Last week I met with  the Shanghai Bumps & Babes group, a very gracious and well informed group of Moms and babes.

I have decided to share a summary of our discussion here as I think all of us, not just Moms ,are confused about whether organic food is necessary here  or anywhere.

Whether or not to spend money on organics is a major question for people here in Shanghai, especially due to the uncertainty that the product labeled organic is truly organic.  Organic foods are a new industry in China and like most new things in China the industry is growing faster than the structure to regulate it.  There are regulations regarding organic farming in China and the certification process has been in place for several years now.

Our best advice is to get to know your supplier.  Find out where they get their produce. We also recommend that you take advantage of the offers to visit the farms.  Not only is this a fun day out for the family but you will get a first – hand look at the farm and what surrounds it. Many of the organic farms around Shanghai offer farm tours.

Eat a variety of fruits and veggies from a variety of suppliers.  Include in-season organic produce in your meals. If your produce isn’t organically grown, eating a mix of foods from a variety of sources can minimize your risk of ingesting too much of any one pesticide.

Wash well. Wash and scrub all fresh fruits and vegetables. Soaking is fine to loosen dirt and debris, but studies have shown that running water is the most effective means of physically removing pesticide residues as well as dirt and bacteria. Scrubbing with a soft brush can help remove contaminants in crevices.

Many of you had questions regarding meat and fish and dairy here in Shanghai.  This gets a bit more complicated, especially for the meat because there are not as many alternatives to buy organic meat.

I recommend that you follow the principle of variety.

Choose a variety of meats, both imported and exported.  Look for small butchers that are appearing around town offering Chinese grown meat without anti-biotics and hormones.  Try Korean and Japanese markets and ask about where their beef and other meat products come from.   Reduce the amount meat in your diet.  By this I mean serving smaller portions.

The same idea of variety goes for dairy products. The exception being that I recommend that pregnant, nursing women and children drink UHT milk (boxed). The ultra high pasteurization process kills any harmful bacteria. You can find organic boxed milk in Shanghai. I also recommend introducing soy milk to the family, just for variety.

Fish is another tricky one.  Make sure it is alive, if you are buying a whole fish from the wet market or grocery chain.  As in many countries, the fresh water fish will carry more contaminants, so I recommend eating it less than once a week and using more ocean going fish.

Variety is the key to safe, nutritious eating.

For more detailed information on organic foods and labeling in China , pick up a copy of  the Eat Well Shanghai Guidebook.

Kid Friendly Recipe of the Week:

Invite your kids into the kitchen and let them crush the cereal to make these delicious French Toast Bites with Yogurt Dipping Sauce. http://bit.ly/oAwM4Q

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun !

I have to admit that most dietitians are reluctant to recommend supplements in place of real food.  And I still go by that rule when I talk to people about healthy eating and using supplements.  But, as in most things in life, there are always exceptions.

Here in China, dietitians and nutritionists are often of another view; that being precisely because you live here you should take anti-oxidants and a multivitamin on top of your healthy diet. The prevailing opinion is that we are all exposed to far more external pollutants than we would be in almost any other part of the world and additional multivitamins and anti-oxidants would provide a layer of protection against the effects of this additional stress.  Just one gray smoggy day in Shanghai makes it hard to argue with that statement.

The term supplements includes much more than just multivitamins.  Super foods like acai berries, protein powder and alternative products like spirulina are all considered in the supplement category.

This week I had the pleasure of visiting the newest branch of the World Health Store at the Kerry Center Parkside in Pudong. The World Health Store,  also located at the Shanghai Center on the Puxi side, is the  one  place in town that you can get a wide variety of  high quality, imported supplements.

If you want to give your child a multivitamin but you need  a wheat or yeast-free one, the World Health Store has them. If you have decided to take prenatal DHA, the World Health Store has it.  You are having tummy troubles since your arrival in Shanghai and want to try pro-biotics, you guessed it, they have them. Your high school athlete wants to use protein powder after a work-out, the WHS carries several  safe protein supplement products ( WHS is the official protein powder supplier to the Shanghai Sharks basketball team).

Not sure what you need…the WHS has well-trained staff to answer your product questions.

The World Health Store  now carries high protein smoothie mixes, gluten-free cereal and environmentally friendly soap nuts (for washing clothes, not eating).  They also have a terrific line of  essential oils at reasonable prices.

I often hear from many people  here about the difficulty in finding a trusted source of  quality supplements   The World Health Store is filling that gap as a resource for safe, imported  supplements, if and when we decide to add them in to our diet.

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun

I have come to realize that Chinese cuisine has so many wild,wonderful, crazy and delicious foods to try,  that it just might take you a lifetime to taste them all.

I am a bit late getting on this taste testing journey but I recently screwed up enough courage to try, what a CNN poll recently rated as “one of the world’s most horrible foods”, the Chinese Century Egg or 100 year old egg or 1000 year old  egg, depending which laowai description you happen to read.  The Chinese simply refer to it as a pí dàn and as you can  imagine, they don’t think it is horrible at all.

The Century egg is a  preserved egg, usually a duck egg, that is coated with mixture of clay,ash,lime,salt and rice hulls and then left for a couple of weeks to a couple of months.  What results is a translucent egg that is the color of a black opal with a greenish , greyish yolk. Yum !

The best way to eat this Chinese delicacy is sprinkled with salt or Sirachi sauce ( a spicy southeast Asian sauce).  Unfortunately I didn’t learn this part of the procedure until after I had eaten my egg.

In any case I did eat it ( although I had to close my eyes on the first bite) and I was pleasantly surprised. The custard-creamy like texture gets you first, followed by an emerging aftertaste that I can only imagine is mitigated by the toppings mentioned.  The aftertaste wasn’t really unpleasant but it did have a hint of a sulfur flavor.

It is definitely worth a try.

Eat Well Shanghai on the Road

EWS will be at  the Shanghai American School in Puxi on Wednesday ( September 7th) this week from 10 am-2 pm.

EWS will be at the Shanghai Expatriate Association’s monthly coffee on Monday, September 12th at the JC Mandarin.

Come on by to say hello and pick up a copy of the EWS Guidebook .

Don’t forget the Jiashan Farmers Market this Saturday at the Jiashan Market.  Plenty of great food vendors but alas no 100 year old eggs!

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun !