China not only creates everything in the world, but also fakes everything around. See how it happens and what comes out of it.

Cardboard buns

To soften the cardboard, Chinese street vendors soak it in industrial chemicals. The result is wrapped in dough and steamed.

In 2007, China Daily reported that police in Beijing had detained a television reporter for an article about cardboard pies. It emerged at a time when the quality of food in China was under intense international control.

At the same time, a story filmed by Beijing TV about the illegal sale of dumplings with cardboard soaked in caustic soda with the addition of pork flavoring in eastern Beijing was broadcast on China Central Television.

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Melamine milk

ALMOST 53,000 CHINESE CHILDREN AND NEWBORNS ARE SICK OF Dairy Products Containing Melamine

A terrible melamine milk scandal in China happened in 2009. Nearly 53,000 Chinese children and newborns became ill from dairy products containing melamine. 40,000 were treated on an outpatient basis, 14,000 were in hospitals throughout China. 4 newborns died.

By mixing milk with melamine, you can artificially increase the protein in milk and deceive dairy producers.

* Melamine is a decorative coating, resistant to water and mechanical damage, synthetic material, which is also called artificial veneer. Melamine is a high strength plastic that can successfully mimic natural wood veneers, while being significantly cheaper.

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Artificial eggs

China is also famous for its famous chicken egg scandal. The buyers themselves discovered the substitution. Eggs, by the way, were sold all over China.

Their eggshells are made from calcium carbonate, while the yolk and white are made from sodium alginate, alum, gelatin, and edible calcium chloride. Water and food coloring are added to the result. Oh how!

First, pour a certain amount of sodium alginate into warm water and mix with the yolk to shape. Then all this is mixed with gelatin and benzoic acid, alum and God knows what else to make an egg white. Lemon food coloring is simply added to dye the yolk the right color.

To recreate the shell of the egg, all this porridge is placed together with calcium chloride in a special form. The shell is made from paraffin, gypsum powder, calcium carbonate and much more ... ..yum-yum.

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Fake rice noodles

According to local press reports, in 2010, a huge amount of rice noodles made from rotten grains and potentially carcinogenic additives appeared on the market in southern China.

The Beijing Youth Newspaper then wrote, "Nearly 50 factories in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan produce about 500,000 kilograms (1.1 million pounds) of colored rice noodles a day using stale and moldy grains."

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Artificial rice

In 2011, according to Weekly Hong Kong, a Korean-language newspaper, counterfeit rice production is flourishing in the Chinese city of Chuan, Shaanxi province. This "rice" is a mix of sweet potatoes and ... plastic. It is created by mixing potatoes and sweet potatoes in a special "rice mold". Well, "it" is also mixed on industrial synthetic resins. Since this “miracle of the human brain” does not behave like normal rice, it remains tough after cooking. It is clear that you can not even talk about the dangers of such a product.
The China Restaurant Association said that eating three bowls of this rice is like eating a plastic bag.

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Glowing pork

In the same 2011, a woman bought a kilogram of pork at the Yang Gao North Road grocery market.

After supper, the hostess put the leftover pork in a bowl and left it on the kitchen table. At 11 pm Ms. Chen got out of bed to go to the bathroom and noticed a faint blue light in the kitchen. The pork was shining.

After that, one by one, the residents of Changsha city began to notice at night the blue "pig glow" from supermarket meat. As soon as this information reached the press, the Changsha Food Safety Commission raised every conceivable department in business, commerce, industry, livestock and health. Experts and teachers were involved in the investigation.
Through the separation of scientifically cultured bacteria, experts discovered that the “blue pork light” was nothing more than secondary bacterial mixing. Experts from the Shanghai Department of Health say the pork was contaminated with phosphorescent bacteria.

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Fake wine

In March 2012, according to Reuters, wine connoisseur Ginny Cho Lee discovered a fake drink at a gala dinner in Hong Kong.

“What do we see all over the country? Lots of imitators and outright fakes in the booming wine market. And the victims of counterfeiting are an inexperienced Chinese consumer. " - said Ian Ford, company manager

Summergate Fine Wines Shanghai is one of the main players in the premium wine market.

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Fake rat meat. Photo source: idesigntimes.com

More than 900 people have been arrested in China for their involvement in food fraud crimes. For example, selling rat, mink and fox meat instead of beef and mutton.

A total of 382 cases of counterfeiting in the food industry were uncovered in three months of an active campaign by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

In addition to fake labeling, the criminals used illegal substances in meat processing. According to Xinhua News Agency, meat products contaminated with any kind of disease were sent to stores without inspection. And for weight, water was pumped into the meat.

During the sweep, the security forces seized more than 20,000 tons of illegal meat products.

The ministry says it will continue to campaign against food crime and abuse.

Although meat counterfeiting is not only a problem in China. Just recently, in Europe, there was an incident with the replacement of expensive beef: horse meat stuffed with a prohibited drug entered the buyers' house.

