liuzhou

6. The Chinese don't do dairy! Ha! Ha! Ha! They most certainly do! Every supermarket in town's largest amount of aisle and floor space is full of dairy products. Milk (牛奶 - niú nǎi or 乳汁 - rǔ zhī), yoghurt (酸奶 - suān nǎi), cheese (奶酪 - nǎi lào or 芝士 - zhī shì). You name it. Here are some pictures of the dairy section in just one of the supermarkets. Now, why would the supermarkets dedicate so much valuable space to stocking something no one wants? They aren't that stupid. Who is buying it all? Millions of lactose intolerant people? Historically, most Chinese people didn't do dairy (although some did, especially in Inner Mongolia and Yunnan provinces where they have had their own cheeses for centuries). About 20 years ago, it changed dramatically. Health and medical authorities started promoting dairy for its perceived health benefits, including raising calcium levels. It really took off. Pizzas arrived and became hugely popular despite some weird toppings on top of the cheese. Many will remember the China milk scandal in 2008 which resulted in Hong Kong having to ration foreign-produced milk powder to mainlanders who were close to rioting to get the stuff. It is often claimed that most people in China are lactose intolerant. Nearly all who claimed to be so were self diagnosed and actually just weren't used to dairy or didn't like it. Lactose intolerance is a diagnostically detectable medical condition, not a fashion! to be continued

Maybe later.

No. Just rinse them.

What @KennethTsaid.

I did have a toaster oven but it died a few months back and I haven't gotten round to replacing it yet. I do have a low powered microwave (400W) and use it. I put the skin between two sheets of kitchen paper and nuke it for two minutes on full power.

It is almost always home made - usually daily. I've only ever seen it once in a supermarket.

Store bought/cooked Beijing Duck. On the large round plate is the duck meat with re-crisped skin. The smaller plate has the pancakes for wrapping and cucumber, mooli radish and scallions. The sauce bottom left is plum sauce - not hoisin sauce!!! And because I'm strange some soy sauce top right for dipping the assembled wraps. The carcass and neck etc are in the fridge to make duck stock tomorrow.

Chilean hass avocado just how I like them - olive oil, seasalt and black pepper.

5. Soy Sauce Usage I'm not sure how widespread this is, but in the UK, many if not most Chinese restaurants have a bottle of soy sauce on each table, alongside salt and pepper, allowing the dinner to adjust the taste to their satisfaction. In China, soy sauce is only used in the kitchen (with one exception which I'll get to). I've often eaten in Chinese homes, and never seen soy sauce near a table. Or salt and pepper. This very amusing clip from The Joy Luck Club is flawed in that there would never have been that bottle of soy sauce on the table, which is the climax of the joke. The exception I mentioned is in places selling jiaozi or other items requiring a dip. There will usually be a separate table or counter with soy sauce, vinegar, chilli, garlic coriander/cilantro, chopped Chinese chives etc for the customers to construct their preferred dip. Alternatively the dips may be pre-prepared by the kitchen.

This lot rolled up at 8:30 pm last night. A gift from a friend in Guangdong Province. Top: L-R: Crab flavoured broad beans, Macadamia nuts, Melon seeds, Walnuts, Beef flavour broad beans, Almonds. Botton: L-R: Peanuts, Pecans, Japanese chestnuts.

4. Black Bean Sauce I searched the supermarkets to find a bottle/jar of Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Sauce to take a picture to decorate this comment. Not in the least to my surprise, I failed to find any, or any other brand. Although some LKK products are available, not that one, for the simple reason that no one wants it. Black bean sauce is very popular, but not from a bottle. The sauce is made fresh in the wok each time, using the ingredients individually. Fermented black beans or 豆豉 (dòu chǐ ) are easily found, cheap and keep for months. They are fried along with the main protein or vegetable. Garlc, ginger, soy sauce, etc are also incorporated - i.e all the things in LKK's bottle except the "caramel color, modified corn starch, xanthan gum." Pork in Black Bean Sauce

All the sushi places in China are owned and staffed by Chinese people.

I passed by the local Pizza Hut earlier today and noticed they had posted their breakfast menu in the window. Here is an extract.

I'd believe the first one. I see people using spoons every day!

Which brings me to this. 3. Chinese people steam stuff in bamboo baskets. Er? In 25 years in China, I have never seen anyone use bamboo baskets in a domestic kitchen. None of my friends have them and I've only seen them on sale once - in a culinary curio shop. They were used in the past by shops and stalls selling steamed buns, but even that is now a thing of the past. Nearly all those places have switched to metal baskets as they are longer-lasting, easier to clean, more hygienic etc. They are sometimes still used to serve dim sum, but the food is probably still steamed in metal baskets, the bamboo ones being just for presentation.

