The Sesame Chicken Factor
April 17th, 2006 by MarkOne thing about living in Taiwan as an American is that people here already have a great deal of exposure to American things. As a result, many feel that they have a good understanding of things American, whether they be politics, traditions, dating customs or food. Unfortunately, much like Americans have very one dimensional exposure to, say, Europeans, the Taiwanese media only portrays a certain side of America. As an American who has also lived in Guatemala, I can say it’s downright shocking to see how different my own country, or even the state of California, looks on the television sets of two different countries.
One of the most grating things, is constantly being told I’m fat because “American food is unhealthy”. Sometimes I feel like wringing the necks of my usually well-meaning acquaintances and telling them I was in great shape until moving to Taiwan, and that I ate healthier food back home than I do here. “KFC” is unhealthy, they say. Well, I can agree with that. The KFCs here are certainly a lot less healthy than the ones at home were, though. In KFCs in Colorado, Texas and California, I’ve eaten spinach, red beans and rice, carrots, potatoes, corn, and a variety of healthy foods. That’s not even including the salad bar, either. The fried chicken may not be too healthy, but all the sides were. Here, none of those sides are sold. You can eat fried chicken or fries, and little else. McDonald’s is the same. All of my beloved salad-shakers are gone. True whole-wheat bread isn’t even sold in this town. Likewise, I can’t find water-packed tuna. The grocery store only sells oil-packed tuna. I haven’t seen baked chicken (or any low-fat meat) offered more than a handful of times in the entire time I’ve lived here. Sure, people here don’t weigh as much as back home, but I’m not sure if they’re doing any better in terms of body composition. Barring the capital city, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody on this entire island with an “athletic” physique.
I used to tell people here about this stuff, whenever they tried how terrible American food is. I’d tell them how not a damned bit of western food that I saw them eat was healthy and how only the junk food was popular. I told them about the wonders of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I told them how places selling healthy western food here would go out of business, because Chinese people just want white-bread (probably pastries), fried chicken, chips, soda and all the crap, but have no interest in our healthier, more traditional fare. Most people just didn’t believe me. They’d already heard about US food on TV and from all their friends. They “knew”.
I couldn’t see how people could be so blind and stuck in their own ways of thinking… until I went home. I’d forgotten the sesame chicken factor. At every single Chinese restaurant I visited, I was greeted by sesame chicken with so much sugar that it coagulates with a bit of stirring. I had crunchy “Kung-Pao” chicken soaked in so much grease it could give a small rhino heart disease. I had fried tofu sweeter than most deserts. Then it dawned on me. Nobody bothers that much with other cultures’ health foods. We all import the nastiest, most unhealthy stuff we can get our hands on and corrupt the rest of it in that direction quickly as possible. If and when we do eat healthier foods, they’re invariably either unprocessed whole foods, such as fruits, or staples basic to our own cultures, things that we grew up eating. Now, when people tell me how unhealthy “American food” is, I never tell them about the healthy foods I used to eat back home. I just ask them if they’ve ever eaten sesame chicken.
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April 17th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Just wanted to say that this is a brilliant post! It is something that I hadn’t thought of before and is entirely true.
Most of my friends here in the States are Asian and most of them are thin. I had attributed that to metabolism at first, but then I realized that many only eat one substantial meal per day.
Americans are raised eating three solid meals per day (and the fat ones supplement that with snacks). I like to vacation in the Netherlands and few people eat breakfast there.
I also only know a handful of muscular Asian men and they are gay.
April 18th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
When I worked in a Chinese resturaunt many moons ago, they started putting deep-fried biscuits(!) out on the buffet. I asked them if that was even Chinese and they admitted it wasnt, but everyone seemed to like them and they were cheap to make so they would keep putting them out.
April 18th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Interesting…
This maybe holds true for American food in China/Taiwan and Chinese food in the USA, but how universal do you think it is?
Like how about with Japanese food? A lot of standard Japanese food with little health value, like omu-rice or curry rice, doesn’t get imported, but alot of fairly healthy stuff does…
April 18th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Oh yeah, this annoyed me SO much when I had to teach a lesson about Western food in Dalian last year. I spent the best part of an hour showing photos and describing all different kinds of food from Europe and America, then the students had to write an essay talking about the differences between Chinese food and Western food. What did I get? 40 identical essays: Western food is unhealthy: McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Chinese food is very healthy.
April 18th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I think it’s pretty universal. You are right about Japanese stuff, though. Most Japanese junk foods (especially their “breads”) taste nasty to westerners. A lot of people I knew at home specifically wanted Japanese food when they were looking for healthy stuff.
Of course, on the other hand, I’ve had a lot of truly unhealthy-fied Japanese stuff at home. We’ve got this place called Happa in Boulder, and it serves sushi and tenpura stuffed with cream cheese!
I do see a lot of Japanese junk food and very little healthy stuff make its way to Taiwan, though. Did you know that they add mayo to the Japanese seeweed&rice wraps, here? Taiwanese people also have a stomach for all the “Japanese bread”.
P.S. How about Mexican food in the US vs Mexico? Or “American food”, whatever they mean by that, in Mexico? Does they follow the Chinese-US trend or the Japan-US one?
April 18th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
I think Mexican food in the States is definitely less healthy. I lived with a Mexican family for like six weeks one summer (in Merida), and let me tell you, it’s not tacos, nachos, and burritos every night. Lots of rice and veggies… even some kind of dried tofu product.
I’m not sure about American food in Mexico, but I think it’s mostly fast food?
April 18th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Mostly agree, food in Taiwan is really unhealthy, especially if you eat out, which is what most Taiwanese people do. Good salads are also hard to find.
