We are all probably more than familiar with cans of tuna and other scrumptious fillers that occasionally need to be choked down or, at least, delivered into the gullet with a choo-choo noise or some such device from the past.
Canned food is a godsend: sardines are my friends and Thai spiced tuna has made chalky gagging a thing of the past. So, with joyful anticipation I stood in the aisle of the canned meat product section of my local supermarket in Hong Kong and picked up a can of Hou Chu Beef Brisket.
I thought: it has a smiling cow; it’s Halal friendly; it must be good. Nutritional info and all - high on sodium but that’s probably the sauce which I would drain. Got my new knife with can opener strictly for this type of stuff, so it’s all good.
Satan lies in packaging, my friends.
Once the can was half open I was greeted with some yellowish brown liquid and the smell of animal food. Upon fully opening the can it looked more like dog food - soupy, dog food - and smelled like charred tire. So I ate some. Tasted like scraped roadkill slow roasted over a charred tire. And dipped in vomit. I managed to get a few pieces down, and the burning smell became a sensation that spread from my stomach outwards rapidly as my digestive tract revolted.
I dumped the rest as my workmates complained about a peculiar odour and I lumbered past in a hunch.
A coup is brewing inside.
So, my question, after the preamble, is - what have you eaten in the sake of simple nutrition?
And stay away from cheap Chinese canned meat.
Well last time I was in Hong Kong, which was just over a month ago, I wanted extra protein but didn’t want to buy a large expensive tub of protein powder (all the protein I could find there was way over priced) and then I would have had to pack it in my luggage back to China. So I ate a lot of this Korean Beef Jerky. I really don’t like beef jerky and this stuff was kind of gross but it was all for the sake of protein.
Consider yourself lucky in Hong Kong.
I live in mainland China, here if I want protein I have to use self pasteurized egg whites and soya bean powder mixed together with milk. Those are my protein shakes (40 grams per shake). Protein powder here is hard to find and very very over priced (eggs are cheap as dirt).
I have access to very little western food, so I have no cans of tuna, no salmon, little steak. Right now since I’m cutting I am living on mostly chicken breast, a little lamb, and my protein drinks.
If I’m bulking I have to throw in fast food because I don’t have access to much in the way of healthy western cuisine here (I eat chinese but sometimes it gets sickening).
Oh and I have eaten dog meat, cow artery, pig stomach, and loads of other disgusting shit. The grossest thing I have seen people eating is deep fried crickets, and roasted silk worm though I didn’t give them a go.
[quote]The Dmachine wrote:
The grossest thing I have seen people eating is deep fried crickets, and roasted silk worm though I didn’t give them a go.[/quote]
In Taiwan I ate both fried bees and grasshoppers. The bees were like popcorn once you got past the whole legs and thorax thing. I was afraid of the grasshoppers because I was waiting for the squishiness and spurting insect guts which, fortunately, never happened. Just crunchy carapace. Not particulary tasty, but not offensive.
I’ve always thought that if a mainlander ended up on Fear Factor, the eating part would be like a feast of delicacies:“cockroaches? Had those yesterday. Mmmm.” I mean, who looks at a freakin’ sea urchin and thinks “hey, that looks good?”
I can’t drink too much milk, and the idea of litres of it just makes me squeamish.
BTW:Sea urchin is just foul. Brownish gray slimy sludge. Like licking an old aquarium.
I live in Taiwan as well, and I used to love suan la tang (hot and sour soup) until I discovered that it was made with pig’s blood. For protein I get the imported super-low quality shakes from Costco, and I generally eat beef noodles or cans of chinese tuna in soybean oil. Yum!
The nastiest thing I’ve ever eaten was probably the coagulated pig’s blood rice-krispy treats they have here. Stinky tofu is a close second, in my opinion it tastes just like the sh*t it smells like.
If i don’t like it i wont eat it. besides fasting is good for you from time to time. lower calorie diets extend life span as well as having other hormonal benefits because of the cycling that occurs within the body. laters pk
[quote]sandworm wrote:
The nastiest thing I’ve ever eaten was probably the coagulated pig’s blood rice-krispy treats they have here. Stinky tofu is a close second, in my opinion it tastes just like the sh*t it smells like.[/quote]
I am not a fan of the blood. Not blood sausage. Not black pudding (though the Goodies episode with eckythump is hilarious.) Cannot stomach the chou dofu, either. For my first month in Taiwan I walked around wondering where the hell the rotting garbage was.
At least the crispy insects don’t reek.
If you haven’t seen “Oldboy”, do it for the live octopus eating if not for the dental work and bouts of violence.
ps. about the protein. There’s a place in Taipei, on Zhong Shan N. rd, section 5 or 6 (next to the Land Bank), #685, 6th floor, that sells bulk protein powder, unflavoured, for 4ooNTD/kilo.
[quote]wenzi wrote:
There’s a place in Taipei, on Zhong Shan N. rd, section 5 or 6 (next to the Land Bank), #685, 6th floor, that sells bulk protein powder, unflavoured, for 4ooNTD/kilo.
[/quote]
[quote]donkrabbit wrote:
Jesus, that sounds pretty shady.[/quote]
No, not in the slightest. They are a health wholesaler who do some retail. They get the bulk stuff from the manufacturer in NA, probably the same place that a lot of major manufacturers get it from in NA.
And I don’t know if you can order it. Just take the train up on a weekday if you can and get some bags.