Managing food while in China?

My Dearest friends in China-

I am visiting China for a 2-week period as part of a business trip. I have heard horror stories about how difficult it is to get good food in China that Indians like. Any tips or advice on how to survive a 2-week trip to China, particularly from a food standpoint? With respect to non-vegetarian, I only eat chicken, but I can manage with just vegetarian food also. Thanks for your help.

Shalini

dear shalini ,
there r indian resturants in china so u don't need to worry much abt ur food . it depends in which city u r coming . the place i live is called shaoxing and here 4 to 5 indian resturants serve good vegeterian food . plus u hv option with MC , KFC and pizza hut also . if not that go to any chinese resturant and asked them to serve vegeterian food they will do . but for that u need a translator or should know some chinese language . and one more option is korean food which is very yummy . there also u will get chicken and veggies . and for the safe side u can bring some food with u which can go for sometime . still if u hv any doubt do tell me .
happy journey

hi all,
this is a nice thread telling abt the difficulties of indian food abroad if some of our Ilites could help each other... and take care of one another if going to the same city..or intro people who send indian food across to the addresses..regards sunkan

Hello Shalini
My father about a year back went to China ( I think it must be Shanghai). He is pure vegetarian not even eggs so he carried a lot of Ready to Eat items like Lemon Rice, pulao, chapathis, side dishes that is available in the market. You get qualtiy products from MTR, Ashirwas etc. All you need to do is just boil the packets in hot water which I guess the room service in the hotel would do for you.
With all that he was able to manage his stay in China.

Hi,
I know this is very old thread. Anyways i just wanted to share my exp here. I was in China (Beijing) for about 2 months on an official trip. I can also only eat chicken and fish and any Veg food . Near our office we only had McD, KFC and one Chinese restaurant. So our lunch used to be mostly pizza and burger. But in the chinese joint, we could get some chicken curry and rice. Night, I cooked in my room. But I kinda liked chinese food. The veg and chicken dishes were nice. Survival in China wasn't difficult for me. This could be because I was in a big city. well the language is always a problem.
Whenever I travel food is generally not a problem for me, I can eat too much of burger and pizza (coz I love them ) without getting bored of them !

hi Monsi,
nice to hear for first time by somebody liked food in china. i think food is a problem for pure veg like us who dont eat egg. KFC McDonald is in our place also but as housewife i find diificult to get indian pulses and spices. my place is near Beijing. great u managed and liked it too.

bye
padma

Well,if one is a non-vegetarian,one can survive in most places.That is my belief from what I see in my own household. I am a non-vegetarian-can eat chicken,fish and eggs whereas my hubby is pure-vegetarian.So,when we travel,I find it more easy to get things to eat than my hubby.

But even a person like me could not eat food in a resort in Maldives because of the stink there..I think they were using some particular oil to cook food and that was very repelling.My hubby says the whole of Bangkok smells like that too!

Hi


My family who are pure vegetarian are travelling to china on a business trip this weekend.They will be in Bejing and Dalian.Could some one suggest where one can get veggie food in these places (with no fish/oyster sauce and beef/pork stock). Any good indian restaurant in Bejing and Dalian ? Other veggie cuisines are fine also . My mom would really apppreciate yr kind help in this regard. Waiting for suggestions.


Regards

Latha

My brother is a 3rd year medical student in Tianjin Medical University and finding it hard to get south Indian ingredients . Can anybody suggest good grocery stores or departmental stores where they sell Indian food stuff. We find it hard to keep sending food parcels from India it is rather too expensive!

hi MTKM,

we went on a 2 week trip to beijing, xian and shanghai few months back. we are vegetarian too...here is how we managed..
1. carry heat and eat food like others have suggested
2. i googled for list of vegetarian, italian and indian restaurants and took print outs of them...the travel guide sites to each city has a list of restaurants both in english and mandarin
3. there is a good list of vegetarian chinese food list, here's the link http://www.vegetarian-china.info/
4. carry nescafe 3in1 coffee sachets...it is hard to find starbucks in china
5. we had vegetarian dumplings made of spinach and tofu practically for all meals...it is yummy