To the common people, food is as important as heaven.

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When I was working for a short time in Taiwan a young Taiwanese boy said, “the Chinese eat everything that flies….except airplanes.” It is a cuisine born of thousands of years of starvation. With the continuing advance of global warming maybe we should get used to it.

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I’ve had fried giant waterbugs. They tasted like a cross between chicken and hazelnuts.

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This is the Wangfujing tourist street food bazaar in Beijing. A vast majority of the locals don’t eat there and won’t touch half the stuff they have there with a ten foot pole.

I’ve always suspected they set this stuff up as a joke and tell tourists that all Chinese people LOVE the stuff and see what they can get foreigners to eat.

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Do they have ketchup packets to go with the take out?

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People like the moron TOTAL ALIEN should destroy thier reproductive organs so it’s absolutely impossible to spew evil spawn. But alas he or she is probally as fertile as they come and already has a menagerie of imbeciles. The world is full of them.
Anyhoo..I wanna try seahorse.

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Arguing over the internet is like winning the special olympics.
Even if you win, you’re still retarded.

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eww this is gross

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Look, if we can eat oysters on the half shell… we can eat anything. It all depends on what we were brought up eating. My dad used to eat pickled pigs feet (gag). When you’re starving, you’ll eat anything. In times of famine, people have been known to eat their young. Hope I haven’t ruined your day.

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tiff at 11:25 pm on October 2nd, 2008

pickled pig feet are the bomb =) yummy

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Many Chinese people find most of that stuff pretty disgusting too.

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All American I don’t care how open minded you are but in a society with 1.8 billion people you have to eat just about anything. I’ll stick with the familiar favorites like steak and dounuts

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don’t lie you stupid, dog meat is forbidden in China during Olympic

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Mmmm! Makes me hungry! I wish you could get that stuff from this side of the globe.

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I’ve lived in China for nearly 3 years and rarely seen anything like this. I mean it is certainly out there somewhere, people eat lots of stuff we don’t but this mostly for the tourists and I think most chinese people would steer clear of a lot of what is on offer here. Like I know chinese people who hate people that eat dog because they have pets that they love as part of their family.

I like a lot of chinese food culture. Mostly they eat all of the animal or bird. I eat meat but I think our way of just choosing a few cuts of meat and leaving perfectly edible other parts is shamefully wasteful. Better to know exactly what you are eating and either be comfortable with that or just not eat it.

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I a pothead I’ll eat anything but maybe not bugs and I don’t ever want to eat a dick but I love to eat balls

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I guess this is the Chinese equivalent of “Rocky Mountain Oysters”. The locals don’t eat that and even if we did, we wouldn’t pay what we charge the tourists for it.

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Moo-Sama is a facist.

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Unbelivable photos! Thank god im vegetarian!

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The Cantonese DO eat everything with four legs, except for the dining tables.

However, “foods” on these pictures are too disgusting. Just looking at them makes me sick.

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Hey Mike, nice going with all the flaming and you show a great knowledge about humanity.
Too bad you don’t seem to know much else. The seahorses that you will find on this market are harvested by “bottom crawling” the sea floor. Almost everything that lives down there is destroyed in the process and will most likely not recover in time for you grand children to see it happen.
Great that you use your - apparently vastly superior - intellect to try to change the world. Maybe you should start looking a little further.

And now my own little prejudice: You must be American, Mike, right?

P.S.: Sad to see that not only seahorses but also Smashing Mantis Shrimp and Banded Sea Snakes are on offer. Way to go to make sure ALL sea life will be extinct by 2020…

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well in china, if it doesnt taste good, they dont eat it. so doesnt matter what it is, it will taste awesome.

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@Total Alien: Gooks are Viets you dumbass. If you’re gonna’ troll, at least do it right.

@All American: The article is only showing extreme food contrasts. It’s not pointing and going, “Ewww!! >o<”

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cant imagine people eating all this

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I don’t know if its because its 5am, and I’m starving … but that looked tasty

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sbsb27: Spot on!

