Chinese food storage habits

[dakota port]

so we have a relative straight outta China and she always stores extra food outside instead of the fridge, we have half a watermelon with just a paper towel over it in a bowl with water outside. Does anyone here know of a cultural reason for this? Our fridge will fit it without the bowl of water

 

[eightnsand]

China has some serious hillbillies, all politics aside.

 

[Red Squirrel 556]

China has some serious hillbillies, all politics aside.

Agreed. While I lived in Hawaii I stayed in a house owned by a Phillipino lady who grew up on an island with about 200 people on it.

She was a strange bird, and had some strange habits.

 

[moosensquirrel]

Every Chinese knows that in spite of the recent rise of communism, his culture goes back and has fundamentally remained intact for over 4,500 years. By contrast, US culture, if you can call it that..maybe 200 years or so.

 

[MacTavish]

Most of China has no idea what Western Culture hygiene looks like.

 

[Horsehat]

I am in the restaurant business and have been most of my 64 years. A health inspector in Atlanta told me in the 90’s that people operating Chinese restaurants would not use refrigeration. It was very common for chicken to be stored in hot kitchens. This was close to 30 years ago so I doubt this continues today as a restaurant would be graded harshly on these conditions and training is part of the inspection process but the cultural norm among that ethnic group was to see no need for refrigeration. Doubtless many had extremely strong immune systems, also he said that the fact that the food was cooked in woks at an extremely high temperature was the only reason people didn’t die in droves when eating there.
Bon appetite!

 

[GeauxLSU]

They don't have flies in China.

 

[TheGman]

An off topic aside, I had dinner with some of our colleagues from China (in January) they ordered orange juice with dinner. I asked if they drink a lot of OJ. The Sales Manager said , no. It’s too expensive for folks like them to drink regularly.

 

[pipewrench]

That’s pretty normal. They just give the food a sniff test then nuke it and eat it.

 

[fastfish66]

They don't have flies in China.

They sent them all here.