The Quest For Good Looking Food Puts Chinese Food Industry At Risk
With recent stories coming out of China about tainted foods, one author theorizes about the reasons behind these events.
Though there are many causes of China's food safety crisis, one critical reason is Chinese consumers' love of glitzy and exotic food.
The Chinese have always valued beautiful dishes. With the improvement of the standard of living in recent decades, the nation's demand for food with high quality and nutrition is on the rise as well.
Author Bu Denning expands on this premise.
I went on a trip to Bhutan in February, an agricultural country where the fruits and vegetables are neither big nor beautiful, its rice doesn't have a shining surface as well. No fertilizer, pesticides or additives are allowed to be used there.
However, the Chinese visitors, who highly appreciated the natural food upon arrival, were later driven crazy by the bland dishes and vowed to feast on sumptuous banquets as soon as they were back home.
The Chinese are eager consumers of new dishes. Every so often, a new type of dish is introduced and becomes popular throughout the country because of its new flavor.
But it is often the case that the new flavor is a result of using additives that are also detrimental to people's health. Chemical additives that make meat tender, soup more delicious and dessert more refreshing are indispensable to restaurants. And sadly, these dishes are often the favorite choice of diners.
It is our choices that are powering those vicious food producers. If no one wants to buy dark-color rice, it might be just the natural next step for greedy producers to lace it with heavy metals to make it look whiter.
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