snip
You know, I bet if I stay in China 6 more months I'll be fully
acclimated and can eat anything I want without ever getting sick.
Unfortunately I have been in the hygenic US too long (25 years). I
have lost all resistance to these germs that bug me. I am also more
adventurous than I should. My motto is if you can eat it, why can't I?
So I suffer the consequence as a results. My body is very much a
barometer of how clean water is where I travel. I got sick in
Thailand, in Brazil (two out of three trips), and in China (three in
three weeks). I am fine most everywhere else, certainly in western
Europe not to mention the US.

Wow, i guess i can use you as a barometer for any of my future trips : )


Regarding Chinese food, I don't care too much for the northern cuisine.
Is it a mere coincidence I am of southern geneaology? I remember
years ago I met a Chinese southerner who raised this sentiment
regarding northern dishes that they are mere varieties of dough product
made of fluor. I more or less agree. Peking duck is good. But the
same dish prepared, say in Hong Kong or in Taiwan can be much tastier.
I do not care mush for dishes in Xian either. Xian is another
north-west Chinese city.

Yes it's generally true that most of the Northern dishes are 'bland'
compared to the more Southern dishes but i think in time to come, with the
North getting more wealthy, a change will take place. I'm sure there's some
simple & very tasty meals in the North but like all things, if you don't
know where to find them, you only get what's given to you on a plate. As for
the dough & flour, i guess that's because rice is not grown that far north
while wheat is. They have some great wheat noodles but you'll have to find
them too or know what names they go by. I think Northern Chinese food has
suffered over the events of the last century. Food shortage & planning is
not so much an issue now but still in the country side, a simple home style
meal of vegs. & rice is better than some of the bland dishes served in
hotels. I was looking at a old recipe book based on an even earlier book or
collection of recipes from the 50's & 60's & it listed provincial dishes &
recipes which i don't think some of them can be found today except in
granny's kitchen for example, such a shame. On the other hand, Shanghai's
business district now boasts some of the best cuisine & dining as quite a
few renown Chinese & Western chefs & restaurants have open there i hear.

But it is a farcry to compare any of them to the dishes you get in a
typical transplanted Chinese restuarant in say, the US or UK. Some
Chinatowns may have something close to authentic. Problems is you need
to know how to order (read Chinese menu and understand it).

Or even better... speak Chinese/Cantonese & order everything without the
menu like they do in the old days. Of course you're gonna get stuff that's
not quite 'restaurant style' but more home cooking & authentic, but that's
my bias. : )

DC.