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Nuts with cement instead of kernel

The plan of the scam is quite simple - the nut is opened, the contents are taken out of it and the cement and paper are poured. Then the shell is glued again. To double their sales, scammers only need to sell real nuts mixed with fake ones.

This trade emerged in China after the price of nuts went ridiculously high, from 350 yuan 10 years ago to 3,500 yuan, or 20,000-30,000 (almost $ 5,000) last year.

A resident of the Oktyabrsky village bought a dozen eggs in Kungur. It turned out that in an effort to save money, he bought a fake chicken egg made from chemicals. “Such surrogate products are prohibited for sale. But the fake eggs, having flooded Siberia, have successfully reached our edges, - the newspaper "Vperyod" reports. - The secret is simple: their production is very cheap, and the shelf life is almost unlimited. A fake egg costs less than 0.1 yuan ($ 0.016), while a real egg costs about 0.5 yuan. "

Fake chicken eggs that look very similar to the original ones. The nutritional value of fake eggs is practically zero, moreover, they contain substances that can damage health with prolonged use (for example, potassium alum).

Chemical composition: The shell consists of a mixture of calcium carbonate, paraffin wax and gypsum. Calcium alginate, gelatin, pigments are used for yolk and protein.

Although outwardly distinguishing such eggs is almost impossible, there are a number of ways to recognize them.

The shell is slightly more shiny and rough. But the differences are quite insignificant, so it is not easy to identify an artificial egg by its appearance. For the rest, there are practically no differences, there is even an air membrane in its lower part.

If the yolk is broken, then in appearance it is indistinguishable from the real one.

If you boil a fake egg "hard-boiled", then peel it and put it in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours, then the "yolk" does not turn blue, as it is with a real egg, it becomes elastic, and does not crumble, and the "protein" acquires a yellowish color. The structure of the "protein" is heterogeneous, the protein can fall apart.

After a while, the white and yolk of a broken artificial egg form a homogeneous mass, since they are made of the same material.

Doctors say that long-term consumption of such eggs can lead to excitation of the nervous system, excessive mobility in children and a slowdown in their mental development.

The attitude to food in China is characterized by three words: everyone eats everything. In a local dish, you can see something previously alive, dead, volatile, floating, walking, growing and blooming. This does not mean that the Chinese do not care at all about their diet. Food here influences the minds, behavior and daily routine of the layman no less than any other religion.

Imagine how you look through the peephole of a kaleidoscope, but instead of beads, it contains all kinds of tastes. Twenty of these kaleidoscopes will give you a rough idea of \u200b\u200bChinese cuisine. Everything here is too diverse. In China, they say that the north is salty, the south is sweet, the east is sharp and the west is sour. For Chinese people trying food from other provinces is like traveling, and finding famous dishes in one province in another is quite easy. You can try northern Peking duck in eastern Shanghai, and Sichuan sauce in southern Guangzhou. However, before diving into the aromatic and spicy world of local Chinese food, there are a few ubiquitous dishes worth mentioning.

FOR EVERYBODY

Ricefor the Celestial Empire - like bread. It is eaten by people of all ages, backgrounds and at any time of the day. Usually it is sticky, fine-grained unleavened rice, the simplicity of which well interrupts the difference in tastes of the main dishes. In conveyor canteens, it is served with meat and vegetable side dishes, is not a separate dish and costs symbolically ¥ 1. In street restaurants, ask for rice for free.

Rice can also be a separate dish - for example, fried rice chaofan(炒饭). It is cooked in a frying pan shaped like a bowl, with thick walls and a narrow bottom - in which it is easy for the chef to constantly stir the dish over high heat. The most popular variety is tribute to chaofan (蛋炒饭) fried rice with egg, green peas and bacon.

Soupin China it is considered a healing food. The liquid cleanses the body, and certain ingredients are believed to cure diseases, improve mood and grant immortality in the future. During large feasts, soup is served to clear the mouth of the taste of the previous meal. Most soups are cooked with chicken or pork broth (they have a subtle smell). Vegetable broth based on seasonal salad or Chinese cabbage is also popular. This is often served free of charge as an aperitif, in a glass or mug (included in the order price).

"The consistency of the soup resembles jelly, and the cost - a small spaceship"

Soups are neutral in flavor and do not always contain meat. They can be ordered by vegetarians and people who are not ready to put their stomach and liver on acquaintance with Chinese cuisine. Dishes that can be cooked even at home - egg soup with tomatoes (fanqie tribute hua tang 番茄 蛋花汤), chicken broth with scraps of eggs(tribute to hua tang 蛋花汤) or clam, onion and tofu soup (qindan qiuhuo 清淡 去火 汤).

Of the delicacies, gourmets prefer turtle soup (qya yu tan 甲鱼 汤). Turtle meat, despite its medicinal properties, is quite tough and difficult to cook. When ordering it in a restaurant, prepare to wait at least an hour. At weddings or celebrations, it is often served shark fin soup (and chi 鱼翅). While scientists doubt the ethics of killing sharks just for the sake of a meal, ordinary Chinese happily devour it on holidays. Shark fin is believed to cleanse the blood of toxins, improve the skin and restore potency. Has a similar effect imperial nest soup (yang in 燕窝). In consistency, it resembles jelly, and in cost - a small spaceship.

