cucumber

The Cantonese push the limits even for other Chinese, with their taste for dogs, cats, raccoons, monkeys, lizards, rats, etc. On a previous visit to Guangzhou province in south China, I had walked down a meat market with skinned, glistening dog carcasses hanging on both sides of the street. Chinese food may well be the most popular ethnic cuisine in the world but none of the above stuff is commonly available in Main St restaurants in the West. Conversely, Western staples like kung pao and sweet-and-sour chicken are hard to find in China.

On a Beijing street last week, I encountered another gastronomical spectacle not far from the Forbidden City -- a fast-food market with some very unusual items, deep fried on skewers while you wait. Choices included scorpions, snakes, silkworms, beetles, centipedes, emu, starfish, eel, octopus, and grasshoppers. Though this isn't everyday food, the locals were chomping it down. Foreigners took pictures; a brave one would try something on a dare, or for bragging rights to friends back home (reactions vary of course; a haggis eating Scot might flinch less; likewise an American eater of warm pig brain in gravy, or an Italian eater of pig eye balls or testicles, etc.). I wondered: Is it really true that the Chinese will eat any part of just about anything that moves? How did they turn out this way? What might this reveal about human nature?

 

 

 

Three linked explanations occurred to me: a) the Chinese, in times of famine, were forced to seek out alternate sources of nutrition, which later weren't abandoned (but others have suffered famines too); b) traditional Chinese ethical-moral injunctions (particularly of Confucianism) did not extend to non-human beings or dietary restrictions; c) the "innate" revulsion we feel for eating certain species or body parts is simply a matter of nurture; theirs is an acquired taste, like mine for Bengali style fish. The human child, unlike a tiger cub, is not by constitution carnivorous; as an omnivore, his approach to both veggies and meat is conditioned by his environment. What we have here is a striking illustration of the virtually limitless malleability of the human mind. In the right (wrong?) cultural milieu, are we not capable of just about anything?

Comments

[Amit]

Then one fine day six years ago, I renounced eating mammals, ...

Namit, you glossed over the interesting part - the reason for your decision. :)
Please share.

[Namit]

As it turns out, the protagonist in my nearly-finished masterpiece novel has also given up eating mammals (disclaimer: any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :-). He is asked why, and curiously, his answer also happens to be close to my own (funny how that happens, but fortunately, such coincidences are limited in number). Here is the relevant extract:

‘When did you turn vegetarian?’ she asks.

‘Two years ago.’

‘What prompted that?’

‘I’m warning you. There’s nothing more tedious than a nouveau vegetarian expounding on his reasons for giving up meat.’

She laughs. ‘Oh, I can handle that. Besides, it’ll help me understand you better.’

‘Well, I’m not a strict vegetarian. I just don’t eat mammals.’

‘See! That’s interesting already. Why spare the mammals?’

‘Because they’re the closest to us. I can’t say how much they think, but have you ever seen a lamb agitate before a butcher’s machete? I did, in Egypt. It may well be pure instinct with no real awareness or mental trauma, but I now have my doubts. I asked myself: without proof, what entitles me to assume the opposite—that other animals are mere automatons, a bundle of blind reflexes? If they are more than that, and can anticipate pain, then my meat-eating sponsors their suffering, doesn’t it?’

‘Ok, but then why only spare the mammals?’ She looks amused.

‘Because biological affinities make it easier for me to empathize with them. They’re the least likely to be mere automatons and might even possess a simple consciousness. But I’m still debating this; I may well end up moving my line down to include birds and fishes, even mollusks and insects.’ His tone has turned playful.

‘Very important—don’t forget your reptiles! Or in your next life, you might be born as one.’ Their laugher drowns in the Friday evening din at the restaurant.

‘Interesting reasons,’ she continues. ‘Mine, I must admit, were more emotional at first. As a child, I saw a documentary on US stockyards. The sight of animals packed in long rows of cages did it for me. I couldn’t stomach their immobility, the sadness in their eyes. I began seeing their captive faces in the meat my mother served at home. This was long before I learned about the drugs and growth hormones they’re given, not to mention the meat and bone meal that was fed to vegetarian farm animals.

‘I’m now thinking about turning vegan. I’m convinced that to rely on any animal product is to consign that species to manipulative breeding, hormones, drug injections, and other horrible stuff. I think the only way to break this cycle of cruelty and exploitation is to not depend on animals for any product, food or otherwise.’

A birthday song, sung for a patron by the restaurant staff, distracts them. He is quietly amused by the phoniness of the spectacle. The waitress brings the wine.

[Ruchira Paul]

When the venue for the 2008 Olympics was being voted upon, both Paris and Beijing were among the finalists. In a PR war to boost their own standing and lower that of the French, the Chinese authorities mentioned to the Olympic committee that Paris sidewalks are littered and smeared with dog excrement.(True!) The French shot back with a gem of their own. They explained that Beijing was free of dog s--t because the Chinese had eaten all their dogs!

Grown up in Bengali household with a pair of specially carnivorous father and uncle (my mother ate little meat and stuck mostly to fish), I remain a meat eater although not of the Chinese variety. I have never been able to resolve the ethical dilemma between my love for animals and my comfort with a "meaty" diet.

[Keyan]

Hi Namit...

One of the things I saw in Shanghai (about 8-9 years ago) were backstreets where live snakes were being sold out of polythene tubs on the sidewalk. I think if you bought one, it was killed for you on the spot. Other than that, the scene reminded me very much of some of the backstreets of Bombay. I wonder if any of that has survived the wave of modernization that was even then hitting Shanghai and in particular, Pudong.

[Namit]

Hi Keyan,
I read that Pudong was all farmland until 1990; seventeen years later it is the financial hub and skyscraper capital of China. In Shanghai, 8-9 years seem like a lifetime of urban change elsewhere. We saw no snakes being sold on sidewalks, but I doubt that people have given up this culinary delight (even though it tastes just like chicken, I'm told :-) -- they probably buy it from a supermarket now. If some streets reminded me of Bombay, it was more due to their energy, crowds, and the traffic soup made up of two-, three-, and four-wheeled vehicles.

[Scorpio Girl]

As a Scrrpio. Roast scropions and snakes sound delicious :)

I also like Green tea chocolate and Ice cream and also pocky!!! Western food can get sooo boring!!!

[sewan]

Amit, interesting post, but the characters in your story? They seem to have the exact same reason for turning against meat - preventing suffering. It doesn't really seem like one was "more emotional" than the other...

[Ajoy Majumdar]

Hi Namit,

Your articles are a pleasure to read.
We (me and my wife) are going to Beijing this January 09 end. Any suggestions or a particular alley to see exotic food!!

We have several Chineese friends in Canada and they vouch that most Chineese (Han chineese forming the majority) will not touch snake, scorpion, beetle, dog, etc. etc.
Your reference to Confucious teaching is interesting although the Chineese had Buddhist influence also. Another thing I find interesting is their adoption of western names.

Thanks

Ajoy Majumdar
Canada
11th Jan 2009

[Namit]

Ajoy, for exotic street food of the kind I mention above, try Dong'anmen Daije between Nanheyan Daije and Wangfujing Daije. This is a few blocks east of the Forbidden City, across from hotel Oriental Garden. Tell us what exotic snacks you tried!