When is a vegetarian not a vegetarian ?  If you are a pescatarian are you still a vegetarian ?  How about if you are a pollotarian ? Then there are those who are the vegetarian “inclined”.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being part of the studio audience for the ICS program Culture Matters.  The show was titled Vegetarians vs Meat Eaters and while the title sounds a bit antagonistic, the show aimed at informing the audience  about the wide variety of vegetarian lifestyles  people are adopting and the vegetarian scene here in Shanghai.

Being called a vegetarian today is like being labelled an Asian or an American.  The group has a common denominator, namely limiting animal products in their lives to different degrees , but nowdays there are all types of eating proclivities that fall under the umbrella of vegetarianism.  

If you are old school, a vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat meat for a variety of reasons, from health to religion to animal compassion. And that means meat, the flesh of any animal be it a cow or a snake.  Over the years this lifestyle has grown to include ovolacto-vegetarians, people who still eat eggs and dairy but avoid meat. Then there are the vegans, who don’t eat or wear anything that comes from an animal,( they are ones wearing sneakers).  As of yesterday I learned that there are people who don’t eat meat except chicken ( pollo people) and those that eat only fish ( the pesky group).

Now to my audience that thinks I am making fun please read on.  I will admit that I am kidding a bit on the labels. I believe that people should eat any way they want and make any lifestyle choice that feels comfortable to them without having to have a label attached.

The most important and only  label  that should be attached to your eating style should be  HEALTHY ! Vegetarians who make poor foods choices can be just as unhealthy and subject to the same chronic disease risks as your steak eater. Kudos to the guest speakers on Cultures Matters for emphasizing this point more than once.

The best part of yesterday’s taping was getting to sample the delicious vegetarian dishes provided by KUSH and Dashuwujie restaurants. Both these establishments promote healthy eating  and subscribe to the tenets of the Slow Food Movement, including local, clean and seasonal food. I hesitate to “label” them vegetarian restaurants because the food is so tasty that everyone who is looking for a good meal should give KUSH and Dahsuwujie a try.

The ICS  show, Culture Matters, airs on Saturday nights at 7 pm and this particular segment will be on sometime in March.  If you would like to know more about vegetarianism or just about good food, contact the Shanghai Vegetarian Club, all eaters are welcome, at www.shanghaivegetarians.com

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun !

Often I hear expats say that the one thing they like about living in Shanghai is that almost everyday you will see something that you haven’t seen before. For me I would extend that sentiment to my occasional trips to Carrefour. It seems like each time I go I  see something I have never seen before, either on the shelf or in the aisles.

Like the day I obliged the enthusiastic women hawking buffalo milk. I find it very interesting that in a population that less than 20 years ago did not drink any animal milk on a  regular basis, that someone thought  buffalo milk would be a big seller. Perhaps that is the point. The Chinese are not in the habit of choosing cow’s milk so why not try buffalo milk? So I did.

Buffalo milk which comes from the Asian water buffalo,( not the kind of buffalo I thought of first that  is ”home on the range” in the western United States),  is similar in color to soy milk but far richer in consistency and a bit sweeter. The taste is fairly bland just like cow’s milk. From a nutritional standpoint, buffalo milk and cow’s milk  have two important differences.  Cup for cup, buffalo milk has twice the calcium of cow’s milk, which is important for women and children, but cow’s milk has half the cholesterol.  Still buffalo milk would make a good alternative for people trying to increase their calcium intake.

More importantly I was hoping to find another calcium-rich alternative for people with milk allergies and intolerances, sorry follks, not this time.  Generally people allergic to milk will also be allergic to  buffalo milk.  Same goes for lactose-intolerance. 

I don’t remember the cost so it must not have been too different from the UHT boxed cow’s milk.  Water buffalo are reported to be less exposed to hormones and anti-biotics so the milk would  have  less of these additives as well. 

In the spirit of eating well and having fun, I say give it a try.  You might just like having buffalo milk with your bedtime animal crackers.

Eat Well Shanghai Around Town:

This weekend from 10 am – 3 pm  drop by Jiashan Market for the bi-weekly Outdoor Market for some great fresh food choices, although I don’t think they have worked up to featuring buffalo milk yet.

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun !

Recently I was asked to expound on the healthy aspects of a typical Chinese breakfast.  My first thought was, this is simple, once you eliminate the you tiao and pearl tea and opt for the vegetable baozi and warm soy milk, the health meter reading improves greatly. My that was easy !

But after considering that several million people a day are eating breakfast in Shanghai I thought I should  know  a few more details about what was fueling this crowd, more than just “vegetable  = good, fried dough = bad”. Not a lot more (sometimes it is best not to watch the street vendor too closely) but at least how many calories are really in a jian bing and does it have as much protein as I think it does.  How about that pearl tea, is it just a Chinese version of a latte?

So with a bit of investigating I found out that a big steamed baozi can run you between 180 – 200 calories. The delicious greens and mushroom variety will have less fat than the pork but it is the bun that really accounts for all the calories.  Figure the smaller sizes ( ie. golf ball ) run between 85-100 calories.  Reasonable for sure. Now if you add a 16 ounce bubble tea to that order then you pile on 300 to 400 additional calories, yikes ! The health meter just drooped.

Bubble tea aka pearl tea or zhen zhu nai derive all those  sweet calories from the milk, the tapioca pearls and any number of sweetners ( powdered sugar, brown sugar, honey).  Alternatively Chinese milk tea will add only 150 calories ( tea and sweetened condensed milk) and green tea will add zero calories and plenty of  healthy anti-oxidants to your morning.

I do want to end on a positive breakfast note and thankfully we have the jian bing.  This scrumptious morning meal is high in protein, low in fat ( I know , that’s a surprise) has a bit of fiber and all for only a bit less than 300 calories.  An added nutritional plus is the millet flour used to make the pancake.  Millet flour is  rich in B vitamins and gluten-free to boot. (If you are gluten sensitive, be sure to ask the vendor if they are using millet flour or a combination.)

Remember the calorie levels listed here(and most other places),  are  average  figures taken from a few sources. Depending on the cook the actual calorie level may vary. 

Eat Well Shanghai Around Town: 

On Saturday, February 11th, skip that morning baozi and head over to the Jiashan Market for the  fresh and friendly Farmer’s Market. The weekend market is back on the every other week schedule so if you miss February 11th, they will be back on Saturday February 28th.

Organic Kitchen has a home.  Recently the delivery service opened a restaurant at 57 Fuxing Xi Lu.  Same fresh, organic ingredients, same great taste.  My chicken shwarma wrap and French potato soup  today were delicous !

Eat Well, Live Well, Have Fun !