Why import western food?
By Janina Schwarzburger
Nowadays you can get almost everything in Shanghai. No matter if it is Greece goat cheese or original American frozen pizza. Although the offer of western goods keeps on rising, many people prefer importing their favorite food by themselves to China. Why is that? One of the common reasons is, not everybody likes real Chinese dishes or food. If somebody likes it, he or she is still not able to eat it 7 times a week. That is also one reason why foreign restaurants are so wanted and famous in Shanghai.
Every night having dinner outdoors is also very expensive. So preparing the own domestic dishes is preferred. Certainly there are many grocery chains providing excellent international goods. But those are mostly extraordinary expensive or just don't taste the same. The taste issue is a very complex one. Maybe it's about antidegradants or something else. However, many times there are also brands available which are not very famous in their country of origins. Asking several expats for the reasons of importing food, they will probably also tell you the quality of Chinese meat it not always the same as the domestic one. Furthermore many spices used in China are also somehow strange to western people.
One of the most common opinions about Shanghainese dishes is they are too oily and extraordinary or special as see cucumbers, jelly fishes or chicken claws are especially served at business dinners. Probably it is understandable some people may get homesick and prefer trying to import western food although it is prohibited. All what can happen is they confiscate the goods.
