[twoinblue]

This is my first thread. Because of the recent little-dogs-in-the-window-waiting-to-be-cooked information on another thread, I wanted to ask about what the food is like in China. Do they give you specific places that are safe to eat? Has anyone gotten sick? I've traveled enough to have experienced that.

I had planned on taking a lot of food with me so that we would not be at the mercy of the economy the entire time we were there. I am curious to know if this is a problem with Customs.

[foxl]

In 85 (I sound like a geezer! but that was when I was there -- so all I know!) the big western style hotels were safe.

At the same time, if you are analytical, anywhere that has power outages, anywhere they might try to conserve electricity, may be unsafe. Think: no cream or dairy. No eggs unless well-cooked. No raw fruits or vegetables unless completely peelable (tree fruit should be okay).

No water. No ice in drinks.

I never got sick but went meatless, most of my (economy) tour group got sick.

[SofiasMom]

Depends on where you go, how adventurous you are, what you think is "good". Basic rules: don't eat from street vendors & drink bottled water.

I was in Guangdong (Canton) province and stayed at the China Hotel in Guangzhou. The China Hotel had a wonderful western style breakfast buffet but other than breakfast I basically had Cantonese food the entire trip (and one wierd pizza from Pizza Hut). Nothing is allowed to go to waste in a Cantonese kitchen, and no animal is taboo- two Cantonese sayings: anything that shows its back to the heavens is fair game and the only thing with four legs a man should not eat is a table.

There's lots of steaming and stir-frying and the most popular dishes are seafood. Cantonese food is a bit bland compared to spicy Szechuan and Hunan food.

I don't think there's a particular "Beijing" style food -there seemed to be restaurants with a variety of foods from the Provinces.

When I was in Xi'an last year, I loved the dumplings which is a speciality of the area.

[sak9645]

There is no problem bringing food in sealed packages, but you really don't need to do so, except for things like Cheerios for your child. You will find just about anything you want in China -- even coffee, which is now quite a trendy drink there. And if you don't feel like going to the dining room for a meal at some point, be aware that most of the hotels have room service.

Most of the big tourist hotels in the larger cities have both Western and Chinese food, both in the dining rooms and for room service. Some will also have the cuisine of other countries. As an example, my daughter is from Xiamen, in Fujian province, a city that is popular with Japanese tourists and business people. Therefore, besides excellent Western and Chinese food, our hotel had a full Japanese menu.

Do take advantage of the breakfast buffet, if it is included in your hotel package. Very often, you will find that you eat so well that you don't need to worry about stopping for lunch. And, very often, you will find that the hotel doesn't object if you stick a banana or muffin (or 2 or 3) from the buffet into your bag to eat while touring. This will keep you from getting tempted to buy foods from street vendors, which you know you should avoid.

If you are nervous about the food in China, you may want to stick to the hotel dining rooms. However, I must say that you will miss some wonderful dining experiences.

Your guide will probably take you to some restaurants while touring, and they will almost certainly be good -- and free of unpleasant surprises with regard to what's on the menu. He/she will also be willing to suggest good places, if you wish to venture out on your own. Your hotel's concierge may also be willing to suggest good places.

One nice option, if your guide offers it, is going to a vegetarian restaurant on the grounds of a Buddhist temple. Many temples in China have established such restaurants as a money-making venture, to offset the costs of maintaining the buildings, housing and feeding the monks, etc. The food is usually beautifully prepared and arranged to look like fish, meat, and so on, even though it is vegetarian.

You might also find out, in advance, what the culinary specialties are in the region you will be visiting. As an example, because it is on the coast, Xiamen tends to have a lot of fish and seafood. Then, make sure you ask your guide to take you to a good place featuring that sort of food.

Of course, you can also satisfy your cravings for some good old American fast food in most cities. It seems that establishments like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC are everywhere. There is even a pizza place that delivers to hotel rooms in Guangzhou, I'm told.

People DO get sick with tummy troubles in China, although no one in my group did. (We all got respiratory infections from our kids, instead.) The tap water in China is contaminated, and some food will be unsafe, even in the good hotels and restaurants. Plenty of people have gotten sick at Chinese McDonald's restaurants.

Just remember that, to limit your exposure to food- and water-borne illness, you should be sure to follow the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control strictly. You can read the guidelines on the CDC website, but I'll give you a summary and comments here.

1. NEVER drink unboiled tap water or use ice made from unboiled tap water. Don't brush your teeth with tap water, or swallow tap water while showering. And don't give your child tap water or let her taste her bath water. The water system in China is so bad that even the locals don't drink unboiled water. You can get a host of nasty illnesses like Giardia and typhoid from it.

