I love street vendor food in the Us we too steril think food have to come from a well know food processing plant just cause FDA say it ok doesnt mean a thing
I agree. Wasn't too long ago when a lot of people hunted, farmed and butchered their own meat or gutted their own fish. Nothing was wasted. Everything was used, including the brains, hoofs, fat, guts and offal. They continue to do this in other parts of the world. Nowadays, eating or handling that stuff turns
civilized Westerners off. For the most part, North Americans are quite prissy about food, being so far removed from the source of it.
While the US FDA has done a good job regulating public food, it's also brainwashed people against everything else. Standards are different everywhere but food safety is a main consideration for all good cooks anywhere around the world. While China may seem a 3rd-world country to some, the infrastructure is able to feed its 1.3+ billion citizens. That is is able to do so and maintain a relatively healthy workforce without a Medicare system says something to me about the food supply and the food knowledge of its people.
Not quite sure what i would do.... Not quite sure if that was legitimate meat...
Are standards the same? No. Would I drink the tap water? No. Is the meat generally safe? Most likely. But for now, I won't be eating rare beef or pink pork from a street vendor in China (for fear of trichinosis). Local vendors would know the risks of the local meats and cook accordingly. It's also in a vendor's best interest to NOT serve bad food as a bad reputation is bad for business.
In this case, I looked at the guy's setup. It looked fairly clean. There was no food prepping onsite. Everything was pre-skewered. He would only be handling the wooden ends of the skewers even if he handled money. The coals were ashed over and hot. The cooked skewers looked fine. The meat looked and smelled done, it was carmelized and browned, and it did not smell "bad" (you can smell spoiled meat even when it's cooked).
For me, the risk of eating this guy's food would have been low. But everyone has a different comfort level and different perspective, so to each their own. Personally, I love food experiences, so I like to check out the local offerings wherever I go. All the while keeping my own health and safety in mind. Not saying that I would eat everything though.... :wink:
I figure everything in moderation. Don't sweat the small stuff.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or since I was in China,
do as the Chinese do.... :biggrin:
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MayDay
Kamado Claypot, Cobb
