Waiter, this food tastes like paper!

Hi Friends,

I used to think that fellows who complained about their food were just overly fussy.

Being from a frugal family, I had been taught by my parents to eat whatever was laid on the table for if I did not, the rumour was that I would be punished with a pock-marked wife. I have insisted that my kids do the same. Till now, that is.

Now it turns out that whenever someone complains that the food tastes like paper, or “dung” or that the meat is a tad soggy, he may be literally meaning just that. Especially if the food is from China.

Card board “buns” are just the latest in the list of horrific stories coming out from this the newest and most-feared economic power. We already know about the slaves.

About the “dung”…in the last few weeks, farmers were found to have force-fed pigs with waste-water just before they were led to the slaughter at the abattoir. This last meal before their “execution” were to increase their weight which would ultimately translate to increased profits for the farmers.

In yet another case, water was injected into pigs’ carcasses (also to increase literally the “deadweight”).

If you are skeptical of these reports ( as I was) and attribute them to China’s economic rivals trying to sully her reputation in order to slow her economic progress, think again!

There is no smoke without fire!

Might not this be the end-result of crass materialism? If the almighty dollar is the “be all and end all” of our lives , I fear that we are not far behind China in becoming a soul-less society where “dog eat dog” and anything ( and I mean anything) is permissible so long as it helps us climb up the economic food chain!

Xiao Long Pao anyone?

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan

Chinese food 'made from cardboard'
(CNN 12 July 07)

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver.

Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.