A more satisfying base dish - noodles. Wheat(mian 面) is common in the north of the country, rice(fen 粉) - in the south. Regardless of the raw material, a steaming bowl of noodles with meat or vegetables can be ordered at any restaurant for ¥ 8-10. Foreigners most often order it because of its cheapness, predictability of composition and satiety. Classics of the North - noodles in broth with beef (nude zhou mien 牛肉 面). The broth in the noodles is hot enough to warm up a traveler in a normally unheated diner. "Drawn" noodles (lao mian 撈麵) originally from Gansu province, but popular throughout the country. It is fried with beef, vegetables and herbs like cilantro or garlic, or served with broth.

Another popular flour dish is dumplings. In Chinese, there are 12 names for their varieties. The simplest of these is jiaozi (餃子), flat, oblong dumplings filled with meat, cabbage, or eggs. They are eaten with soy sauce, salt, broth and garlic.

Soy products occupy an important place in the Chinese diet. 80-90% of Chinese adults are lactose intolerant, therefore soy milk or dou qian (豆漿) is much more common in the market than an animal. It is slightly sweeter and less fatty compared to cow. The assortment of derived dishes is amazing - yoghurts, cheeses, desserts, coffee crema. It is also used to prepare another important product for the Chinese - tofu, a soy milk cottage cheese rich in protein. Historically, it has been prized as a substitute for expensive meat. Now bean curd is an important product for vegetarians. Tofu doesn't have a distinct flavor of its own, so it's just a culinary chameleon. Soft tofu(hua dou fu 滑 豆腐) is used to make sweet puddings, sweets, salads, and soups. Firm tofu (dou gan 豆干) smoked and fried - this is how hot snacks are made using red pepper and hot Sichuan sauce. A Shanghai dish popular throughout China is "smelly" tofu. The smell of this street delicacy resembles a heap of garbage that has rotted in the sun for three days. However, for trays with chow doufu (臭豆腐) there are always long lines.

“This street delicacy smells like a heap of rubbish that has been rotting in the sun for three days. Nevertheless, there are always long queues at the stalls with him "

The most famous soy product for foreigners is the eponymous one sauce(jiangyu 酱油). Bottles of soy sauce sit on tables at any diner, along with salt, pepper, and toothpicks. The taste and smell of classic soy sauce made from beans, wheat, soy and water is no different from Western counterparts, but there are variations. For example, sweet soy sauce is served with rice flour desserts, sour - with meat and seafood.

The Chinese are very fond of eating outside. A common street snack is steamed pies baozi(包子). They are similar to manti, but the dough resembles an unsweetened biscuit in texture. The filling is pork with cabbage, a mixture of cabbage and pumpkin. There are also sweet baozi with bean paste. Another popular snack is kebabs jianbing(串 儿). Skewered foods and spices vary from kiosk to kiosk. Most often they sell kebabs made from beef, chicken wings and seaweed, abundantly seasoned with caraway seeds, coriander and pepper.

For the Chinese, there is no concept of "dessert" - both side dishes and meat can have a sweet taste. After the main meal, fresh pineapples, tangerines, strawberries and caramelized apples are sometimes eaten. Classic sweetness - moon cakes yuebins(月餅). The name given to the gingerbread is from the Mid-Autumn Festival, when people watch the moon. During this festival, the Chinese receive boxes of gingerbread from friends, family and colleagues. The yuebins themselves can be hard or puff pastry stuffed with sweet beans, nuts, fruits, and even ice cream.

BY REGION

China consists of 23 provinces with their own history and nationalities living there, so the dishes are different everywhere. Cooking habits and ingredients can vary even within the same city. For convenience, the "Eight Great Culinary Schools" are singled out - they have had the greatest influence on the culinary map of the country.

SHANDONG

Where:northeast, Yellow Sea coast
Briefly: seafood, vegetation, variety

Shandong cuisine was influenced by its proximity to water and a climate favorable for fruits, vegetables and grains. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, onions, garlic and zucchini are the main guests on the table of the inhabitants of this province. Local snack digua bass (拔絲 地瓜), or caramelized sweet potato, is served with soy sauce to enhance the already sweet taste. Another popular treat is corn. It is boiled, sometimes slightly fried and served on the cob.

Shandong cuisine is renowned for its varied culinary practices, from marinating to high-heat frying. Most seafood, such as abalone or sea cucumber, is stewed. Shrimp, squid and sea fish are more popular than animal meat due to their availability. Nevertheless, it is here that the best guifei chicken, or imperial chicken, is prepared. Shandong vinegar is isolated from sauces, which, out of a sense of pride in the product, is added to everything imaginable and inconceivable.

