Foods to Avoid

One of the major concerns of foreigners in China is the hygiene, especially in the area of food and beverages. To foreigners who come from affluent countries with high standards of hygiene, the way some Chinese handle their food can be deplorable. Therefore, if you have a sensitive stomach, you should be very careful with food from street vendors and less frequented restaurants.

It is important to note that water from the tap is not potable in China. In order to get clean drinking water, local Chinese have to boil tap water, and this practice is also expected to be followed by foreigners. Most hotels provide kettles in the rooms for tourists to boil water while trendier hotels are known to supply mineral water for their guests. If you find boiling water inconvenient, you can stock up on mineral water from the convenience stores. You have to be careful when you purchase drinks from vendors or order iced beverages in restaurants because most ice cubes in China are made direct from the tap.

Food vendors on the streets offer a great variety of tasty food at much lower prices, and many foreigners find it quite irresistible to grab a bite off the streets. However, food vendors in China adhere to very low standards of hygiene, and without proper refrigeration, a lot of the foods they sell are not exactly as fresh as they seem. Most of them handle their food with bare hands and do not wash their hands after they deal with money. Foreigners who are used to better hygiene tend to have sensitive stomachs, and quite a few of them find themselves having bouts of diarrhea and food poisoning after they eat foods from the street vendors.

Nonetheless, some vendors have a great deal of concern for hygiene. If you are discerning enough, you can probably tell by inspecting the stalls and the manner by which the vendors handle the foods. You can look out for those who wear gloves and aprons, and the sight of ice boxes is also good indication that the vendors sell fresh food. Only buy from vendors who serve their foods on disposable plates or bowls because most vendors do not wash their dishes properly (though many instead re-use bowls, but place a fresh plastic bag to line each bowl). Stalls in areas frequented by foreigners usually have higher standards of hygiene than those you may find elsewhere.

Even restaurants have different grades of hygiene, and some of them are not much different from vendors in this aspect. To ensure that you get fresh and clean foods, you should go to trendier restaurants even if it means paying more. Having a meal at an expensive restaurant does not amount to anything too exorbitant by a foreigner's standards. If you are willing to pay up to RMB100 per meal, you can dine at almost any top-class restaurants in China. There are also cheaper restaurants that offer clean and good food, but you have to make sure the restaurant has a steady stream of patrons, because restaurants with poor business often have to store their ingredients for a longer period of time, hence, compromising the freshness of their food.

Eating out on the streets is a very refreshing experience for foreigners because they can sample different kinds of foods at very affordable prices. If you find yourself unable to resist the temptation of the great variety of foods in China, go ahead and experiment but do bear in mind the ways to pick out the more hygienic vendors. After all, a trip to China will not be complete without a little adventure.