The world's fastest growing appetite

May 9, 2008

What happened to all those starving children in China?

Canadians of my generation remember our mothers resorting to guilt trips when confronted by our fussy faces at the dinner table.

"Do you know there are starving children in China who would love to eat that," we were told in no uncertain terms.

Guess what? Those starving children have all grown up and they — and their children — are stuffing their faces.

I see them every day at noodle stands and dumpling shops, as well as in the growing number of Western fast-food outlets. Restaurants are cashing in on the world's fastest growing appetite and as a result the Chinese are eating meat and poultry like never before.

Chinese food

China's growing appetite for Western-style, meat-based meals is now considered to be one of the driving factors in the worldwide increase of food prices.

Sure, the Americans have done their bit by taking large amounts of corn out of the food chain and turning those cobs into fuel for cars. Plus, the weaker U.S. dollar does produce an inflationary effect on a number of products right now, including food.

But in a casual conversation with an economist here who knows his numbers, I learned that China's new prosperity is revolutionizing the country's diet at the same time as it is shaking up world food prices.

Zhuo Jianwei teaches at the Antai College of Economics and Management in Shanghai. According to his data, the average Chinese is eating 22 kilos of meat per year, which is double the amount of the early 1990s.

The same holds true for poultry. Milk, which was never really part of China's diet in the past, is now being guzzled in large quantities, almost triple the amount from 1990.

As economic development here is lifting millions after millions out of poverty, tastes and food preferences appear to be undergoing an equally fundamental change, one that producers from around the world are gamely trying to satisfy with ever more meat.

Shifting grains

One of the reasons the world is seeing such high prices for grain is that 15 years ago it was being used to feed the Chinese people.

Today, human consumption of grain here is down 25 per cent. But much more grain is being sown in order to raise animals for meat production, which, scientists agree, is a much less efficient way, from an energy and land-use perspective, for humans to get their daily calories.

Grain provides about twice as much food energy when it is consumed directly by people than when it is fed first to cows to produce meat and dairy products. But the shifting use of all that grain to feed all the new cows, pigs and chickens for the Chinese table is not likely to change. In fact, most here believe it is only going to increase.

The number of KFCs and McDonald's restaurants continues to mushroom around Shanghai and most other Chinese cities, attesting to the shifting taste buds. From Australian beef and lamb producers to Canadian margarine makers, the Chinese have their mouths wide open.

So foreign companies are cashing in, too, which is what globalization is all about. But as officials from the UN's World Food Program observed recently, this kind of trade has turned basic foodstuffs such as wheat, rice and corn into commodities destined for the highest bidder, not necessarily the neediest mouths.

Iron rice bowl

In a sign of Communist central-planning foresight, the price of rice in China has been kept stable. While people panic in the Philippines, protest in Indonesia and hoard in Vietnam, the Chinese enjoy a state-controlled pricing system for rice.

Peasant farmers can't make any extra money selling rice on superheated world markets right now, but then they are not being deprived of their traditional staple. The Communist party knows what happens when the Chinese people can't afford their rice: Hungry peasants have overthrown emperors before.

Here, rice usually comes at the end of every meal. As this new generation of Chinese meat eaters finish chowing down on their expensive cuts of beef and boneless chicken breasts, they satisfy their palates — and their pocketbooks — with bowls of highly subsidized rice.

Raw capitalism has enriched so many Chinese, allowing them to eat foods they could not even have dreamt about 30 years ago.

As their chopsticks click and clack against their rice bowls, the Chinese enjoy the best of both worlds: They can buy meat they never used to be able to afford and it comes with a side dish of government-protected rice.

Nobody here seems to notice the irony. They're all too busy eating.

WEBSITE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/germain/20080509.html

"种族主义在不断蔓延，中国，21世纪西方媒体的替罪羊。

犹太人因为没有反抗，差点被德国所灭绝；今日的以色列的强大，开始为土地屠杀他人。

No matter how bad my english is, I have to answer him back. This report from CBC will be a milestone of my space.

Shut up! You mother fucker."