SYCHUAN

Where:southwest
Briefly: fiery, fatty, satisfying

Sichuan's heavy and spicy dishes will take a long time to get used to. But after such an acquaintance, even kharcho drowning in red pepper will seem bland. The culprit behind the pungency of all dishes is Sichuan pepper, or Chinese coriander. It is used together with red pepper to make a buttery sauce. ma la (麻辣), from the pungency of which the tongue grows numb. The inhabitants of the province definitely prefer meat: pork, beef, chicken, duck, and especially rabbit. Famous dishes - chicken gongbao(宫保鸡丁) and sichuan pork (回锅肉). A mixture of Sichuan pepper and salt, fried in a wok until brown, is served as a seasoning for meat. Local chefs have a very rich imagination - this is the only way to explain duck or rabbit blood jelly (毛血旺), "Fish-flavored pork" (鱼香 肉丝) and "Ants on a tree" (蚂蚁 上 树). When cooking the latter, not a single ant was hurt: the name of the dish was given by the appearance of pieces of minced pork on crystal noodles, which resemble insects on a branch.

GUANGDUN / CANTON

Where: south
Briefly: omnivorous, diverse, strange

Guangdong Province is the worst place where animals can return after reincarnation. The locals eat everything - snakes, raccoons, crocodiles, monkeys, turtles, mice and cats. There is a dog meat eating festival in the summer. Famous dishes - chicken stew with snake(鸡 烩 蛇) and monkey brain soup (猴 脑 汤). The meat is served with one of the local sauces: oyster, plum or black bean sauce finish teaching(豆豉). A common snack is centenary egg (皮蛋). Usually this is a duck or quail egg, which is soaked in a special marinade without access to air. As a result, the protein turns black, and the egg develops a strong ammonia smell. Advantages - stored for several years and is an excellent souvenir.
If you don't feel like eating someone's murzik stew, try the local fruits: mango, papaya, dragon's eye, and durian. Here, in a warm climate, they are the juiciest and cheapest.

FUJIAN

Where:taiwan island, south
Briefly: gentle, sweet, fresh

Fujian cuisine is similar to Shandong cuisine with an abundance of seafood, vegetables and fruits. They are thinly sliced, almost chopped, and stewed for a long time - this is how a traditional side dish is prepared. Mushrooms and plant parts are also commonly used, such as bamboo shoots or lotus root. The province is rich in sugar cane plantations, so the dishes have a sweetish or sweet and sour taste. From seafood, carp, herring, shellfish, squid, shrimp and oysters are used. Oyster omelet(蚵仔煎) is made from egg yolks with the addition of starch and turns out to be very tender and airy. The most popular dish in the province is "The temptation of the Buddha"(佛 跳). It requires over 30 ingredients, including exotic quail eggs, pig pancreas, and fish swim bladder. The mixture of all the products should give such a fragrance, for the sake of which even Buddha would jump over the wall after him.

HUNAN

Where: southeast
Briefly: sharp, oily, multicolored

Hunan cuisine is characterized by the use of smoked meats, mixing different types of meat and a lot of hot peppers. For the last point, this cuisine is often compared to Sichuan. Dishes are cooked in pots or fried, with onions and garlic added to everything. Chefs care not only about the compatibility of different products, such as trepang, river fish and pork, but also about the compatibility of colors. Dishes look like paintings from the abstraction era - for example, fiery red chickens dong'an(东 安 鸡). Another manifestation of abstractionism - squirrel carp(松鼠 鯉魚). According to legend, the cook was ordered to cook the carp so that it does not look like a carp, so as not to incur the wrath of the emperor. For the cook, everything ended well, but fish, even when fried, resembles protein very distantly. Sweet chili, stewed tomatoes and a lot of salt are added to carp.

JIANGSU PROVINCE CUISINE

Where: East
Briefly: soft, simple, smart

Compared to the rest of China, Jiangsu uses few spices. All attention is paid to the taste and aroma of the original product. For the same reason, they often cook here by stewing or boiling, because when frying with temperature, the real taste of the product leaves. The province's main dish is a turtle and chicken stew in a mysteriously named wine "Goodbye, my concubine"(银鱼 炒蛋). Another meat delicacy - braised pork ribs (红烧 排骨) are known for their sweet taste and delicate texture.

ANHOI

Where:east
Briefly:fragrant, gentle, uncomplicated

Anhui cuisine is the sister of Jiangsu cuisine. Simplicity is valued in cooking, freshness in products. Anhui people add wild herbs to the prepared dish, and from the cooking methods they prefer stewing. Unlike Jiangsu, seafood is much less commonly used here. Poultry meat prevails over any other - for example, popular winter pheasant (雪冬 山鸡) and huangshan pigeon stew (黄山炖鸽).

