Chicken Breasts

I love food but compare to the others I’m not even in the same ballpark. Grandpa literally eats all day long except when he’s napping. Grandma sent us to the supermarket to buy a chicken today. After 60 years of marriage she is still not done giving instructions for every little thing (just like my mom and I’m no better). Grandma said, “Stand to the side and watch which chicken is the strongest and most alive. Don’t get one that’s taking a nap!” One can easily get live chickens at the farmers market but I’m not sure if that’s still the case in supermarkets. Most ones I’ve seen have already been cleaned (but definitely not frozen). Chinese prefer their food fresh.

American chickens are like 36DD while Chinese chickens are 32AA, bony and no boobs. I remember having the hardest time finding any boneless chicken dish for my US coworkers on my last trip to Beijing. Boneless chicken is almost like an oxymoron here. I’ve stopped buying chicken breasts in the States all together after watching the documentary Food Inc. (chickens are modified to grow breasts so big and fast that they literally fall over and die). Although the chickens here are likely not pure organic by US standard, Chinese have strong preference for field grown chickens or tu-ji. These chickens are smaller in size with tender meat and lower fat content. There is no distinction between dark and white meat here but how animals are grown. People have developed such discriminatory taste overtime they can tell by flavor along which ones are field grown and factory grown and even whether it’s male or female (when it comes to chicken).

Now here’s an idea to correct the high-calorie junk food problem in the US: replacing everything in the chips isle with Chinese snack, air-sealed individually-packed chicken feet. It will be zero calories because no one would eat it. As much has American fast food chains are taking over the world, the snack section in the supermarket is still uniquely Chinese. I don’t know if Doritos are not here because of policy reasons or consumer preference (or lack thereof). In four isles and lots of display islands of “junk food” the only western thing I found was a small bin of sneaker bars next to tiny vacuum packed beef jerky, quail eggs and squid in all different flavors. A childhood and local favorite snack is ginger: pickled, salted, dried or in whatever other form that makes them salty and spicy.

In this modern world of McDonalds, Pizza Huts and Diary Queens (which is ironic since people always say Asians are lactose intolerant) majority of the people here still prefer the good old Chinese food. 

Happy Moon Festival!