Archives for the 'china' tag
No Lye: China Bans Lutefisk
Just in time for lutefisk season, China has banned lye from all foodstuffs. It’s a sad day for… well, it’s a sad day for someone (presumably Scandinavian)!
Substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives China released Monday as part of a monthslong government crackdown aimed at improving the country’s shoddy food safety record.
Among the 17 banned substances was boric acid, commonly used as an insecticide, which is mixed with noodles and meatballs to increase elasticity, a statement posted on the Ministry of Health Web site said. Also forbidden was industrial formaldehyde and lye, used in making soap and drain cleaner and added to water used to soak some types of dried seafood to make the products appear fresher and bigger.
If you (like me) have never tried lutefisk, you’ll probably want to watch this video, in which a dimpled, bacon-obsessed Kermit the Frog shows viewers how to eat the fish dish. Listen Kermie: If you can’t say nuttin’ gute ’bout LUTEFISK, den don’t say nuttin’.
How to prep your lutefisk here. Flashback to when lutefisk cost $1.99 too much here. More on lye in general at the unimpeachable Wikipedia.
Picture via CureOlives.com, who uses the stuff to (drum roll) cure olives.
What the Duck?
A famed Beijing duck restaurant has created a Braille menu for athletes taking part in this month’s Paralympics. Isn’t that a nice story?
Meanwhile (as suggested by my artistic adaption at right), in front of a Japanese restaurant in Miramar, Fla….
…police arrested a man accused of stabbing a duck to death outside a restaurant, reportedly because he hates ducks.
That’s what Gabriel Scott Diaz, 18, told a witness as he attacked the animal Tuesday, according to a police report.
The incident occurred about 4 p.m., in front of a Benihana restaurant near Miramar Parkway and Interstate 75. A restaurant manager told police he saw Diaz stabbing the duck with a blade at least 8 inches long. When the manager asked Diaz what he was doing, Diaz told him he hates ducks, the report says.
More here. Obviously Diaz has never tried foie gras, else he’d love them.
Why I Love Globalization: Reason #752
For what seems like centuries, Jews have found solace in Chinese restaurants, which were once the only eateries in small towns across America that were open on major Christian holidays. Chinese restaurants gave hundreds of thousands of American Jews like my mom the wished-for excuse to scarf down non-kosher, Americanized platefuls of pu-pu platter and other exotic-sounding dishes.
Now, with the Olympics approaching, and the eyes of the world focused on Beijing, Jews visiting the city will have literally millions of Chinese culinary options. Included amongst those options will be exactly one kosher restaurant: Dini’s Kosher Restaurant. YNet News reports:
This diner is not just the only place in China that offers its guests matzo ball soup, kugel, and Moroccan cigars eaten with chopsticks, it’s also the only place where a mitzvah-keeping tourist can sample local delicacies such as dim-sum and Sichuan chicken made with all-kosher ingredients, while listening to the head rabbi’s daughter answer questions about the Torah’s Portion of the Week every Friday evening.
[...]
“The days in which Jews had to wander through China with suitcases full of preserved food are over,” said Rabbi Shimon Freundlich, Chabad’s envoy to Beijing.
According to the restaurant’s manager, Ohad Tiktinski, locals have also begun to frequent Dini’s, due to their belief that kosher food is healthier and cleaner. However even the Chinese people, who are rumored to consume everything that has four legs other than the kitchen table, have their limits. They refuse to touch the gefilte fish.
Who could blame them? Dini’s extensive tri-lingual menu (English, Mandarin, and Hebrew) here (PDF).
This Week in Bacon
Westerners become accustomed at an early age to the idea that Eastern cultures engage in a bunch of wacky practices. China is a particularly strong example of the type–whether its people getting their ears cleaned with a metal rod in a public park or eating countless and incomparably bizarre foods. We grow so used to the idea that China = Strange that it is probably easy to forget that a lot of the crap we Westerners do is equally strange.
Take the Dunmow Flitch Trials, which pit married couples against one another in a storytelling contest, with the winners getting a “flitch”–a whole side of bacon.
What the hell’s up with that? Let’s let the incredulous Chinese news agency Xinhua explain:
A bizarre ritual dating back to the 12th century was staged on Saturday in Essex of Britain.
The “Dunmow Flitch Trials,” held every four years, requires each couple, who should be married for at least a year and a day to tell the story of their marriage, from how they met to the proposal and how their families reacted.
The winner can win half a pig by trying to prove to a mock-court that they have the happiest marriage.
Several couples won this year, including (and I had no idea what this meant until I looked it up) “Des Raynor and his agony aunt wife Claire.”
More here from the trials’ official website.
Andrew Zimmern Eats Camel Toes*
On last week’s episode of Bizarre Foods, which I caught off the DRV box last night, Andrew Zimmern tasted camel toes.
Zimmern says camel toe is “an acquired taste” and has a “funky smell”. Camel toe recipe here.
*Technically camel paw, which is really just a whole lot of camel toe.