ZHEJIAN

Where: East
Briefly: fresh, tender, fishy

The main meats consumed in Zhejiang are pork and fish. Pork dong pu (東坡肉) is cooked over low heat with the addition of yellow wine. Thus, the fat becomes more tender and softer. Rolls are also popular here zongzi(粽子), in which the whole family is involved. Glutinous rice is stuffed with pork or sweet beans and then wrapped in a steamed flat sheet. Traditionally, the leaf should be bamboo, but for the sake of unusual taste, it is wrapped in corn, banana or lotus leaves. The main product sourced from the province is green tea longjing(龙井茶). It is harvested and processed by hand, so it costs several times more than other varieties. Despite the price, Longjing is considered the best tea in China due to its sweet aftertaste and light aroma.

Other cuisines that are not part of the "great eight", but one way or another
contributed to the country's nutritional profile:

Uyghur cuisine (north).Uyghurs are a Turkic people living in the Xinjiang region. The Uyghurs are Muslims and do not have pork or alcohol in their diet. Mainly, Central Asian dishes are prepared, such as pilaf or lagman. Uyghur restaurants are popular with tourists and locals alike and can be found from north to south of the country. The main reason for adoration is that there are photos of dishes on the menu. Rice is usually served with beef, mushrooms, potatoes and peppers. You can ask to do the same, but without meat - even the vegetarian version will feed two adults.

Beijing cuisine (northeast).For its rare ingredients and rich taste, it is often called "imperial". The most famous dish is peking duck (北京 烤鸭) with a sweet crispy crust.

Harbin cuisine. Harbin is a city in northeastern China next to Russia. His cuisine has been greatly influenced by Russian cooking - Moscow borscht(莫斯科 红 菜汤) and eat a lot of black bread. Local dumplings resemble Russians in shape: they are round and small, and not oblong like their Chinese counterparts. The dishes are served in broth and heavily salted.

Shanghai cuisine (east). Spicy, sour, odorous, and mostly street food. Meat is cooked using wine, which is why Shanghai food is sometimes called "drunk".

From thirst

Surprisingly, the most popular drink in China is simple hot water... Tip: Buy a reusable container before your trip and save ¥ 2 per bottle of water. There are coolers at train stations, airports, supermarkets and even theaters. You can skip luggage and buy a mug on the spot. The store near your hotel may not have bread or eggs, but thermoses and special plastic bottles will certainly be there. Boiling water for the Chinese is both a drink and a medicine, a way to keep warm in winter and cool in summer. Hot water is served free of charge before meals in restaurants to improve appetite, and doctors advise drinking it daily - the more the better.

Although the true national drink of China is water, the local is better known abroad. tea... A cup of tea is a way to say thank you, a sign of family reunification, and an important mediator in human relationships. For a traditional tea ceremony, go to the "tea house". Green tea is several times more popular than black, and the most common is buckwheat. It is considered cheap and simple, and is mostly served free of charge. Dried fruits and flowers are added to tea, but sugar or honey never - this spoils the true taste.

You can buy tea both in supermarkets by weight and in specialized stores. The advantage of the latter is a large selection of popular and rare varieties, beautiful packaging and the opportunity to try any of the presented in the range. A giant minus is prices. 500 g of oolong costs at least ¥ 100. A similar oolong in the supermarket can be bought for ¥ 20.

Influenced by the Western fashion for to-go drinks, Chinese entrepreneurs have launched a multi-million dollar milk tea industry. Usually it is green tea with soy milk and floating red beans, which must be pulled out with a straw. Also popular are tea with jelly pieces, fruit tea with mango or papaya pulp. There are long queues at the windows of market giants such as SoSo and Royal Tea in the morning and evening. On the Internet, you can even hire someone to queue up for you.

But coffee to go is rare. Rich black coffee is a rarity here. The drink is expensive - ¥ 25 for an Americano, ¥ 30 for a cappuccino or latte. You can have a cup either in European pastry shops or in franchised coffee shops. Small coffee shops are very rare, but Starbucks can be seen in large cities almost more often than ATMs. Its popularity is due to the name of the brand, as well as the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the Western world.

Another popular drink among children and teenagers is freshly squeezed fruit juices... The most popular flavors are mango, papaya, dragon eye, and citrus. Often, the drink is served with whipped cream, chunks of fruit, and topped with cookies.

After the first visit to the club, the myth of the non-drinking Chinese falls apart and creeps into a corner in shame. Drinking a bottle of beer at lunch is the norm for an ordinary resident. The beer here is not very high-quality and strong, you will not get drunk with all the desire. The strength of light beer of the most famous brand Tsingtao is 4.5%. As for the higher degree, the Chinese drink a lot and are extremely chaotic. Rice vodka baijiu(白酒) mix with red wine hongju(红酒), with beer and homemade liqueurs. Baijiu has a pungent specific smell and a large percentage of alcohol - from 40 to 60%. The weaker option is called huangju(黄酒), which translates to "yellow wine". It is eaten from peaches, rice or plums, so huangju has a pleasant sweet smell. They drink baidze and wine warmed up from small cups. Popular souvenir from China - red bottles Jin Jiu (劲 酒). It is a sweetish herbal-flavored liqueur that vaguely resembles Bitner's balm in taste. You can drink in China from the age of 18. The sale has no restrictions - you can buy alcohol at any time of the day.

