Bamboo rats, ostriches and peacocks
Hunger is the common denominator in the food chain. When it comes to feeding such a large country like China, special characteristics that are uniquely Chinese come into play.
The feeding of China involves a diversity that starts at the source, with a broad range of choices to cater to its roughly 1.36 billion people.
If you want to know what farming means in the four corners of the country, tune in to CCTV-7, the TV channel dedicated, oddly enough, to both military and agricultural issues.
There are intriguing profiles of rural millionaires who made their fortune by thinking out of the box,
This Day, That Year
Item from April 28, 1984, in China Daily: Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang shakes hands with US President Ronald Reagan before talks ... Hu said China’s independent foreign policy “is not an expediency, but a long-term policy based on decades of experience”.
China, the world’s secondlargest economy, has an increasingly important voice in global affairs, including more exchanges conducted although most were inspired by the guiding philosophy of “eating local”.
Thus, last week we shared the success story of a restaurateur who has created a one-shop tourist attraction in Ruili in the southwest province of Yunnan near the Myanmar border.
His signature is insect protein. Bamboo worms, wasp pupa and ant eggs are the major attractions. Busloads of tourists troop in at lunchtime to squeal in squeamish delight when they are offered the riggling morsels.
He had simply decided to offer his diners what the Dai tribes have been eating for centuries.
In Yunnan, where 26 of China’s 56 ethnic groups live, it is not uncommon to see farmers choose the road less traveled.
In the Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, a tribal farmer has found fame and fortune rearing and domesticating with the US in various fields.
There has also been increasing interaction between top Chinese and wild wasps. He is after the fat white pupa which can fetch a market price of several hundred yuan for 500 grams. In his research and development, he is also perfecting the purity of his wasp serum. The serum is used, much like bee stings, to cure rheumatoid arthritis conditions.
In the neighboring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, enterprising farmers are rearing exotic meat such as bamboo rats and peacocks.
The bamboo rat is a fat, nocturnal rodent that spends half its life extracting nutrition from the giant grasses of the region. Apparently, they are relatively low maintenance and provide an easy, cheap and quick source of animal protein.
Think of the South Americans barbecuing whole guinea pigs.
CCTV-7 recently reported that there is a glut in bamboo rats and they are being US leaders. On Nov 11, 2014, President Xi Jinping met US President Barack Obama at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in downtown Beijng, as seen in the photo on the left.
Both leaders also walked sold really cheap now.
A more expensive animal is also being reared for the pot in Guangxi – the peacock. These pretty birds are harvested for their plumage and meat. The pride of the peacock is sold to the fashion industry while its meat goes into porcelain pots of tonic soup.
My heart goes out a little to the arrogant bird strutting blissfully unaware in the pens, but that’s the food chain.
The ostrich is also being farmed for its meat, leather and feathers in other provinces in China.
The lean red meat, so similar to beef, is being touted as a healthy alternative. That is all right by me, at least until I gaze into its large, longlashed eyes.
It’s true. Do not make friends with your food and never look them in the eye. Contact the writer at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn together before heading for their second meeting at the Annenberg Retreat in California on June 8, 2013.
The walk was considered the first such meeting of the leaders conducted in a relaxed manner before formal events.