As for McDonalds, I never did figure out the purpose of that de-foaming agent in the chicken nuggets. Every time I hear anyone talking about how good *insert fast food item* is, I feel sick to my stomach.

And the fact that a lot of them probably walked or biked to the teahouse probably cancels out the effect of anything they would eat.

And McDonald’s. Ick. I cannot stomach it anymore.

But then, I am that way about most fast food. It just makes me sick, and sometimes there are dire physical results to that illness.

Apparently, I am not the only person who has had this happen. I think that it has to do with acclimatization–I am not used to eating heavily processed foods anymore, so they make me ill.

I guess that could be seen as a good thing….

Given CJD issues, he never did convince me to eat the spinal cord of anything, but this was a boy who thought bacon needed oil in the pan. I’m sure all that fat is great if you work in the rice fields all day, but he didn’t.

And frankly I think the biggest menace to Asian tastebuds out there is Spam, as in the meat product from Hormel. Spam and rice, there oughta be a song about it.

Fast food is disgusting. Yet once every month or two I get a compelling craving for some foul Mcitem, which doesn’t go away until I actually eat it. Why is that?

Simple, it is the McHeroin they add to everything. Sure, they call it other things like de-foamer, flavor enhancer, customer loyalty assurance program. It’s pure McHeroin, because the didn’t think “Big Smack” would have the appeal to the public.

But when I say traditional Chinese diet, I am talking about the diet of the majority of Chinese peasants over a period of centuries. This diet relies heavily on grains, vegetables, fish and chicken with meat and fat as very rare treats.

And when you think of pork belly as a treat–it makes sense. It is something that the average Chinese peasant would only eat once or twice a year, so of course, they craved it and loved it and ate every luscious bit of fat there was. I would too, if I was a peasant. (well, I would too if it was in front of me, which is why I am not scrawny–but that is neither here nor there.)

So, in the absolute, yes, the “traditional Chinese peasant diet” is healthier, by far, than fast food of any sort and the typical “traditional American diet” of the past century.

In the particular–well, you are right–in these affluent days, lots of Chinese and Chinese Americans will eat whole bunches of fat, not only because they like it, but because they can. Just like we Caucasian Americans can afford to stuff ourselves with all sorts of stuff that is wretched for us all the time–because we are affluent.

As for using oil to cook bacon–gah.

Your ex-husband needed thwapped with a frying pan for that one!

As for why you crave the McFood, I cannot tell you. I do still eat at one fast food place–Popeye’s Chicken, and I crave it now and again, but I don’t see anything wrong with eating any fast food as a once a month sort of thing.

Fried chicken once a month will not kill me. If I ate it every day, I would be as big as a house and my heart would probably just jump out of my body and expire on the floor.

The same is probably true of you and McFood. If it is a once a month thing–no worries.

If it is every day–look out!