By Huan

[整理]2008年春节联欢晚会节目单及对应的下载地址

12月9号，加拿大寒冷的冬天，雪还没化尽，有些房子已经挂起圣诞彩灯，PINE HALL 外面聚集了一群愤怒的学生，他们高喊着“踩死他，踩死他”，然后响亮地歌唱着国歌，虽然只是短暂的youtube视屏，却让我热血沸腾。这不是一个单一事件，而是中国强大崛起，海外中国人遭遇的一次大的挑战，显然外国人不希望一个强大中国的出现，因为这是对西方文化的挑战和威胁，于是针对中国人的伤害事件层出不穷。意大利烧鞋事件，中国女商人在美国无辜被殴事件，加拿大老人钓鱼事件，俄罗斯光头党，还有每个留学生初到国外自己所见所闻，多少次有人对我说FUCK Chinese, 我怒目以视，心里超他老母不知道多少遍。可是每次我都以小不忍乱大谋，忍辱负重，老以大多数老外是好的，安慰自己。可这又用吗？

   CIC，一个值得怀恋的地方，对其他的地方我不加评论，但是对此次事件，校长和一个华裔表现出来的冷漠，让人无言以对。反倒是热血的CIC毕业生表现出来的骄傲和团结，让人赞叹不已。就我网络上观察到的，组织声援，抗议的人不在少数，1天时间，加拿大的所有中文论坛，都有CIC学生被殴的专版，有好多奋斗在论坛第一线的年轻人，努力的转贴于各大网站，各大BBS留下他们奋斗的身影，曾经我也做过这样的事情，我非常理解他们的愤怒悲伤的心情，他们只是想通过呼喊，让更多人同情和支持，让更多人知晓留学生的故事。他们也会遭遇白眼，委屈，那种感觉只有一线发帖子的人知道。

   以前自己老说中国人不团结，其实我也没有干什么体现团结的大事情，鄙视自己一下。每次说中国人不团结是因为自己观察到一些事情，发得感慨，记得在CIC挤校车，看见几个马来西亚的人抱成一团堵住车门，然后让他们的女生先上，那短暂得瞬间，让人震撼。而海外中国人呢？ 那个老于国籍是加拿大的，就没有必要责备了，人家也是家有老小，混口饭吃，不容易。只能说这个人不仗义，工作能力非常差，整个混饭的。如果当初他能把事情从泡面的阶段，果断处理好，事情也没有这么大了，结果他得过且过，生怕得罪人，老子是校长不开除他才怪。所以中国人请记住啦，在加拿大是靠本事吃饭，做事要认真，不要给人把柄，以后我就减少在公司上网了。最近听朋友讨论，很多加拿大大学有好几个中国学生会，什么中国的，CBC的，台湾的，香港的，这个没有办法，政治的东西不好说。听说多大的中国学生会就曾经互相仇视，当然还不能证实，道听途说的。我的观点就是中国人在重大问题和尊严受伤害的时候，是异常团结的。这个很简单证明，抗日时期，海外华人踊跃捐钱，人们没有了地域的隔阂与矛盾，目标都是一致，就是救国，都不愿意当亡国奴。而当中国国内，香港闹SARS的时候，老外把中国人当瘟疫一样对待，谈中国人就色变；刚来的留学生要隔离一个月，其中痛苦，委屈，只有在海外的中国人知道。那时候我们紧握双手，共度难关。曾经我跟我老师说，有空去中国，她说不去，因为SARS，当时我都愤怒了。再看半年前，纸包子事件，一个印度同事都知道了，说以后不吃中国食物，我哪个尴尬阿，只能为国家尊严尽量辩护，还有法轮功，哎，老子英语大有长进，就是因为跟他们辩论的。那些骂我们小留学生的愤青，告诉你们，我们爱国比你们更加实际，更加来的真切。我有一个心愿就是用自己的行动，来改变外国人对中国人的看法，我觉得我和你都能做的到。

最后真诚的希望受伤的同胞能早日康复，激动愤怒的同学们能尽快投入繁忙的期末考试当中。对Waterloo大学开车声援的同学们和网络上发帖第一线的网友和斑竹，我想说，你们都是爷们，谢谢你们，一把筷子扳不断。

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