DETAILS

Chinese dishes do not have a clear division into morning, afternoon and evening meals. If you want to eat pork with rice and soup for breakfast, no one will forbid you. In addition, there is no division into "first", "second" and "dessert" - products are served on the table as soon as they are ready in a chaotic manner. The hours of eating are known to everyone, and the Chinese have adhered to them since childhood:

7: 00-9: 00 - breakfast;
11: 30-14: 00 - lunch;
19: 00-21: 00 - dinner.

There are a lot of people in the restaurants during lunch and dinner hours. Near the entrance to the most popular places, there are a dozen plastic chairs - so visitors wait for their turn to enter the restaurant. Sometimes the wait is delayed for several hours. If the hunger is too strong, they order food at home. More or less large establishments have delivery within half an hour, food containers are left in special "lockers" at the entrance or given in person.

In search of food, the traveler most often comes across small restaurants on the first floor of a building, or chifankas. They have no doors or heating, but low prices. Local meat, fish, a selection of vegetable snacks, noodles and, of course, rice are served. Recently, pastry shops have been popular where you can buy pastries and bread. Chinese bread is sweeter and softer than European bread and is baked with red beans or raisins. If doubts bind the soul, you can walk to the nearest KFC, McDonalds or Pizza Hut. You won't be able to try a burger or pizza "at home" - there are more spices in Chinese fast food.

They eat with chopsticks in China. They are wooden and long to make it easier to get pieces out of common dishes. In some restaurants, for reasons of hygiene, special steel nozzles are given to the chopsticks. The soup is eaten with a small wide spoon with a deep bottom. Broth without noodles and meat is drunk straight from the plate.

The most popular place for gatherings is ho go, aka hot-pot (火锅), aka Chinese samovar. In establishments of the same name, visitors prepare their own food in a large vat with sauce. Sometimes the container is divided into two parts - for soft sauce and for hot sauce. When it boils, they throw a variety of meat, vegetables or herbs into the vat, take them out with chopsticks as soon as they are ready and eat with butter. They don't go alone: \u200b\u200blarge tables with integrated pot holes can hold up to 20 people.

Eating food for a Chinese is a social affair. It is an act of being together, being with friends and family. The main meat and fish dishes are initially designed for two, so that you can share it with someone. Many Chinese people make video calls to their spouses or children during lunch - so, sitting alone in a restaurant, they are still not alone.

China is famous for many things, including fake goods. From clothes and bags to electronics - even entire fake cities - China has it all. But some "artisans" went further and began to counterfeit food ...

Plastic rice

At first glance, rice cannot be counterfeited, but the resourceful Chinese were able to do it. Fake Chinese rice is also called plastic rice. Made from sweet potatoes and synthetic resin, it looks a lot like real rice.

Artificial rice is commonly sold in Chinese markets in Taiyuan City in Shaanxi Province. This rice is difficult to digest and remains hard as stone even after being cooked. It must not be eaten. Eating three bowls of this rice is like eating a vinyl bag or a plastic bag.

In addition to producing artificial rice, dishonest Chinese sellers add flavorings to regular rice and sell it under the guise of the more expensive Wuchang rice, one of the best brands of rice in Chinese markets. Only 800 thousand tons of Wuchang rice are produced annually, and 10 million tons are sold. In other words, 9 million tons of rice is fake

Rat lamb

When dishonest sellers don't counterfeit rice, they add chemicals to rat, mink and fox meat and sell it as mutton. The scheme was so popular and successful that the police arrested 900 people in just three months and seized 20,000 tons of this meat. Wei, one of the sellers of such meat, made more than a million pounds alone. He mixed fox, rat and mink meat with nitrates, gelatin and carmine before selling it on the market to unsuspecting buyers.

Chinese police have published instructions on how to distinguish real from fake mutton on the largest microbiology website. Differences are difficult to notice at first glance. The white and red parts of real lamb do not separate after the meat is thawed or cooked, but they separate from fake meat

Tofu from chemicals

Also called bean curd, tofu is a cheese made from a mixture of soy milk and a coagulant.

Chinese authorities recently closed two factories in Wuhan, Hebei province, for selling counterfeit tofu, which was made by mixing different chemicals. One worker admitted that they mixed soy protein with flour, monosodium glutamate, dye and ice, and then packaged it so that it was not just as close to the real thing as possible, but also outwardly resembled the popular Qianye brand. This is how the plant solved the sales problem from the very beginning.

Fake tofu was widely sold in Chinese markets. Since the counterfeit was sold cheaply, it soon overshadowed the original brand. Deanfa Food Company noticed a drop in sales and sounded the alarm. After the fake manufacturers were caught, it was revealed that they had applied the original laser code to the packaging using equipment worth $ 1.2 million. Using soy protein isn't the most dastardly thing to do, and not all schemes are so innocent.

