Fast Food at Olympic Games

[Chefnot]

There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that.

A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind

Scorpion kebab, anyone? It's fast food Beijing style.... But will any Olympic visitors have the stomach for it? | Mail Online

Well, I just don't know if I can open my mind that much.....

[aoneil]

I'll pass.

[ibcheft]

I was not raised that way, so some of that stuff I do not even consider food, let alone edible.

[caliente]

no thanks.

[PicBuddy]

I guess we are a little more open minded. Just in the last year I have drank Pocari Sweat with burnt octopus and entire dried baby fish in Japan, and even horse sausage in Passau Germany. My wife likes her snacks of rotten eggs and fermented soybean paste.

If we were at the Olympics (which we were just discussing there very morning over coffee, we wish we had gone), I would view items like that as rare culinary opportunities.

One thing that I abhor when traveling is that you always run into that typical "doesn't have a clue" westerner, either with the giant US flag T-Shirt (size XXXL of course), boasting loudly, or even looking at another type of food say in a Tokyo mall and laughing and exclaiming "ah gross dude!".. Hehe

I hate to think of what some of the food vendors in China are going to have to deal with. And while I would not go out of my way to eat dog stew, well, if eating with friends, and if that's what they were eating, sure I would try it.

I think one of the very most important things would be to communicate as well as possible, about how to best enjoy some of the things -we- might find strange. Having a Chinese friend would probably be real important at that juncture. Such as, if trying a seahorse on a stick, which sounds great to me, do you eat the whole thing, just the tail? And what about a silkworm, do you shell it? The scorpions are probably wonderful as well. It would be a shame to go for far and miss out on such a rare opportunity. Just my 2 centipedes worth....

[Food Network Fan]

"Pack a lunch" should be the motto for this one.

[Pluff Mudder]

I've eaten some of those things in my life like snake and fried insects, but most of those things I would have to pass on.

[aoneil]

You can call me closed minded all you want, I am not eating insects....or horse....or dog.

[PicBuddy]

Hehe. The truth of the matter is probably that if you had a good friend in China to consult about odd food, they would probably tell you "Hey don't eat that!" hahah

[aoneil]

LOL! Probably. :P