Chinese fast-food photos: source?
May 13, 2008
Three people, including my son in Los Angeles, sent me these terrific photos yesterday, ostensibly of exotic fast food in Beijing, and offered by G. Pollak. The photos are a great cross-cultural experience. But who is G. Pollak and what’s the story about them?
[…] exotic fast food in China.? The photos are a great cross-cultural experience.? But whose are they?http://whattoeatbook.com/2008/05/13/chinese-fast-food-photos-source/Postal food drive fills Interfaith pantry The Ocala Star-BannerA fast paced day for mail carriers […]
Pingback by fast food — May 13, 2008 @ 9:16 am
Hello.. I’m glad you beg the question.. “but who is G. Pollack”… Because it seems like there might be some discrepancy here… I was curious to the accuracy of the captions especially considering the “enjoy the Olympics” comment at the end that seems to have some political connotations. You can’t judge a culture by how it eats. It’s not a valid bias to maintain. All endangered species aside.. the only moral question here is the consumption of endangered species.. Which I don’t think we should condone. Everything else in the slide show should not be subject to cultural bias.
Heres something I noticed….
http://www.scribd.com/doc/231668/Peking-Nightfood-Market
Look at this slide show. Its all the same pics but different captions. And there’s a big difference… for example in slide number 14 it says “all the people eating at the food market”. In the slides on this website (and a few others) it just says “Dog Brain Soup”… also at the end it says “Good Appetite” instead of the bit about the Olympics. Many of the captions from the slideshow on this site that depict what westerners would consider gross (e.g. goat lung stew) have no caption in the other slide show. I would like to know which of these slide shows is the original or if these captions can be validated?…
I got a link to this slide show from a family member passing it along.. Apparently its making rounds and I thought I’d try substantiate some of the content..
Thanks for reading!
P.S. I think this is a great site, keep up the good work!
Comment by Benjamin — May 13, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
These pictures bring home the point that fresh and natural choices are not limited. And there are almost unlimited foor choices if we stray away from hot-dogs and hamburgers. Areal eye-opener!
Comment by Celia Westberry — May 13, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
I lived in Beiing for two years and went to that market (the night market) many times. I never saw goat lung stew there, but the other captions seem accurate.
The market is mostly filled with western tourists, but lots of locals also eat there. I had local friends who asked vendors what the products were and we got the same descriptions as the slide show. Sure, they could have been lying, but I just want to say that the vendors say they are the same as G. Pollocak does.
His slide show seems to be exactly the kind of sassy blog entry that almost every western student or English teacher living there writes at some point (ie “look at this stuff!”), in a completely harmless (not politically motivated) way.
The crickets were delicious.
Comment by Colleen — May 14, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Thanks Colleen!..
Comment by Benjamin — May 15, 2008 @ 10:26 pm