I'll have to add this blog to my feed reader so I can compare her experience with food in China with my own.  I spent two weeks in Hong Kong and Beijing and found the food kind of paradoxical. I was traveling with my equally food-obsessed brother Rand, and in Beijing we repeatedly had the experience of ordering food which looked great when it came to the table, but we simply could not eat it. It was actually quite embarassing, and more than once we used the excuse of being ill to leave the food on the table. We were both concerned about coming across as "spoiled Americans" but one night in Beijing we tried two places, then gave up and ate at an American restaurant. We finally decided it was the cooking oil that was creating the taste we didn't have any appreciation for.

Beijing street food was also a bit of a culture shock, with things being grilled on sticks that we couldn't imagine eating in America.

In Hong Kong the food was more suited to our American palates, and we had some great meals there. I did love China, and would go back there in a heartbeat!

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Had to come back and tell you that I did subscribe to that blog and when the ten most recent posts popped up, the second one down was these Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies that she found the recipe for on Cookie Madness, and I also made those cookies! The food blog world is so connected, it's amazing sometimes.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

In Beijing of 1996, I had one of the best meals of my life. My husband and I bought a plastic bag of piping hot dim sum from a street vendor. The taste of the spicy cabbage filling wrapped in soft steamed dough was incredible, but we weren't sure what's exactly in the filling so we only ate a couple and threw away the rest. We still regret this. :)

Of course, a few months ago, Chinese authorities arrested a vendor that sold dim sum filled with chopped cardboard that has been softened in an industrial chemical and flavored with pork flavoring. So perhaps eating just 2 wasn't such a bad idea after all.

That blog sounds interesting. I am going to check it out.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Thanks for the write-up on Blogher! Though I do have a correction to
point out: my name is Diana Kuan, not Dian Yuan. If you could fix it,
that would be great.

About the cardboard dumplings...the story turned out to be a hoax. A television reporter who faked the story got arrested. Here's a link to the Reuter's story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK13875520070812

Of course, it never hurts to trust your instincts about what to eat or not, expecially on the street. :) 

But when Chinese officials arrest someone who added fuel to existing, well-founded concerns regarding China's food safety, I worry that the reporter might have told the truth and Chinese authorities are lying. But as I said, I may be over paranoid here.

If those dim sum were perfectly safe to eat, then I regret throwing them away even more. They were SO, SO good.

Vered DeLeeuw

www.momgrind.com

I've been following Diana with her culinary exploration in China, and enjoying her posts.

Chinese food can be daunting for those not familiar with it. But good authentic Chinese cooking really is quite simple if you understand the techniques and background. I have been cooking authentic Chinese cooking in the U.S for decades. So go ahead learn about Chinese cooking and you can enjoy healthy scrumptious meals at home.

I write about Chinese cooking at www.redcook.net

-- Kian