I’ve spent a decent bit of time there on a few work trips. Never saw differentiation of eggs in supermarkets (or restaurants). Eggs be eggs.
A huge number of folks are just coming into non-poverty since the turn of the century so it would seem entirely plausible to me that chicken comfort wouldn’t be a thing there just like it wasn’t in the west until comparatively recently and still isn’t for a huge part of the population.
Apart from that it’s really very different culturally. They just view things through an entirely different (and interesting) lens.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. A Chinese buddy of mine sent me this a few years ago. Apparently counterfeit eggs are an actual problem in some parts of China. I cannot possibly fathom how this is cheaper than an actual egg, but apparently it’s a thing and can make people sick if they eat them.
The first section looks a lot like alginate spherification. It’s a fun demo to make a fake egg with it but it would be very obvious it isn’t an egg when you cooked it. It wouldn’t set or act like an egg at all when heated. I’d also be very curious to see how they make the shell if it really is a fake egg.
For the second section, those are previously frozen eggs. Freezing them turns the yolk rubbery but doesn’t do much to the white.
I remember a story of someone adding plastic noodles to their cheap noodle packs. I also thought that there was no way in hell they were saving money by doing that - the only way it makes sense is if the market is growing faster than production, so there’s a “demand” for totally fake product, which I suppose has been true of most of China for the last fifty years. It’s why the current government makes anti-corruption into such a big deal.
I mean, it’s still a largely rural country, I imagine in the majority of the country (geographically) people or their neighbors raise the chickens that lay the eggs they eat
By the end of 2023, China had an urbanization rate of 66.2% and is expected to reach 75-80% by 2035
The cities are massive and really densely populated. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are about 90 minutes apart by car if memory serves and account for about 35M people. Hong Kong is an hour south of Shenzhen by train and that’s another ~8M.
More than a third of the country by population, especially when that population is in the billions, is still pretty large. Not majority rural obviously, but still a large percentage.
But I was speaking geographically. Isn’t half the country almost completely empty? Or am I confusing something I read somewhere?
What, are they all battery farmed in the great People’s Republic of China?
I’ve spent a decent bit of time there on a few work trips. Never saw differentiation of eggs in supermarkets (or restaurants). Eggs be eggs.
A huge number of folks are just coming into non-poverty since the turn of the century so it would seem entirely plausible to me that chicken comfort wouldn’t be a thing there just like it wasn’t in the west until comparatively recently and still isn’t for a huge part of the population.
Apart from that it’s really very different culturally. They just view things through an entirely different (and interesting) lens.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. A Chinese buddy of mine sent me this a few years ago. Apparently counterfeit eggs are an actual problem in some parts of China. I cannot possibly fathom how this is cheaper than an actual egg, but apparently it’s a thing and can make people sick if they eat them.
https://youtu.be/bcgH6fgedoA
The first section looks a lot like alginate spherification. It’s a fun demo to make a fake egg with it but it would be very obvious it isn’t an egg when you cooked it. It wouldn’t set or act like an egg at all when heated. I’d also be very curious to see how they make the shell if it really is a fake egg.
For the second section, those are previously frozen eggs. Freezing them turns the yolk rubbery but doesn’t do much to the white.
I have actually heard about that. Google “gutter oil” if you want some nightmares. They are working on food safety hard though.
Eeewwww
I know, right?!?
I remember a story of someone adding plastic noodles to their cheap noodle packs. I also thought that there was no way in hell they were saving money by doing that - the only way it makes sense is if the market is growing faster than production, so there’s a “demand” for totally fake product, which I suppose has been true of most of China for the last fifty years. It’s why the current government makes anti-corruption into such a big deal.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2022/10/31/26-stories-of-swine-world-s-largest-pig-farm-opens-in-china_6002372_114.html
I don’t know but one can make guesses based on this.
I mean, it’s still a largely rural country, I imagine in the majority of the country (geographically) people or their neighbors raise the chickens that lay the eggs they eat
No it’s not.
Not so. Wikipedia has a decent article but here’s the crux of it:
The cities are massive and really densely populated. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are about 90 minutes apart by car if memory serves and account for about 35M people. Hong Kong is an hour south of Shenzhen by train and that’s another ~8M.
That still means there are about 500 million people living in rural areas of China.
So more rural Chinese than total Americans.
More than a third of the country by population, especially when that population is in the billions, is still pretty large. Not majority rural obviously, but still a large percentage.
But I was speaking geographically. Isn’t half the country almost completely empty? Or am I confusing something I read somewhere?
Yeah Western China is basically empty. It’s very mountainous and the land is not fertile.