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I’m ok with extreme food and enjoy trying new things. But I gotta say, I think I’d draw the line at eating dog. I don’t think there’s an economic backing to it either, like we already use their hides or it’s cheap meat to raise. Considering the “family member” role of so many millions of dogs…it’s eerily close to cannibalism. Call me too western on this one if you want.

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Anyone who says that they aren’t even a *tiny* bit tempted by the deep-fied starfish or the dog-brain soup is LYING. And snake-on-a-stick is the ultimate on-a-stick food. If you cook it crispy enough, you don’t even need the stick!

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This is why the chinese are so skinny, they don’t like their cultural foods :p

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As bad as all the fucking fast food!

You should taste it before talk about it

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what the Fck

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For all those closed minded: Hey guys, are you sure you’re eating real cow meat on the hamburgers from McDonalds or Burguer King? Is not more disgusting eating at KFC knowing you’re not eating real chicken instead a monster they create to gain more money? Think again…

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Yeah??, why not just fry the snake, and skip the stick?
PS
actually..
it all looky very yucky-yucky-poo-poo

PPS
Actuclly, China, thay do serve dog, a lot, but not during olympics…ok-ok?

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@Rafa - RE: McDonald’s Beef and Chicken for KFC.

In Canada, all meat is STRICTLY regulated. No chicken may be given steroids or any other chemical enhancement. ALL meat is constantly tested and reported on before and after it makes it’s way to the slaughter house.

If you’re even in Canada, make sure you order a nice cut of Canadian Beef, it’s completely different than fatty US stuff!

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I read somewhere that you attain more protein per gram when eating a specific type of caterpillar from Africa than eating red meat. Considering that bugs are in abundance. I think we may have a solution to starvation. I have tried the fried crickets and it tastes nice and crunchy.

I like the Chinese philosophy of aspiring to use the freshest ingredients, animals are slaughtered and sold on the same day forgoing any sort of preservation or packaging, vegetables are picked and sold on the same day. Now it might not be the same but the general thought is what counts.

In the end though I’d encourage everyone to try something different.

This kinda sums up what kind society we live in now hehe
http://www.wired.com/wired/arc.....ky11_f.jpg

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French food is worse.

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They eat anything that moves….and if it doesn’t move, they move it

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They would have to pay me alot of money to eat one of those things!
damnn nasty chinese people!
i prefer japanese food anytime!!!
Sushi yummy

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Chinese are digusting,.. they eat cats, dogs, and RATS among other disgusting animals and insects. They eat *anything*

Fuck the Chinks!

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re. Bake and Shark.
Please check out the excellent documentary Sharkwater. It will change your mind (as it did mine) about buying another shark-related item. Please spread the word about the slaughter of sharks and the danger sharkmeat poses to children and pregnant women (as it is extremely high in mercury). Even if you don’t care about the animal, you owe it to yourself and future generations to protect the sharks. When they get wiped out (and they are being killed at a dangerously high rate), our oxygen supply (and obviously, health) will be messed up, as well. There are plenty of other things for us to eat without threatening our environment and future.

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SHARKS…

You are VERY CORRECT about NOT killing off these beasts of the sea. The BS where they cut the fin and let them, sink is very bad.

All of Gods crearues are here for a reason, and they balance, and killing something becuase it does what it does is ignorant.

Kill off the bears,and deer population explodes.

Like truning corn in to gas oline, and food prices sky rocket.

We need to stop complicating things, and “let it be”.

I saw a GREAT show on shark attackes, and it turns out that the tradional feeding/breeding grounds had been converted to a shipping port, this caused thesharks to move on,and attack humans…I feel guilty to be part of the human race that is doin this….PLEASE THINK..and let it be.

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Man, is like the fear factor of fast food!

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Oh my god…thats insane…

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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There is nothing wrong with other cultures food. For example many would not eat oxtails and I love them.

I could probably handle everything but dog brain soup and dog lungs. My dogs are like little people to me and I couldn’t imagine anyone raising them for food. It’s horrible.

