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Beijing Gourmand Blog: China Through The Food Door.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

There are two kinds of people. Those who hate going grocery shopping, and those who love it. I fit into the second category. I love it for various reasons. I love food. Going to the grocery store is for me what going to a stereo store is for an audiophile or going to a book store for a bibliophile. But I also like grocery stores for what they reveal. A Whole Foods executive once told me that Whole Foods chooses locations with a high level of educational attainment. So just seeing a whole foods tells you there are a lot of people with advanced degrees living nearby. But going into one will tell you a whole lot more. My "home" Whole Foods here in Seattle has a massive seafood selection. The one in my brother's Houston neighborhood has a smaller fish section, but a much larger meat section. From this I conclude that educated Seattleites eat more fish than educated Houstonians, while the reverse is true for meat. The other day, I went into "my" Whole Foods this evening and I noticed two things. One, it was less crowded than probably any other Sunday at around that time, and two, there seemed to be more of an emphasis on the "value" of items and their sale prices. Shucks, if I hadn't gone shopping this evening, I would never have known we are in the midst of a financial crisis. Seriously though, whenever I go somewhere new, I love going to the grocery store. It gives me a better feel for the local culture and the local economy. So I was delighted to learn of a relatively new blog out there that feels as I do regarding grocery stores and food in general. The blog is Beijing Gourmand and its subtitle is just perfect: "Understanding China through its stomach and my own." It further describes itself as looking "at not only what and where to eat in Beijing and China, but also examines the social and economic aspects of our food and where it comes from." I like that and I like the blog. I also know have known "Benjamin," the force behind this blog, for years and know him to be a very thoughtful guy and an excellent writer. Some of my favorite posts: 1. "Like a (kaoya) Virgin," which waxed so poetic (along with photos) about a Peking Duck restaurant that it had me momentarily reconsidering my decision to give up meat more than 15 years ago. 2. "China's Crops Challenge," which does an excellent job explaining why China's agriculture policies are progressive. 3. "Lau Kin-Wai: Decline of Chinese Cuisine Since the 1950s," explaining how the old ways of cooking were better, yet are fading out due to it being so time consuming. I just added Beijing Gourmand to our blogroll.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).