It's in America that I started to doubt the reliability of so-called food science.  According to Chinese traditional belief, it was very bad for one's health to eat something raw and cold.  However, in the U.S., even in cold winters, waiters would always give customers a cup of ice water instead of hot tea.  I thought it's very strange to feed young babies with cold milk.  Everyone drank cold fruit juices and cokes right from the refrigerator.  Some Chinese people who had stomach problems while in China feel much better now in America:  they believed the sodium in cold drinks did the magic.  I have no clue!

Always wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before you eat them—we all know this basic rule since kindergarten.  However, in America people usually only clean them roughly with cold water, sometimes just rubbing them with one's hands or clothes before eat them.  I was told human wastes were used as fertilizer in Chinese agriculture, which could be a major source of disease if fruits and vegetables didn't go through some special cleaning process.  Since vast farmlands exist in America, there is no need to use excrement as fertilizer.  In addition, since the use of chemicals is strictly regulated by the government, some people believe it is really unnecessary to thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables here before eating.

In China it is said that saccharin could lead to cancer and that MSG was good for one's health.  However people in the U.S. hold quite different views.  There are so many obese people with clogged arteries that they are very scared to eat fat, sugar, salt, and eggs.  Instead they chase all kinds of artificial products: man-made butter, artificial sugar, etc.  It seems no one is aware that eating saccharin could lead to cancer.  As to MSG, most Americans strongly believe it could cause headache and other discomfort, or even more serious diseases.  I believe there is a definite need for communication between the food science experts of the two countries.

Evolving Food Culture

When I talked about the comparison of behaviors between Americans and Chinese, Mrs. X asked me directly what race I meant exactly as Americans.  Would Chinese-Americans not be Americans?  Scientifically and historically speaking, only native Indians are pure Americans.  In broader terms, all people with U.S. citizenship are Americans, including white, black, Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, etc.  American food should be the foods of all her people.

Then how about what kinds of food are unique in America?  The answers are probably McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Most restaurants bear names from Italy, France, China or Mexico.  Some restaurants have simple names such as Seafood, Ribs, and so on.  However, experienced customers can tell by simply tasting where chefs came from.  Nowadays Italian pizza is very popular in America.  Mexican foods are more like rural Northern Chinese food—thin corn pancakes with hot pepper sauces.

For me, American salad is the same as sheep food.  There is nothing but all kinds of raw vegetables—celery, bean, tomato, peppers, lettuce—with some weird sauce.  American beef is tender but is cooked without salt and sauce which makes it awful in my opinion.  Fortunately I have five years of experience of eating steamed corn breads in the countryside in China.  I can handle them without any problem.  Nevertheless, I begin to miss Chinese foods after a while.  We went to Chinese restaurants a few times but I was deeply disappointed.  Chinese food in the United States has been Americanized.  Fried egg rolls are no longer tiny and cute as in Southern China but huge like a giant banana.  The inside stuffing is no longer delicate, but stuffed with meat, cabbage and radish. Fried dishes are piled with tasteless broccoli and baby corn.  No wonder Americans thought chopsuey was typical Chinese food.  Serving procedures are also quite strange for me while dining in those American Chinese restaurants:  ice water, appetizer, main dish, dessert, and tea.  Young lazy Americans usually go straight and simple with one coke and a dish of chopsuey.  They thought they were having Chinese food!

Italians also complained that Italian restaurants did not serve real Italian foods but some rough stuff to meet the needs of Americans.  One boss from an Italian restaurant told me:  "What can I do?  I have to keep customers happy.  If I cook in my way, they would complain and leave."  Therefore, foods there are heavier and with less European delicacy.  They are light in oil but tasteless.

"Fun" (fan) in Chinese means meal, something that you should be able to get pleasure from.  Even in America, one can still enjoy real ethnic foods.  You just need to know where to look—usually in a single-race community of a large metropolitan area like Chinatown in New York.  Good luck and have fun if you can!

Copyright © Li Mang 2003