Cheese

[jkobman]

When I eat cheese (cottage cheese, mozarella, American cheese, etc.), I always get the same reaction from my wife and stepson. They ask:

Q: "What is that?"

A: "Cheese."

 

Comment: "You like cheese."

A: "Yes."

 

Then they laugh - I guess eating cheese is funny to watch.

 

Anyone else had this happen?

 

I have never seen cheese sold in China - except on cheeseburgers or pizza, but I guess I never thought cheese would bring such a strong reaction!

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/l/nll127/cheese.gif

[lele]

I have seen some cheese eaten in china, but it is usually found in foods of more western china, such as in Sichuan, Yunnan, Xizhang, etc.

 

Maybe you do not know what it looks like, since it is typically cooked into the food, I have found. However, if you ask by the Chinese name, it may help.

 

cheese = nailao

 

Interesting story though, thanks for sharing!!!

 

What have been other's impressions of cheese?

[maiyademama]

Traditionally, Chinese do not consume many dairy products and many Chinese are lactose intolerant. I hated cheese and dairy when I was younger and I can remember exactly what I thought of it---Nasty, smelly, funky stuff that tastes rotten and sour. When I was 14, I gave in and had my first piece of pizza...that was a major turning point in my dairy eating career. Since then I have grown to love many different types of cheese and--believe it or not--just enjoyed my first serving of cottage cheese for the first time 2 days ago!

 

Cheese can be bought in just about any major grocery store in China though it is almost always sold pre-sliced like kraft singles or something.

[owhite47]

Yea, when I drank milk for breakfast HuaQing looked on with disgust. I later ask her , she can't drink milk, she drinks soy milk.....I guess many chinese are lactose intollerant.......and cheese is something she never eats..........we all have things to learn don't we.........Oscar & Huaqing

[mari]

My SO love my pasta, it's a must everytime I go to visit him, but he can't tolerate parmesan cheese and/or butter on it, says it makes him want to throw up.

[sylinchinastill]

Parmesan cheese does smell exactly like puke.

[frank1538]

Parmesan cheese does smell exactly like puke.

Being Italian, I beg to differ , but what do you expect from bacteria ridden soured milk?

 

Jingwen will barely tolerates cheese, but the kids enjoy it - pasta "fra diavolo" with paremsan is one of their favorites.

[tonado]

The only cheese I like is in the pizza.

[Jim - Portland, USA]

My sweetie tells me that cheese is rarely eaten in China. Maybe about as often as tofu is eaten in America? Just a guess She said her first experience with cheese was in high school ... on PIZZA of course! To this day she says she doesn't like cheese very much because she's not used to it, and yet she loves pizza. Go figure

 

I guess I'm the same way with tomatoes and avocados. I don't like them but I love spaghetti sauce and guacamole

[Guest Gene]

I can only imagine what the response is going to be to Mayonnaise

[lele]

Again, I think that it comes down to what we consider to be cheese. What many in china consider to be swannai (or sour milk -- yoghurt) could be cheese, depending on how it is made. And from what I have seen and been told, it seems that many people do eat yoghurt.

 

I think that it is also depending on the type of food that you consume. People from the west will eat food that is more likely to have milk I guess! When I was in the NE and the SE, it was only possible to find cheese-related dairy products in stores or in foreign food places. However, in western regions, it seems a bit more ubiquitous.

 

But, it would be really interesting to trace the history of these foods. Does anyone know what the status of milk and related products was back in the Qing Dynasty? During the Ming Dynasty? During the Song? Previous to that?

 

Often times, foods we eat today depend directly on the history of the region. Although olives can grow in many places, it was a very simple thing which was efficient to carry back in the days of early farm parcels in Greece and Italy, and possibly this is why today people love to eat these foods so much? I know that these roots were planted more than 1800-2000 years ago, but since China has an even longer history that this, i may not be so easy for us to figure out!

 

Thanks for everyone's interesting stories of the first time with food (one of my favorite topics).

[mari]

Something I noticed from chinese people is that they don't use deodorant in their daily life, I wonder if it has to do with the food they eat or is it genetic?

[awch]

Mari- I don't know why people don't use deodorant, but believe me it's not because they don't need it!

Nowhere in my city can you buy deodorant- even the big import stores. It's just not available.

 

As for the cheese thing, here in Dalian there are about 3 supermarkets that usually have (real) cheese, but it's imported from New Zealand and it's expensive and not very good. Xiao Ming always gets cheese and butter confused, he can't tell the difference. He will eat it when I use it in a recipie but he doesn't really enjoy it. Like someone said, a lot of Chinese are lactose intolerant.

 

amber

[LouRose]

Apparently in the north of China people have always made some dairy products. Certainly not cheese, my in-laws in Harbin think I'm crazy when I bring that up, but they always drink milk for breakfast and yogurt all the time too. I once learned in a Chinese history class that this may be the reason why people in the north grow to be bigger and stronger than other places in China. Not too sure if its true, but thats what i heard.

 

As for the deodorant, my theory is that stinky things just don't bother Chinese people so much, maybe because they're used to it. I mean they actually enjoy stinky tofu after all.

 

*~Louisa~*

[beijingjenny]

Perhaps my perspective is different, being in BJ. But A LOT of people drink milk and yoghurt. My colleagues do every day and it does brisk sales in my work cafe. I can find cheese at nearly every store now (decent block Cheddar is most common), just not 'convenience' shops yet... Hubby loves milk and yoghurt, only tolerates cheese though, doesn't get the big deal. I think the comparison to tofu in the US is a good one...

 

I guess I am also different to think a lot of Chinese don't smell that much from sweat (don't sweat that much). They can really reak of course, but that's often more from not washing or having just been smoking and drinking. Deodorant is everwhere though around here.