Another fake tofu criminal gang added rongalite and a cancer-causing industrial bleach to it. The chemical bleached the tofu and made it thicker. This gang, led by three cousins, sold 100 tons of the poisoned product. During a raid on their factory, the police found unsold goods and dirty equipment on which they were produced.

Formaldehyde and duck blood

Duck blood tofu is a delicacy in China. It is made from the blood of slaughtered ducks. The blood is heated until it thickens, then it is cut into cubes and sold. It’s strange, but then more: vendors mixed deadly ingredients like formaldehyde with cheaper pig or cow blood, then sold this mixture as duck blood.

The Chinese authorities found the one who falsified duck blood, this time it was a couple in Jiangsu province. Only in this case, the spouses did not use pig or cow blood. Instead, they used chicken blood mixed with inedible paint and materials used in printing. The police confiscated one ton of fake duck blood from them.

The use of fake duck blood for tofu is so widespread in China that people have learned to recognize a counterfeit from a natural product by its appearance and smell.

Fake honey

There are two types of fake honey: diluted natural honey with sugar, beetroot or rice syrup, and honey, which looks more like natural honey than natural honey itself. It is made from a mixture of water, sugar, alum and dye.

It costs only 10 yuan to produce one kilogram of counterfeit honey at a selling price of 60 yuan. Seventy percent of the honey sold in China's Jinan province is fake. As usual, Chinese newspapers write about how to distinguish natural honey from fake.

The police searched several underground producers and seized 38 buckets of honey. China is the world's largest exporter of honey. Research has shown that 10% of the honey sold in France is counterfeit and most likely it was brought from Eastern Europe or China. US Customs caught smugglers trying to smuggle counterfeit honey into the US from China via Australia.

Dirty bottled water

Selling fake honey is one thing, but selling dirty drinking water is another. Police recently found scammers filling plastic bottles with tap or poorly treated water and sealing them on equipment used by popular brands.

They also pasted their labels and quality marks on the bottles. Among other things, E. coli and a harmful fungus were found in the bottles. 100 million fake water bottles are sold annually in China, worth $ 120 million. By comparison, Beijing produces 200 million bottles (genuine and counterfeit) annually.

The bottled water scam is not new and has been going on since 2002. The cost of such water is three yuan, and it is sold for ten yuan. Normal bottled water costs six yuan to produce

Rotten rice noodles

Fake Chinese rice noodles were made from rotten, stale, and moldy grains that are commonly used as animal feed. Then, to obtain the final product, it is mixed with carcinogenic additives such as sulfur dioxide.

And this is not one person - 50 factories operated according to such a scheme in Dongguan city. They produced 50 tons of counterfeit rice noodles a day. Inspection of 35 other factories revealed that 30 of them produced substandard rice noodles. Manufacturers bleached spoiled rice and mixed it with additives to make three times the volume of rice noodles.

Along with using stale rice, some growers use flour, starch, and corn powder. These noodles have a very low protein content - only 1% compared to 7% for pure rice noodles and 4.5% for mixed rice noodles. Some pigs who were fed fake rice noodles experienced limb weakness and other problems.

Clenbuterol Poisoned Pork

Clenbuterol or "lean meat powder" is an additive to animal feed. It burns fat in animals, but can cause nausea, heart problems, sweating, and dizziness in humans. Its use in animal feed began in the 1980s and was banned in 2002 due to health hazards. However, some meat processing companies still give it to their pigs, as it makes their pigs look slimmer, and they get more money for these pigs.

Worse, it caught Henan Shuanghui, the largest player in the meat market in China. The company issued an official apology for this act and withdrew 2,000 tons of pork from the market. Twenty-four of the company's employees have been fired or suspended.

In an attempt to minimize the company's losses, it suspended the sale of the shares so that the scandal would not affect their price. The China Meat Association also tried to play down the incident so as not to harm the Chinese meat market. Between 1998-2007, 18 cases of clenbuterol use were recorded in China, one person died and 1,700 people were poisoned.

Fake wine

Counterfeit and counterfeit wines are a big problem in China. China Central Television (CTV) reported that half of all wines sold in China are counterfeit. Winemakers say 90% of premium wines sold in China are counterfeit. To counter the sale of counterfeit wines, a wine authentication center has been set up in Guangdong province. Winemakers have teamed up with the government and released an app to track wine bottles and boxes in order to identify authenticity.

The scam is simple: the original name, label and design from expensive wine bottles were used in a fake, but the logo and name were slightly changed to differ from the original. Other swindlers used empty bottles of expensive wines, filling them with cheap wine.

Major hotels and auction houses destroy empty bottles so they cannot be reused. In a raid on a wine counterfeiting group in China, police found 40,000 bottles of counterfeit wine worth $ 32 million. The group was engaged in bottling cheap wine into bottles of expensive wine brands. In 2012, police also uncovered 350 cases of wine counterfeiting in Shanghai. The total amount of counterfeits was $ 1.6 million.