2. Chinese people regularly steam their vegetables because it's healthier. No. They don't. Most vegetable dishes and sides are stir fried, preferably in lard (rendered pig fat). They do so because it saves waste and because they say they taste better that way. They are right! Lard fried spinach

Egg rolls are American-Chinese, but spring rolls (春卷 - chūn juǎn) do exist in China and are often served as a dim sum in Cantonese restaurants and are popular at Chinese New Year. They are different from what I understand to be the typical American egg roll. They have a much thinner skin and are smaller. I prefer the Vietnamese ones.

No, that is not what I mean. That is exactly how many people eat rice in China.

I agree. I have no problem with mixing things up. I do it all the time. But I don't pretend my food is German because it has a sausage in it, for example. Guangxi doesn't really have its own cuisine, but is split in two. Southern Guangxi food is more Cantonese, while the north is more akin to Hunan and Guizhou. Liuzhou is on the cusp of the two, but leans more to the north. I can recommend Carolyn Phillip's book, All Under Heaven for more on the different regions of Chinese food. She kindly included me in her list of acknowledgements after I made small suggestions regarding the local food in Guangxi.

Yes. The local government, banks etc. have a three hour lunch break. 12 until 3.

Dried and pickled bamboo shoots are very common here. As are fresh.

No problem! I get your aversion to too many carbs, but actually liked the pie in question. After all, steak and kidney pie is usually served with potatoes. I think the potatoes cooked with meat are delicious. Think stovies!

Chinese food must be among the most famous in the world. Yet, at the same time, the most misunderstood. I feel sure (hope) that most people here know that American-Chinese cuisine, British-Chinese cuisine, Indian-Chinese cuisine etc are, in huge ways, very different from Chinese-Chinese cuisine and each other. That's not what I want to discuss. Yet, every day I still come across utter nonsense on YouTube videos and Facebook about the "real" Chinese cuisine, even from ethnically Chinese people (who have often never been in China). Sorry YouTube "influencers", but sprinkling soy sauce or 5-spice powder on your cornflakes does not make them Chinese! So what is the "authentic" Chinese food? Well, like any question about China, there are several answers. It is not surprising that a country larger than western Europe should have more than one typical culinary style. Then, we must distinguish between what you may be served in a large hotel dining room, a small local restaurant, a street market stall or in a Chinese family's home. That said, in this topic, I want to attempt to debunk some of the more prevalent myths. Not trying to start World War III. But don't get me started on Crab Frigging Rangoon! When I moved to China from the UK 25 years ago, I had my preconceptions. They were all wrong. Sweet and sour pork with egg fried rice was reported to be the second favourite dish in Britain, and had, of course, to be preceded by a plate of prawn/shrimp crackers. All washed down with a lager or three. Yet, in that quarter of a century, I've seldom seen a prawn cracker; they are Indonesian, not Chinese. And egg fried rice is usually eaten as a quick dish on its own, not usually as an accompaniment to main courses. Every menu featured a starter of prawn/shrimp toast which I have never seen in mainland China - just once in Hong Kong. But first, one myth needs to be dispelled. The starving Chinese! When I was a child I was encouraged to eat the particularly nasty bits on the plate by being told that the starving Chinese would lap them up. My suggestion that we could post it to them never went down too well. At that time (the late fifties) there was indeed a terrible famine in China (almost entirely manmade (Maomade)). When I first arrived in China, it was after having lived in Soviet Russia and I expected to see the same long lines of people queuing up to buy nothing very much in particular. Instead, on my first visit to a market (in Hunan Province), I was confronted with a wider range of vegetables, seafood, meat and assorted unidentified frying objects than I have ever seen anywhere else. And it was so cheap I couldn't convert to UK pounds or any other useful currency. I'm going to start with some of the simpler issues - later it may get ugly! 1. Chinese people eat everything with chopsticks. No, they don't! Most things, yes, but spoons are also commonly used in informal situations. I recently had lunch in a university canteen. It has various stations selling different items. I found myself by the fried rice stall and ordered some Yangzhou fried rice. Nearly all the students and faculty sitting near me were having the same. I was using my chopsticks to shovel the food in, when I noticed that I was the only one doing so. Everyone else was using spoons. On investigating, I was told that the lunch break is so short at only two-and-a-half hours that everyone wants to eat quickly and rush off for their compulsory siesta. I've also seen claims that people eat soup with chopsticks. Nonsense. While people use chopsticks to pick out choice morsels from the broth, they will drink the soup by lifting their bowl to their mouths like cups. They ain't dumb! Anyway, with that very mild beginning, I'll head off and think which on my long list will be next. Thanks to @KennethT for advice re American-Chinese food.

Wel, of course I know Beijing, but I live in Guangxi. Not sure that I agree with you about Beijing having the greatest food, though! But, welcome to eG. I look forward to what you have to contribute.