THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[Kroo]

[oily]

[oily]

[oily]

[oily]

[Kroo]

[marco]

[w2k]

[g.smiley]

[aba_bab]

[marco]

[Italiamia]

[Jamoldo]

[Italiamia]

[pocari_fenrir]

[Italiamia]

[pocari_fenrir]

[maro]

"You know, you guys have got to be kidding me. I take a shot at China because they banned the best cheese in the world." lol. The indignation! Magic.

[aba_bab]

hahaha.. i've been quite amused these past few pages. Although as much as i would have liked to contribute to the culinary convo, i was in a mad rush to finsih a business law paper. Jeez.. what a snoozefest.

Chinese food is awesome, Italian food is awesome, but speaking as a native of the NWFP region of Pakistan... nothing hits home like Pakistani/ Indian food... when cooked authentically ofcourse.. not the goop they put in all you can eat buffets to fill you up.

Buffalo mozzarella is one of my favorite cheese's hands down, in my second trip to rome, i actually visited a place that was making them... it is unbeleiavble fresh... there's a cheese from Pakistan called Khiladi... apparently its ripened in caves in goat stomach linings or something if i recall correctly from about 10 years ago. And its grilled or lightly fryed.. fucking sensational.

Mmmm.. all this food talk... this week has been a lot of rissotto's from me come to think of it... pssshhh.. how it was the 'poor man's food' i'll never know.. somebody try telling that to my wallet.

[Jamoldo]

Ita, don't worry the Chinese don't eat cheese. They literally cannot digest it. At least not usually. Hundreds of thousands per year? where? I know they let a lot die, and that its a poor country in general... Seahorses are good (havent had any but I've had sea cucmbers), as are grasshoppers. And donkey meat. I've actually had the latter two Like I said, don't knock until you have tried it.

Who said anything about Eutopia? I will challenge you to spend 2 days each in Beijing and Shanghai and then 2 in Mumbai and Delhi (hire a driver and literally go all around to each corner of the city) and then you can tell me which one has more ground pollution issues, sewage, rats, pigs, fecal matter etc... I can guarantee it will not be the previous two, but the latter. Air pollution and smog? A different matter. But we're talking bacteria and food, which is mostly ground bourne. so...

I lived in China and not in some expat enclave (though that might have been nice). I can tell you all about the sanitary problems and other things there. Everyone around me got sick, though I didn't, but not to a deathly level, well one did but survived. I have plenty of native Indian relatives who have been near death sick (potentially deadly but treatable, but more than just the runs).

Of course one must be harsh with such a Totalitarian regime in charge, but its hardly Communist. Do business in China and look at the level of entrepeneurship (as well as land grabs by villagers trying to take back land from corrupt local officials) as well as market mechanisms and its the furthest thing from communism. Cronyism? Yup. Corruption? Ditto. Welcome to the developing world. Yes you have propaganda, a lack of free speech and brutal gov't policies, but people are getting richer faster and that's all they really care about. Remember that this place was worse than North Korea only 30 years ago where people were sent for "re-education" and punished for writing characters incorrectly by being killed (sometimes 1 stroke changes the entire meaning of a character). They have had 5 generations of change in 1. Regardless the place cannot be treated as a developed country in any sense, something even the proudest Chinese will tell you, the GDP per capita stats say it all.

As for US Trade policy and not getting anything back. Well go to Wal Mart or any other retailer and get cheap goods. That's what we get in exchange. It is our and European demand for manufacturing that is running up their pollution in addition to growing personal demand for energy. Did you know that the US is number 2 in building coal power plants? We never mention it though.

If the country collapses on itself I would not be the least surprised and would have been the first one on the first plane out, believe me. That being said if they learn to govern and succeed in their own way which no one likes, that too would not surprise me.

Also why on earth would I go to McDonalds to do bacteria due diligence? I might as well do the same in Italy. There is no point in going to McDs in China when there is cheaper, much better and more authentic food which is more unsafe but much better tasting. I'm still alive, right?

Critisize the gov't all you want (we all do, as do the Chinese, just not with foriegners) but politically correct or not, you should leave the people alone. It's not like they get to choose who their leaders are. As for China being a threat, not yet, I would say. We in America are bigger in the sense that we've actually invaded other countries (right or not) and are staying. As for rights and speech and what not, well ask Brownies and Arabs what they think at airports when sent to secondary. A far cry from China (a comparison is laughable) but still not free by the principals of America's founders.

I feel like Maro after he's shagged a sheep. What a long post.