First time in China...and need to go on a diet

[Lu]

Well, that will definitely be an issue...because I am supposed to eat organic, too.

There is food with the 'organic' label in China but you can generally be sure that unless you're eating at Zhongnanhai, it's not actually organic. It might be healthier than other food, but it might also be exactly as polluted.

Is your problem one where eating one wrong thing will already have unpleasant consequences, or where you will just be healthier if you eat the right food but will also be fairly okay if you eat something wrong once in a while? If the former, you may have to look into not going to China.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I'm kinda scared because Glutamate makes me dizzy and feel like puking, and a friend of mine just came back from a 2 month back packer trip through China (like the thing I am intending to do), and she says if I wanna avoid Glutamate, don't go to China, period.

[kotkoda]

Yes I know about the pollution is China.

Not going is not an option...

Why are you so curious of my issue, are you a doctor or something? I just wanted to try out an alternative to an operation using a diet that some people recommend. But if it really going to work, I don't know.

[kotkoda]

Did you guys also have issues when you got to China such as diarrhea? I'm taking a couple of bottles of Pepto just in case...

[Lu]

Why are you so curious of my issue, are you a doctor or something?

Not at all, like someone else upthread, knowing a little more might mean better advice. I knew a guy in Beijing who had to start a diet where basically he could never ever eat the wrong thing again or all his issues would come back right away and it would take months for it to get better again. If you have similar issues, you may have a hard time in China, especially as you'll only be there temporarily and by the time you know exactly where you can get the food you need, you're leaving again. On the other hand, if eating the wrong thing will just make you feel queasy for a day and then you're fine again, it's a lot more managable and there will be little risk. But if you're not comfortable saying more, that's also fine.

[imron]

Why are you so curious of my issue, are you a doctor or something?

Abcdefg is, which I imagine is why he asked for more specifics, so that people stop making random suggestions and giving advice that may or may not have any use, or that might unintentionally cause harm.

[Cat Jones]

Did you guys also have issues when you got to China such as diarrhea?

Nope, nothing. *Touch wood* not had any digestive issues, or any food poisoning, and I eat anywhere. I did however pick up every cold virus that I was exposed to when I first got here. Bring a good supply of vitamins.

[abcdefg]

#23 --

I just wanted to try out an alternative to an operation using a diet that some people recommend. But if it really going to work, I don't know.

Yes, @Imron explained it well.

Although I'm a doctor, I'm not trying to randomly meddle in your business. But you have, after all, asked for advice on a public forum and there's no way to even try to give appropriate counsel without a better grasp of what you really need to know.

The problem with threads like these is that a poster can say, "Oh, I'm all worried about a Secret Health Issue and am wondering how to manage it in China. Please help me." Then everyone jumps right in without missing a beat and says "Eat more carrots and peas" or "Avoid chicken feet and duck eggs."

Serious questions don't stand a chance of receiving useful answers without a few pertinent details.

[Kobo-Daishi]

This might sound stupid, but, are the menus in China bilingual?

In America, all the menus are in English. Even the ones in Chinese restaurants, except for the ones in Chinatown where they'll also have Chinese characters. The same with other ethnic restaurants unless they're located in a predominantly ethnic neighborhood where they'll also have English and the language of the ethnicity that frequents the local restaurant.

So, how does one with no Chinese skills order in a restaurant in China?

[tysond]

The majority of menus in China have no English. They are just lists of items in Chinese characters. But the majority of restaurants are in places foreigners don't often go. Of course western restaurants will tend to have English menus and English speaking staff because they are geared up to serve foreigners. I assume you are talking about Chinese restaurants.

In the bigger cities, and anywhere that tourists might go, they sometimes have a picture menu (with color photos of all the major dishes) and/or a translation (which varies in quality). Recently I saw a place pull out a notebook with a handwritten translation of all their dishes (I guess someone got a free lunch for translating all that). Some friends of mine have translated quite a few menus to help out restaurants that want foreign customers.

Bigger restaurants with tablecloths, chain restaurants, or restaurants to hotels have these almost all the time, and a few places have even started advertising that they speak English (younger owners of smaller hipper places are more likely to speak English).

