Cross Cultural Contamination

a typical Chinese “meat market” in Fuqing, Fujian

The following post was taken from Ben's Blog.

As Westerners, one of our first impressions of the China is an apparent lack of sanitation, especially in regards to food. In Chinese markets, one can find meat remaining out on tables all day long, unwrapped and unrefrigerated. Vegetables are sprawled over the dirty ground, often only a few feet away from heaps of rotting garbage. Flies and other pests are abundant. Chinese restaurants can be even worse. Like the market, the floors are dirty, the food is not always refrigerated, cooking utensils are often old and rusty, and cooks slice their vegetables on the same surface as raw meat without washing in between. Based on Western standards, China’s restaurants and markets fall far below our expectations of cleanliness in the West. (note: Many high-end Chinese restaurants follow Western sanitation standards. This article is concerned with the mid-range and cheaper places, which are more common.)

I believe there are 3 main reasons for this.

1. China is a developing country, and amenities such as refrigeration are still relatively new. Although they are available to most of the population, it still requires time for these devices to be completely integrated into the culture. A refrigerator in China is still an amenity, not a necessity as it is in the West. The same could be said for individual packaging of meats and vegetables, which is available in most high-end grocery stores, but still not the norm for Chinese families buying groceries.

2. Americans* are over-paranoid about food sanitation. Our mysophobic society spends too much time and effort ensuring all our food products are clean, sealed, fresh, air-tight, unpolluted, untainted, uncontaminated, dirt free, sanitary, hygienic, sterile, disinfected, anti-bacterial, and vacuum-packed. Yes, germs are the culprits of most infectious diseases, but when did we forget that each of our bodies come equipped with its own personal immune system. While I am not saying food sanitation is not important, I do think it is a little overkill in the US.
*I could have probably said “Westerners” but I have not spent enough time in other Western countries to accurately judge.

3. This is the point I want to focus on. Traditional Chinese cooking methods, are by nature, more sanitary than those of the West. Because Chinese society survived for nearly 5,000 years without “modern” sanitation technology, the food culture developed with built-in sanitary checks.

Let’s look at some examples.

1. The Chinese rarely touch their food with their hands. As much as we fret about sneezing, spitting, and passing our bodily fluids, there is quite possibly no spot of the body which spreads as many germs as the hands. Yet, a good proportion of Western cuisine is “finger food.” In China this is rare. Even snacks such as peanuts are eaten with chop sticks. If you order fried chicken at a Chinese fast food restaurant, you will likely be given plastic gloves to assist you with your consumption. Why? Less chance of food touching the hands means less chance germs will enter through the mouth. I am not suggesting that the ancient Chinese possessed the knowledge of germ theory. However, it does not take a microscope to figure out that touching food with grimy hands can lead to sickness.

Vegetables, such as this homemade baby bok choy, are always served cooked in China.

2. In China, vegetables come cooked. Outside of the context of Western cuisine, most Chinese people would not even think of eating uncooked vegetables. Whether they are stir-fried or dipped in boiling water, Chinese vegetables are served cooked, 99% of the time. Often times, food-born illness such as E. Coli are ingested from contaminated fresh vegetables. With cooked veggies this is a non-issue. This also nullifies the danger of cutting vegetables on the same surface as raw meat.

3. The Chinese tendency towards eating meat in morsels. In the West, we like our meat in large pieces. Cutting it up ourselves is part of the dining experience. In China, this task is relegated to the cook. Meat is diced up into small pieces before it hits the wok. With small morsels it is easier to ensure that the meat is thoroughly cooked. In the West, we prefer cooking large pieces of meat before they are cut up. This method increases the likelihood that part of the meat will not be fully cooked.

4. Everything goes on the fire. Chinese kitchens may be dirty, but there isn’t an item in that kitchen which won’t be exposed to extreme heat before it makes its way onto your plate. 2 million years of human civilization has proven that there is no better germ-killer than good old-fashioned fire. Virtually every item ordered in a traditional Chinese restaurant will arrive at your table straight from a fiery wok. Unlike when cooking with an oven, the operator of a wok constantly flips and turns the contents to ensure all ingredients are properly exposed to heat. With only a few small exceptions, everything in China is served hot (read: sterilized). Heck, the Chinese even boil their water before drinking it.

Interestingly enough, in nearly three years in China, I have only gotten sick off of food once; this as opposed to my average of at least once or twice a year when I was living in the US. At first glance, it would seem logical that living in an environment where food sanitation regulations are lax or non-existent would lead to an increase in food-related stomach ailments. However, three years of subsisting off a diet consisting primarily of cheap Chinese restaurant food has shown this not to be the case.

For the record, I am no doctor, nor do I have statistics to back up my claims. Instead, I am speaking on personal experience and observation, when I say posit that Chinese food culture is inherently more sanitary than that of the West. Western societies have developed higher degrees of sanitation standards, in part to compensate for a food culture which is in and of itself, relatively unhygienic. Had we been slicing our food into little bits, cooking everything on a wok, and not using our fingers, we might have been able to allow our sanitation standards to slide a bit as well. Alright, I’m off to get some stir-fried beef and boiled spinach.

Labels: China, culture, food