I don’t want to engage in piling on here. Achelle has written a provocative article about Chinese food preparation methods, and I will let that stand and fall on its own merit. I am merely here to provide some perspective. And the perspective is this: Writing a column about the danger that food preparation in China poses to health is a bit like writing a column about the danger that lawnmowers pose for global warming. True, lawnmowers do emit carbon dioxide and so do contribute in fact to global warming, and the way food is prepared in China (especially here in Sichuan) does pose a threat to health (I guess I did wade into things). But in both cases there is a much bigger danger that is being overlooked. Lawnmowers are not the real problem and neither is food preparation. When it comes to life in China, the problem, unfortunately, is the food itself. If you don’t believe me, Google “Chinese food scandals” and see what comes up. It is literally something new every week. This week the news is all about rat meat being passed off as lamb. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 900 people were arrested in the crackdown and 20,000 tons of product was seized. Read more…

Recently a good member (I consider all Canadians to be good members) posted a forum thread entitled "Travel for a Canadian to China". I wrote everything below as a comment, then thought "What the hey, I don't have much time to write my blogs anymore, so why not post this as a blog instead". I suggest you visit the thread and then come back for my response on China travel. I'm sure there'll also be a number of other comments of equal or greater value than mine from some of the other Expats in China who hang out on CLM, so you should check back on the thread and the comments here occasionally if you too intend to travel to China.. Read more…