Hairy crabs

The hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake are the most expensive crabs in China and it's no surprise that people try regular crabs for the more expensive ones. Real crabs come exclusively from Yangcheng Lake, but there are some clever ways to get around this.

Some vendors take water from Yangcheng Lake and soak common crabs in it for several hours before selling them. Other vendors use chemicals to make the crabs look like the ones from the lake.

Of the 300 Yangcheng hairy crabs sold, only one is natural. In total, 100 thousand tons of hairy crabs are sold annually, but only 3 thousand of them are natural. To combat the scammers, the Crab Business Association has demanded that a plastic ring with a unique numeric code be worn for each hairy crab from Yangcheng Lake.

This plan soon fell through when licensed sellers of Yangcheng hairy crabs sold digital codes to scammers who sell fake crabs.

Fake eggs

Fake chicken eggs hit the markets a few years ago. They are very similar to the real ones and customers cannot distinguish them from a real egg in appearance. Fake eggs cost half the price of real eggs.

In appearance, the resemblance of fake eggs to real ones does not end there - inside they have white and yolk. Fake eggs are made from gelatin, benzoic acid, alum, calcium chloride, paraffin and other substances. There are still three-day courses for making such eggs on the Internet, and these courses are sold for $ 150-200.

Fake eggs taste quite similar to real ones, especially if you fry them into fried eggs (in Chinese cuisine, quite a lot of spices are used that can "mask" any taste). However, when frying, a lot of bubbles will appear on the surface of the protein (which should alert the consumer).

Doctors warn: the use of such eggs causes serious disturbances in the work of the gastrointestinal tract and, according to some scientists, with prolonged use, provokes dementia (dementia)

Cardboard buns

Cardboard buns mixed with pork flavoring chemicals. CTV showed a salesperson making cardboard buns. First, the cardboard was mixed with caustic soda, which is used to make soap and paper, and then mixed with seasoning and pork. This viral video was spread by several international media outlets with incredible speed.

The Chinese government later claimed that foreign media took the news too seriously and that the fake buns were actually a hoax. The reporter who filmed the video was arrested. The government said he filmed the video to boost the channel's ratings.

Amazing food related things. Meat and eggs, it turns out, can also be a Chinese fake. And already in China itself, it is recognized that not all of their products are equally useful, even for trained athletes.

Dr. Zhou has a mission of national importance. She is figuring out which foods are harmless for the PRC national team, which is due to travel to the London Olympics.

“We have already banned them from eating in our restaurants, where the dishes have such additives that it would be simply impossible to pass a drug test in London,” says doctor Zhou He.

One of them is clenbuterol. In small quantities, it is an asthma medicine. But in China, it is also added in huge doses to cattle feed - for weight gain. Following the food chain, it accumulates in the human body, causing not only muscle growth, but also pressure surges and even a failure of the immune system.

"If an athlete eats on the side, he has to report what and where he ate. You will be surprised, but we will check the restaurant. The reputation of all our sport depends on this," says Zhou He, a doctor.

At the previous Games in Beijing, doubts were already expressed that some Chinese athletes honestly earned gold medals. Especially when weightlifter Liu Chunhong added to the record of Russian Oksana Slivenko not two or five, but all ten kilograms at once. The results of Chinese women in diving competitions were also called unreal. Skeptics hinted - they say, either the doping tests are not up to par, or the Chinese eat something that turns them into superheroes.

"In London, we want to win everyone again. Maybe our athletes are better off abandoning other products whose quality leaves much to be desired?" - notes nutritionist Ma Zhongren.

Chinese television footage amazed the entire country: in China, watermelons began to explode - in the fields like landmines. It turned out that it was all about the new fertilizers.

"I only had low-quality products. But we also have counterfeit products in China. In terms of quality, they are much worse," says farmer Li Kexin.

The pinnacle of the PRC's grocery know-how is expensive marbled beef. It is made from cheap pork using a special paste with the addition of the same clenbuterol. There are also rice made from potatoes and polymer resins, fake eggs, which are prepared from gelatin, benzoic acid, paraffin and gypsum powder. Even in restaurants, counterfeiting is not always noticed.

"I myself prefer to buy imported eggs. This is safer. But the labels in the store can also be re-glued. In general, there is no guarantee," says chef Zheng Tao.

It is not easy to distinguish artificial eggs from natural ones. But you can. Firstly, the shell is a little rough to the touch and sometimes shiny. But the main thing is the white and yolk. After a while, they form a homogeneous mass, since they are made of the same material. But you can only understand this when you break a fake egg.

In China, of course, they root for their national team. But this time, concern for the health of the Olympians caused outrage. "Here we are - amateur footballers. What is this? We are now second-class people, and no one forbids us to eat suspicious food?" - says amateur football player Bian Shichun.

According to the Chinese, the authorities are not tightening control over food quality just because they fear food shortages. To feed one and a half billion people, and even qualitatively - not a single catering in the world has yet undertaken such a task.