11 hours ago, liuzhou said:As I stressed in the China Fod Myths topic, I have never seen a bamboo basket in a domestic kichen in China or a kitchen supply store in China.
I can only report from the two Chinese locations I have lived in, Taiwan and Hong Kong: in both territories, bamboo steamers are used at the night markets and in (traditional) restaurants for cooking. Some steel-reinforced bamboo, some just plain. Take Din Tai Fung for example, where in the open (well, window-encased) kitchen you can see legions of those being stacked, steamed and then being served.
As a side note: in both locations kitchen supply stores carry then aplenty as well. That’s where I got most of mine, and with a bit of hygiene so far they do pretty well …