Either way, you normally can't order in English even if there is an English translation or picture. But you can point. You will be asked questions (usually "can you eat spicy food" and "do you have any dietary restrictions" followed by "large or small serving" or "we ran out of that" or "you do realize that's made out of cows lung right?" or "that is served live at the table, sure you don't want the fried one?").

You won't be able to understand any of them, so you will be forced to nod a lot. The staff will be embarrassed because they studied English for ten years but can't remember any of it anymore, and go back to the kitchen telling them not to make it spicy, but that the customer is ok with the lung and the live shrimp. After you pick at the food, you wave your hands as if signing paper, they bring the bill, point to the number and you pay, leaving you probably quite surprised at how economical eating lung is. Definitely surprised that they won't accept your Visa card.

If there are no pictures or translation... it's hard. Very hard. Most people flap their arms like a chicken, moo like a cow, and never succeed in ordering prawns. If you are lucky someone in the restaurant knows a few words and rescues you. Otherwise you'll get random chicken and beef dishes, non-spicy. Frequently foreigners back out of the restaurant, embarrassed, and find somewhere with a menu they can understand.

Speaking some Chinese changes all of this and it is a powerful motivator - food words are the easiest to remember given the consequences of forgetting are flapping your arms like a chicken.

[Kobo-Daishi]

tysond wrote:

Speaking some Chinese changes all of this and it is a powerful motivator - food words are the easiest to remember given the consequences of forgetting are flapping your arms like a chicken.

That's hilarious!

Reminds me of comics doing impressions of Jagger strutting across the stage.

[abcdefg]

#30 -- Good description.

[liuzhou]

But the food is heavenly.

[skylee]

I think it is quite normal that many restaurants in China have only menus in Chinese.

I recall having great difficulties ordering food when travelling in Greece (a long time ago) and in Spain (not so long ago). The same difficulties as described in #30.

[imron]

The same difficulties as described in #30.

Did you flap your arms like a chicken?

[skylee]

No. I pointed at what others were eating. And in Portugal some kind locals helped me. But the embarrassment and difficulties were genuine. I wrote when I was in Salamanca - "在這裏找吃的遇到很大的困難。主要是因為餐牌上只有西班牙文,無論如何看不懂。" ("Here it is difficult to get things to eat, mainly because all the menus are in Spanish and there is no way that I can understand them.") "怎麼我在意大利和法國都吃得挺好, 在這裏卻差點要挨餓 ?不明白。" ("Why is it that I could eat quite well in both Italy and France but almost have to go hungry here? I don't understand.")

[liuzhou]

What is all this about "chicken arms"? It seems I've missed out on something. They only have wings round here.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Skylee wrote:

No. I pointed at what others were eating. And in Portugal some kind locals helped me. But the embarrassment and difficulties were genuine. I wrote when I was in Salamanca - "在這裏找吃的遇到很大的困難。主要是因為餐牌上只有西班牙文,無論如何看不懂。" ("Here it is difficult to get things to eat, mainly because all the menus are in Spanish and there is no way that I can understand them.") "怎麼我在意大利和法國都吃得挺好, 在這裏卻差點要挨餓 ?不明白。" ("Why is it that I could eat quite well in both Italy and France but almost have to go hungry here? I don't understand.")

Why is that so?

Are you able to read and/or speak Italian and French or are the menus and/or wait staff in Italy and France bilingual in their native languages and English (surely, not Chinese)? Whereas the people of the Iberian Peninsula aren't?

How do you get by in Taiwan? Do you speak Mandarin then? I think I recall you saying why Singaporean co-workers didn't speak to you in English instead of Mandarin or something like that.

Kobo.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Why is that so?

I don't know why this is, but I often feel like it's incredibly hard for the Spanish. They mean well, and they try so hard to speak to you in English or whatever language, or to understand what you are asking, but it's like almost physically difficult for them. It's weird!

[skylee]

Re #38. I do understand a bit of French and in Italy one can always order pasta dishes. And it seems that in France and Italy English menus are/were not as rare as in Spain. But do note that my blog was written in 2006 and many things (may) have changed now. My observation when I was in Spain in Jan 2013 was that people could understand English much better but still had difficulty in speaking it. Young people working in sectors which served tourists of course spoke better English.

As to Mandarin (why is this relevant here?), I can speak it (though poorly). And it is so much easier to speak in English while at work.