Has China now had a gutful?
- Source: Global Times
- [10:43 July 23 2010]
- Comments
Matthew Crabbe. Photo: Courtesy of Crabbe and French
Paul French. Photo: Courtesy of Crabbe and French
Social issues
Social issues are also covered by the text, including a discussion of the practice of over-ordering in restaurants, which the authors analyze as both an ego-boosting method of the Chinese nouveau riche and as a kind of triumphal reaction against the famines of previous decades.
"As far back as 2001 when the press first started condemning wasteful practices, Shanghai restaurants were forced to dump 1,200 tons of leftover dishes every day," reads another extraordinary statistic.
There is also mention of the dark side of food production in China. Examples include how the intensity of the rise in chicken farming lead to the right conditions for the effective spread and mutation of the bird flu virus, and how the use of rapid-growth hormones has led to disturbed development patterns in human babies.
"In the end we are not really blaming anyone for obesity, nor are we claiming there is any magic bullet cure beyond a steady process of public awareness and education about diet," said French. "But if government does have a role to play then it could start by providing football pitches and letting people play on the grass of the parks. The way it's going at the moment rather dooms urban China to future generations of obese children who will then get sick and cost the state vast amounts of money," he added.
Fat China can be purchased online and will reach Shanghai bookstores soon.
