Chinese food

Potato chip flavors

Some people have wondered about the food situation here. Shanghai is a major metropolis. Just like any other city with more than 5 million people (or 14 million in this particular case), you can find any kind of cuisine you could want. Other than the common Chinese restaurants (Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghainese, etc.) there are of course plenty of French, Japanese, Italian, and “American” restaurants. While I haven’t been daring enough to try the Mexican, there are a number of options available. While these places may be more expensive than your typical Chinese joint, they are affordable for any visitor. More challenging is cooking at home. Most ingredients are available (see my previous post about Carrefour.) However, selection can be sparse and may not always be what you expect. For instance, when buying potato chips, don’t expect to BBQ, salt and vinegar, or even plain salted. Instead, you should learn to love dill and cucumber, roasted pork, and thai curry crab flavor. Also, you will have a difficult time finding things like brownie mix and light beer. The other twist is that since imported items are expensive to begin with and typically favored by more affluent people, the brands of items tend to be the more premium variety. So, there are no cheap cans of tuna, just albacore. De Cecco instead of Barilla pasta (not that I mind), and 60% cacao bars instead of Hershey’s.