The hotel rooms will all supply either thermoses of boiled water or a water-boiling device. If there is a water-boiling device, make sure that the water stays at the boil for five minutes and doesn't shut off as soon as the water starts to boil, for maximum effectiveness in killing disease organisms. There will be a mini-bar where you can cool boiled water, so you can mix formula.

However, you may find it easier to buy bottled water, as I did. It's cheap, and perfectly safe if the seal looks professionally done and intact. Keep a bottle on the bathroom sink for toothbrushing. Put a bottle in the diaper bag when out touring with your child and refill her bottle/sippy cup often. And if it is hot, drink a LOT of bottled water to avoid dehydration.

It is perfectly safe to drink tea, coffee, bottled or canned soda, bottled or canned juice, soup, beer, etc. Alcoholic beverages are OK if they are not mixed with water or ice (unless you, personally add bottled water from a bottle whose seal YOU have broken).

Just remember, of course, that alcohol irritates the gastrointestinal tract and can combine with stress and fatigue to give you pain, diarrhea, etc., even without any actual pathogens being present. So don't overindulge.

2. Drink only pasteurized milk, and eat only dairy products made from pasteurized milk. This is NOT generally a problem in the big tourist hotels, which normally serve pasteurized milk. My daughter and I drank lots of milk and ate lots of excellent yogurt there, without a problem. Just don't buy dairy products in a grocery store or consume them elsewhere, unless your guide checks the labels to see if they indicate pasteurization.

3. Do NOT eat raw fruits and vegetables unless they can be peeled. Bananas and oranges are fine; lettuce in a salad or sandwich is NOT. Well-cooked veggies are fine, and some of China's best dishes will contain well-cooked vegetables. Use your judgment about fresh squeezed juices. Technically, you might want to avoid them. However, my daughter and I loved the fresh juices in the tourist hotels of Xiamen and Guangzhou, and had no problems with them.

4. Do NOT eat raw or rare beef, pork, chicken, fish, or seafood. Always order things well-cooked. You may want to skip even cooked seafood, as it has a greater tendency to harbor pathogens than most meat, fish, etc. There are some cities where Hep. A is very common in shellfish, so check the CDC website.

5. Do not eat foods from street vendors or at quaint, hole-in-the-wall restaurants that don't look very clean. China does not regulate street vendors and restaurants to the extent that the U.S. does. Food can be contaminated, held at unsafe temperatures, etc. You can pick up some really nasty illnesses.

6. Although it is difficult, try to avoid cooked food that is kept out on a buffet for some time, unless it is kept at an appropriate temperature over a fire or over ice. Pathogens multiply rapidly in cooked foods unless they are kept hot or cold.

Even with all these precautions, you CAN have a wonderful dining experience in China, and experience a cuisine that is totally different from the sort found in U.S. Chinese restaurants.

I hope this helps.

Sharon

[sak9645]

By the way, you will find that most restaurants outside the major hotels are much cheaper than similar places would be in the U.S., so you won't really be "at the mercy of the economy".

And even some of the hotel food will be reasonably priced. Many of the hotels offer all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets as part of their room charge, and you can really dine very well -- as in "pig out" -- there, even if you are picky and prefer Western food.

Our hotel in Xiamen had an omelet chef in the dining room at breakfast time, a couple of days a week, making wonderful egg dishes to order. You could have him add veggies, cheese, meat, etc. Both it and the China Hotel in Guangzhou had things like Rice Krispies, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, yogurt, pastries, etc., as well as things like congee and hot soy milk, on the breakfast buffet.

And you can also stock up on some things fairly inexpensively at Chinese grocery stores. Just be sure to look for expiration dates on labels. In one such store I visited in China, food was still for sale, despite being long past its expiration date. And my daughter got a bad tummyache from a "milk box" of banana flavored milk that I purchased.

[jasonsmom]

This was a major debate on one of the yahoo groups. Some thought you should eat everything and anything that's offered, others (like myself) know there's a limit to what I'll eat. Our agency's guides order for us and I was told much of the food is basically what we consider Chinese food. We are bringing some food with us because our son is the pickiest kid I've ever met. We're just bringing pb&j and some tortillas along with some cereal. He'll have a bland diet while we're there but he'll be happy. I'm bringing Cipro for myself in case I do get sick.

Paula

[AmoyGirl]

As usual, I agree with Sharon, the expert! Although typhoid is a new one for me--I had not heard that you could get it from tap water in China. Giardia I have some experience with (not personally, thank goodness, but I had a friend there who got it), but not typhoid! Definitely don't drink the water (unless it's bottled) and stay away from raw veggies. I ate raw lettuce once at a really nice restaurant (I thought it would be safe because the restuarant was nice, but I should have listened to the voice in my head telling me to put it down and leave it alone!), and had major tummy issues for about 12 hours afterward. Even when we cooked at home, we had to spend lots of time disinfecting the fruits and veggies before we could consume them. Glad I don't have to do that anymore!

