Food

The Chinese food we eat here is pretty different to the Chinese food eaten outside of China. There is a hue variety in Chinese food -the dishes, how they are cooked, how they are presented, what is eaten and so on; with at least 50 different kinds of cooking styles from around the country. But I won't talk about that now. That is something that needs to be explored individually.

After watching Food, Inc, a film i highly recommend everyone to watch, I'm happy i live in China and eat here, and not in the USA. Though there is not much transparency about the supply chain of Chinese food I'm pretty sure most vegetables and fruit are at least grown inside China (although probably with a lot of chemicals). I bet the conditions the animals are raised in are pretty bad, but probably not as bad as in the USA. The UK has been a leader in local sourcing, with many supermarkets making an effort for vegetables and meat. And it is better to eat less meat, something i've been trying to do more often in the last few years.

But, more concerning is all the chemicals that go into the food we buy in supermarkets, from snacks to pre-cut meats; from cereals to drinks. And this is one thing that is as common here as anywhere else. The Chinese are big on their snacks and rubbish biscuits, but they are also big on all kinds of tofu or sausages or meats that have various things added to them so they can sit on shelves for months or years on end and still be ok to eat. Something i definitely stay away from from a taste perspective already. Food, Inc has some great added features on the DVD with some adverts they have broadcast in the USA with celebrities promoting healthy food. I quite like the one with them struggling to read out the ingredients on the back of the food packets. And that is disturbing. In fact a lot of what we eat is disturbing. The documentary is very very well done though. Fairly fair, fairly focused, fairly interesting, quite funny too.

It can be argued that eating healthier is possible without breaking the bank, but it would be more expensive to eat healthier, especially if the healthy food is organically grown. It is probably worth it, but the question arises of if we spent more on food (like we used to 'in the good old days') we'd have less to spend on services, entertainment and luxuries all of which create more jobs than could be created if we had more farmers paid more money. But, this is not a reason not to eat healthier and organically. It is not that much more expensive, and if I ate less non-nutritional stuff, then... well i think it would even itself out. So more self-restraint it is then, as well as more exercise! Am getting back into the running mode again finally, to add to the twice-weekly games of football.

For those in the UK, Food, Inc is coming out in select cinemas this week and hitting London in a couple of weeks (see http://www.foodincmovie.co.uk/cinemas.php). Go watch it, or try to watch it online, if you are in the USA, on PBS (http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/photo_gallery_watch.php) which showed the film last week on TV and is still showing it online for a few more days. Then think about your food.