Weird Chinese Foods: Cultural Practices and Eating Culture

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The Chinese eat certain types of foods that seem strange and offensive to many people, as they are forbidden by their religion or cultural practices. Some of these foods include boiled dogs, grilled crocodiles, fried snakes, guinea pig brains, stewed frogs and roasted lizards.

These foods are consumed for a number of reasons best known to them. Some of the Chinese argue that these strange foods cure the infertility in men, increases sexual libido, and cure fatigue and fever. The Chinese diet also stresses emphasis on taking tea before every meal. However, these peculiar diets are not only served in expensive hotels but also in domestic homes (Liu, 118). Their eating dates back to traditional days in the country’s history. Therefore, this essay will try to explain the strangeness or weirdness of the Chinese foods.

The Chinese eat certain weird body parts such as the chicken’s heart and liver. Most of these body parts are often eaten during memorable occasions. They consider these weird body parts as tasty thus only preserved for the old and visitors. This eating culture dates back from the days of Buddha, when tea was associated with alertness thus allowing a moment for meditation (Liu & Pham, 80).

The Chinese cuisine has various categories of tea, for instance, the red tea, which is dark red in color especially when ready for drinking. It symbolizes calmness and a sense of womanliness. In addition to the red tea, they also drink green tea, which is associated with wisdom and knowledge.

Another strange Chinese diet is fish, often taken to the sea for sacrificial activities at the beginning of the year, before it is consumed (Roberts, 29). The Chinese eat fish with its face facing upwards. Before eating the lower side, they remove the skeleton and the delicacy rolled on the other side.

In addition, every moment they eat fish, the remains are kept for use, in preparing the next meal. All these are to show the constancy of fish. The remains, which include skeletons or water used to clean the fish should not be dumped into the sea due to the accorded respect aquatic living thing.

Apart from fish, the Chinese are also known for eating snakes. They believe eating snakes enhances or elevates the libido of men. Men further drink snake soup in order to raise their fertility. In the Chinese diet, snake meals are divided into dissimilar kinds; there are snakeskin, grilled fillets of snakes and snake spring rolls.

The Chinese also believe that eating snakes cures certain types of sicknesses. However, in order to act as a cure, the snake must be prepared using ginger and drunk after some time. One can also decide to immerse the snake in wine and take two cupfuls of the wine every day (Hopkins, 64). They believe that such practices lead to proper circulation of blood and prevent unnecessary body wetness.

The Chinese also eat frogs to help curb alcoholism in their society. Green frogs are dipped into a drink or meal, meant for an alcoholic individual. The Chinese have a number of frog meals, which include frog soup, omelet made of frog legs, stewed frog legs and fried frog legs.

Apart from domestic homes, most frog meals are served in hotels for visitors and served only after tea. The Chinese are also known to eat crocodile meat for a number of reasons. They believe that stewed crocodile increases the sexual potency of men, improves lost appetite and boosts body health. They also believe that eating crocodile meat cures asthma and puts hair loss at bay. Same as to other foods, the crocodile meal is divided into a number of categories, which include roasted crocodile foot and crocodile soup (Liu & Pham, 80).

The Chinese also have a deep faith in drinks made from penises of various animals, including those of human beings. That is why they drink human urine especially in the morning in the belief that it will offer them divine guidance. They also eat dog meals, which include fried dogs, stewed dogs and grilled dogs so that they obtain protein.

In addition, eating dog’s canines mixed with fried rice is a common delicacy both at home and in hotels. The Chinese also believe that eating dog meat warms their blood by treating malaria, liver ailment and jaundice. Finally, drinking wine prepared from dog meat in China is believed to cure fatigue of the body and improves the fertility of men (Hopkins, 64).

The other favorite diets of the Chinese people find bizarre are geckoes and lizards. Geckoes are prepared into powerful alcoholic drinks by immersing them into a bottle of whisky or a bowl of fried rice. It is then kept somewhere for a year before the drink can be consumed. Alternatively, dehydrated geckos are powerful delicacies known to be served only in expensive restaurants.

There are also pounded and dried geckos combined with hot water sold in several herbal shops for treating various illnesses. In china, consuming about three live geckoes a day is believed to boost male fertility (Buksh, 37). Cooked geckoes come in many forms i.e. roasted gecko, grilled gecko, fried gecko mixed with fried rice and gecko stew. Apart from expensive hotels, some of these gecko meals can also be served at home front.

The other fascinating Chinese cuisine is eating of private parts that are used mostly in adding aroma to whisky and wine. They also believe eating of animal genitalia boosts one’s sexual drive and other human sicknesses. It also raises the standing of a man among his male pals (Roberts, 29) The Chinese is also known to eat sea cucumbers, jellyfish and sea anemones especially if boiled, smoked or dried for their tastiness.

These seafoods are mostly served in costly restaurants. However, apart from seafoods, the Chinese diet also contains weird insects. These include locusts, grasshoppers, moles, palm worms and water beetles. Locust stew and fried grasshoppers are mixed with fried rice for both their delicacies and the belief they increase sexual libido in men. This brings us to maggots.

The Chinese prefer to eat washed and dehydrated maggots in order to solve various body illnesses as well as for delicacy reasons. They also eat boiled earthworms, since it cures body fever. However, their cuisine cannot go without a delicacy of grilled rats or fried bats.

These are eaten mostly for their rich proteins especially in domestic homes. Aside from rats, the Chinese also consume cats, and it comes in many forms; for example, in the form of fried cat legs, cat soup and roasted cats, served with fried rice. However, grilled cats are served with whisky. A hearty cat meal is believed to increase the sexual drive of men. Other strange Chinese diets include eating toxic fish for healing effects (Hopkins, 64).

We can, therefore, say that Chinese cuisine is among the strangest in the world from drinking human urine in the belief it can cure diseases, to eating animal private parts in order to raise male libido. They have various reasons for consuming these weird foods. For instance, the affinity for meat like dog meat, cat meat or even crocodile meat helps in adding proteins in the body.

In addition, using various kinds of foods such as boiled dog meat or stewed crocodile, as a cure for various illnesses, is a cost-cutting measure that saves money. Traditional beliefs that soup and other parts of animals can treat sicknesses are a positive step in the right direction that should be blended with modern cures (Buksh, 37).

Works Cited

Buksh, Jacqueline. Longevity & Chinese herbal medicine. Cambridge, LDN: Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers, 2006. Print.

Hopkins, Jerry. Extreme Cuisine. London, LDN. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. Print.

Liu, Jen & Pham, Sherisse. Frommer’s Beijing. New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Publishers, 2010. Print.

Liu, Junru. Chinese Food. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

Roberts, Denys. Another disaster: Hong Kong Sketches. London, LDN: Radcliffe Press, 2006. Print.

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Weird Chinese Foods: Cultural Practices and Eating Culture

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