Eat food, not too much, mostly plants

On my way to Shanghai, I began reading Michael Pollans newest book called “In Defense of Food.” In an odd way, as I’m an odd girl, it was refreshing to get yet another perspective on all the different perspectives that people have on food. Like most books, it has a concept of nutrition it is trying to sell but this time it feels more liberating rather than restrictive. Maybe I’m more conservative than I realize, but I really liked the idea of ‘getting back to basics’ in terms of our personal food choices. Pollan lays down a few simple rules for eating that will keep you happy and healthy. The first is to eat food, put another way, if your grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food, then don’t eat it. Since arriving to Shanghai, this idea has been rolling around in my head a lot, especially when I go shopping for groceries. For the first time in my life, I’m actually living in a place where I can shop for food much like the way my grandmothers have done in the past. And I love it! There are of course large grocery chains that offer a variety of consumer items that can be found in the West. And of course there are aisles and aisles of highly processed snack foods and sugary drinks much like home. What is totally different is that 5 minutes from my doorstep, I can buy any assortment of fresh vegetables, fruits, pickled vegetables, tofu in all shape and forms, all kinds of meats and fish, freshly pulled noodles, and lots of other stuff that I don’t how to categorize, in one of two large produce markets, or right on the street. Gone are the days where groceries are bought several days ahead of time of a meal being made. It’s a simple task to pick up whatever you fancy on your way home from work. There is no need for super large refrigerators to keep things fresh. I remember summers in Hong Kong where I would follow my grandmother to the local market to get vegetables and meat for that evenings meal. Everything was fresh and ripe and in season. What’s even better is that I can purchase items for dinner perhaps consisting of a large handful of chinese egglant, a couple tomatoes, a block of fresh tofu, and large bag of morning glory leaves for about 10 kuai or $1.20. Something else that blows me away is how you can buy eggs by the bag and not in the plastic or styrofoam case. A lot less trash is generated this way which is important when you multiply one action by 20 million people.
The rest of the rules have been slightly harder to adhere to since there is so much good food here and often it involves meat. My initial food lust has calmed down and now I yearn for more home cooked meals. Tonight I decided to make homemade spaghetti sauce with some old red wine. I went down to the grocery store about 5:30pm to pick up some garlic, onion, and green pepper. The following are pictures on route to the market and back.
http://picasaweb.google.com/adrienne.kam/ShoppingForGroceriesOnQuxiLu?authkey=o_sSosJXcUY