Couple of points in your post that are uninformed:
1) Chinese food in the US is really American Chinese food, some of which is based on stuff railroad workers ate. One famous example of this is when Yao Ming says he doesn’t really know why they gave out free fortune cookies at a Rocket’s game–because it’s peculiar only to the US. Also, Chinese restaurants are mainly run by Cantonese, thereby making it substantially different in style from Taiwanese food.
Your analogy doesn’t work. There are authentic Western restaurants in Taiwan, but very few Taiwanese style restaurants in the US. Have you ever eaten Kung-pao chicken in Taiwan? I haven’t even seen it. Fried chicken IS found on both sides of the lake.
I would actually argue instead that most restaurants in Taiwan, regardless of style, are very unhealthy. The healthy stuff you’d have to purposely order weird or go to a health foods restaurant or plain eat less.
2) You have never seen someone with an athletic physique outside of Taipei? Are you kidding me? I totally agree it’s much less than in the US and there is definitely not the same US culture of sports and weight lifting, but what? Never? How often do you get out? Especially if you’re talking about people under 30.
If you’re overweight, I’d consider looking into seeing what cutting down MSG (or doing the best you can to eliminate it) could do for you.
April 18th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Actually, I live out. I only go into a city a couple times a month. Also I know all about the hoardes of Canotnese speakers running restaurants in the US, and I’ve eaten “Kung-pao” chicken in Taiwan many times. It’s usually not that spicy here, though.
I think the analogy holds pretty well. In China, you can get a certain subsection of American foods along with a bunch of weird stuff that we don’t really consider American, and in the US you can get a certain subsection of Chinese foods, along with a bunch of stuff they don’t consider Chinese. I’ve even gotten Taiwanese food in the US before, though I admit it’s not that easy to find.
April 19th, 2006 at 12:14 am
Agreed in that food in Taiwan is very unhealthy. How does everyone stay so skinny? I went to a drink store whose claim to fame is their ability to customize the sweetness of your beverage to your preferance. I asked for half-sweet and still got a drink that was almost too sweet to drink.
As for inauthenticity, I’m working at a supposedly “spanish” restaurant that serves caesar salad with iceberg lettuce, onions, bean sprouts, red and green peppers and this gross dressing that’s basically a very vinigary vinaigrette with chopped capers and anchovies. When I tried to convinced the management of the error of their ways though, they told me with a straight face that this is how the customers liked it. Call it Caesar Salad with Taiwanese Characteristics, I suppose.
If you crave cleaner, healthier food, head for one of the very many vegetarian restaurants, usually buffets, all over Taipei. I’m a proud omnivore, but I just went to one the other day and was just bowled over by the variety of textures and flavors on display. It’s as if they are determined to show people how varied and tasty vegetarian dishes can be. Alternatively, try actual Taiwanese cuisine — it’s actually pretty light (with the exception of a few deep-fried dishes) compared to the other foods served in Taiwan. It’s eaten with rice porridge rather than solid rice and best washed down with Taiwan beer.
April 19th, 2006 at 1:09 am
Unfortunately, for me, that’s an hour trip each way. There’s a buffet here, but even the veggies are litereally soaking in grease.
I’m curious to know what you mean by “actual” Taiwanese food, though. The first thing that came to my mind were danzaimian, elazen, and all the seafood. I did used to enjoy the seafood night market near shuanglian zhan. A fish a crab, plus some uh… “A” vegetable, was a pretty good meal. Oh, how I wish this town had a nightmarket I could go to right now!
I think I know the secret to why everyone here is skinny, though. They just don’t eat so damned much as Americans (or even Taibeiers) do.
April 20th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
OnTone: Yes, there is Kung-Pao chicken in Taiwan. But it is a Sichuanese dish, so you’ll tend to find it only in Sichuanese restaurants.
#1 Taiwanese food is unhealthy - sure, it is if you eat out all the time. But isn’t that the case everywhere? The great thing with Taiwanese hawker stalls is that, you can request for less oil and more vegies - if that’s your thing.
#2 How do Taiwanese stay slim - by eating substantially smaller portions! I guess also, the humidity tends to affect the appetite. Also, a lot more people WALK about, than depend exclusively on cars. I mean, take my Mum, she’d walk for 30 minutes to get the groceries, just because it’s good exercise.
#3 Mayo in o-nigiri - that’s definitely a bad habit imported directly from Japan. The Japanese put mayo on practically everything!
I guess stereotypes are inevitable. But if we discount the stereotypical (and clearly incorrect) view that all Americans eat KFC/McDonald’s etc., we’d still be left with the fact that Americans on average, are the fattest people on earth (Germany and Australia, are equal second). So it is probably still due to (bad) eating habits, just not the same ones. =D
July 18th, 2006 at 4:52 am
Looks like Mexico takes the #2 spot now…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bmi30chart.png
July 18th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I don’t agree with the idea people with the highest BMI are necessarily the “fattest”. In my experience, a westerner with a BMI of about 30 will only be a little pudgy, but an Asian with the same BMI will be disgustingly obese. According to BMI charts, Michael Jordan was overweight at his peak.
The problem with BMI, is that it treats muscle and fat as identical.
August 17th, 2006 at 1:27 am
I don’t agree with any of you. I lived in Taiwan for a year and I saw how much my friends could eat. They out ate me all the time. They loved their fried food. They were skinny and I am over weight.
Now I am back in Canada and I had two Chinese people live with me. I can’t believe how they eat and cook with oil. I believe they are drinking some herbal stuff or something to stay thin. I run 4 times a week and walk everyday with my dog. My chinese student eats twice as much as me and then she doesn’t even exercise.
Where is the justice.