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-forgot to mention that a common chinese aphorism goes: chinese people eat all the animals on earth; if it flies, swims, crawls or runs, chinese people will eat them all.

the saying, proudly recited, demonstrates the resourcefulness and open thinking of the chinese culture. i think it dates back to the confucionist era.

an apt western analogy is the christian aphorism that grants humans sole dominion over all creatures on earth. the chinese just take it one step further ;p

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OMG i’ve been there, the food is actually pretty good to eat, oh and btw they also sell animal genitals, and scorpian and dragonfly is nice

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you guys are fucking gross

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and how does what people eat make them look bad? it only makes people look bad because society make people judge each other based on things like appearances etc. and how do we know what a country is really like without even going there? why do we believe everything they cover in the news? although there’s less censoring here, what they report through the media is still biased. people who are rich and powerful still has more control over the media. and i personally think that it’s really bad that they are politicizing the olympics sooo much. ugh

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i swear i just saw some of these same pictures on cnbc!!!

somebodies using someone elses pictures……..

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To Brian McNally:

Food doesn’t make you stupid or lazy. And you can gain weight from eating too much of any food. Nice try troll. I hope you’re not teaching these fallacies to your students.

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There’s a place on Earth for all of God’s creatures… right next to the soy sauce and rice noodles.

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Any society that includes dog as a normal and accepted part of their diet gets no love from me. There are just some things that are WRONG.

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in America, we like to eat corn syrup, dollar bills, and advertising.

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And only the locusts are kosher!

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oof man ……….. this is the most amazingly disgusting array of dishes ive ever seen …. seriously ….. and those who are calling us ‘close minded’ it makes absolute no sense …….. what IS so closed mindedness about maybe sympathy for those poor fried animals who didnt do anything to us ….. and im not bloody lecturing ……. ppl need to get lives …. and im not blaming china or the chinese ….. infact theyll be the ones startint to boycott these alarming dishes ……. seriously dog brain!!!!!!! oh and if anyonw wants to ask me what i eat at kfc?? — i dont …. i friggin dont! im completely veg and god damn proud of that and secondly ….. im an animal activist ….. a little strong i might be but i know here im making sense!

no offense to the chinese …… all offense meant to those who disagree with me ….

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It goes to show how ignorant and closed off from the rest of the world America’s society is.

I just came back from a week touring Beijing and Hong Kong and the street vendors shown in this blog are extremely rare and hard to find. And when you DO find them, it’s frequented 95% by tourists.

I went to that exact street market in Beijing (Fujing) and tried a lot of the stuff on sale there and most of the stuff in the photos posted on this blog. It all varied in cost between 15 to 50 reming yuan which is between $1.50 - $5 an item (or kabob).

While I was chomping away on my deep fried garlic gecko and deep friend emperor scorpions (the large black ones in the photos) MANY of the Chinese people walking the street looked horrified when they passed me. Only the tourists were eating the insects and bizarre menu items.

This particular blog is inappropriately named because fast food in Beijing isn’t “different.” It’s very much like it is here in the states. Fast food in Beijing is KFC and McDonald’s; with a bunch of hole-in-the-wall soup noodle shops in the city.

And as for the fried cicadas, scorpions, geckos, sea horses? They don’t taste any different from kettle chips and crispy chicken wafers. When people can start being less close minded and more cultured, you’ll find that there’s a lot of stuff you can enjoy eating outside of your comfort boundaries.

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brasil il il il il il il il il il il

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In case you are thinking that only chinese purposely skinned animals alive, you are definitely ignorant of the fur trade going on. Fur are usually skinned alive, even in america. Ask PETA and their campaign, they are not even directed towards China. Also, these disgusting, dirty, barbaric (and whatever you call it) food are designed for foreigners like you (Ah yes, you, to consumed). While Chinese do hunt endangered animals, most of these animals are by no means in danger. If you are talking about animals cruelty, talk about your own animals factory. Wonder what kind of feed going are consumed by the cows, in their minute quarters without their grazing fields, to cause the mad cow diseases. Who created the killer bees. Who bombed Iraq for no apparent reason. Whose supremaciset are so racist but just fall short of being NAZIs.

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I don’t think the most Chinese eat these stuff on day to day basis, it’s just a way to attract tourists

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