Okay, I am rambling. But I just wanted to concur with Sharon and say that, yes, you can have some wonderful culinary experiences outside the major hotels as long as you're careful. Ask your guide for some local restaurant recommendations--you will probably be pleasantly surprised! We ate things we never thought we would, and grew to love them (who would have thougth tofu would become a favorite food?).

[foxl]

The lettuce thing is probably just variant coliforms (take this, from a tummy problems-phobic!). And probably that IS the majority of what you might encounter.

However: between being stationed in Nepal and Pakistan (and later, Tel Aviv), my DH had Giardiasis, Amebic dysentery, and who knows what-all else. It is all miserable, some of it major, some of it self-limited.

I know an agency director who got an autoimmune disease secondary to shigellosis (fairly common, even in the US) and ended up on medication for a full YEAR. It is not worth toying with.

[Li Jia-Yu]

As a Chinese person I can safely say it is HIGHLY unlikely that anyone continues to eat our canine friends in China. During the 1950s-60s when economic times were very hard and people were starving, people had no other resort but to eat dogs. This is no longer the case. But with that said, be vigilant and use common sense. Don't eat at outdoor vendor stations, avoid drinking water and using ice. Drink only bottled water or boiled water (eg, coffee, teas). But do try the local cuisine from restaurants that look reputable and clean.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong are large metropolis cities so you will have no difficulty finding reputable places to eat. There is a saying in China -- Beijing is the China of old, Shanghai is China of tomorrow and Guangdong is the China of today.

Bon appetit in China!

[forest26]

Don't be afraid to take packaged food with you, even if its just as a backup plan. We nibbled on pop tarts and cereal after we got very ill, we couldn't stomach much else (except oatmeal from the hotel and baked potatoes from Lucy's near the white swan). If you don't eat the food, you can always leave it behind.

[foxl]

I eat plain white rice at home, for tummy ills ... rice is always an option. But I always travel with packaged foods -- if nothing else, when you have jet lag and wake at 3 am, ravenous, you may not want to call room service even if they are open!

[stefgo13]

I am very concerned about seeing dogs for sale for food or eating it by mistake at a restaurant. Has anyone had any experiences with seeing anything like that. I just want to be prepared mentally, because I am a huge animal lover. Thanks!

[SofiasMom]

the only dogs I saw were very pampered pets.

[AmoyGirl]

Disclaimer: This post is based solely on my own experiences while living in China--I cannot speak for what happens around the whole country, just the (small) area where I lived!

I am afraid I may have sparked this whole dog-eating worry by mentioning that animals we in America commonly think of as pets can be considered a food source in China, and I included dogs on that list of animals. But I did not mean that dog-eating is common--just that dogs are one of the many kinds of animals eaten in China that we don't eat here. I do not think there is ANY way you will eat dog for mistake in a restaurant. Don't worry! In our city, dog meat was rare, a delicacy, and expensive (by local standards), and the chefs would never have slipped such pricey meat into our meal without our asking for it specifically. The restaurants we usually ate at did not have dog on the menu, and while I knew of a few that did serve it, I only ever ate at one of them (and I didn't eat dog, in case you were wondering, but I was sharing a table with some customers who did).

It IS common to see restaurants that have cages in the windows with live animals available for eating, but they usually have various kinds of birds (ducks, quail, chickens), snakes, turtles, rabbits, frogs, other small animals, shellfish, eels, etc. Rarely--and in many places, never--dogs. And as I mentioned in a previous post, in our city, dog meat was considered a "warming" food, and thus was only really available in the wintertime. That's the only time I ever saw it for sale. And not in the marketplaces--I never saw it sold out on the streets, only in a few restaurants. A few of our Chinese friends even insisted that dog-eating was not done in China anymore because they had never been anywhere that served dog meat, and had not seen dogs in cages anywhere in restaurant windows. So it's not terribly common.

I think you will safely spend your entire time in China and only see dogs that are pets. I would not be concerned about it. It's possible, but not probable, unless you go looking for dog meat (and it sounds like you won't!). We were curious, so we asked Chinese friends to show us some places that had dog for sale--we might not have seen them on our own. We saw more dogs for sale in pet shops than in restaurants by far.

Morgan

[LOU P]

i just got back from china two weeks ago and honestly,getting sick on the food isn't worth getting nervous over..believe me,i have stomach issues as well,but i had no problems what so ever in beijing or guangzho...i ate about 36 meals over there.i mean just use your best judgement when ordering...we went to one place where one of the choices was pigeon ,of course i'm not ordering that,i went with the sweet and sour chicken that night and it was delicious.of course alot of the food taste different then ours,but don't order anything exotic,and you'll have no problems..

p.s..are you going to guangzho?..if so,eat at lucy's it's actually pretty good