We were in China for a couple months (hubby was on job assignment.) The food was marvelous! We were never sick the entire time. Sometimes we weren’t quite sure what we were eating (one particular restaurant we dubbed the “Don’t Ask Cafe” because our translator would order for us and we were afraid to ask what we were eating...but it tasted good, LOL!) Most food is extremely fresh...as can be attested to by the crates of animals and fishtanks full of fish in front of the restaurants.
They can’t be trusted to produce safe food for my dog to eat. Why would I want to eat what they produce? With their record in human rights abuses and incarceration of Christians, why would I want to go there? They should not have been given the opportunity to host the Olympics, in my opinion.
My cousin learned to cook in Shanghai and does a great job replicating that cuisine. There are few to none Shanghai restaurants in the Midwest. Most of the Cantonese take-out food is worse than anything I’ve eaten in China.
Much of the key to a good Chinese meal are fresh ingredients and balanced quantities of meat. A lot of restaurants here use marginal quality beef and pork - too much fat and tendon. I was at O’Hare airport last Sunday and I couldn’t believe how big some folks were - talk about too much fat!