7 ms·

A man who has eaten at more than 7,300 Chinese restaurants

115 points by rustcharm 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
faitswulff 8y ago
Chan is also a friendly figure on Twitter and will chat about restaurants (located almost anywhere) with anyone.
- thewarpaint 8y ago
  If I'm not mistaken: https://twitter.com/chandavkl https://twitter.com/chandavkl
ioewjfowe 8y ago
and he is still alive?
generaltsos 8y ago
> He cannot speak Chinese. He adheres strictly to a lifelong low-sugar, low-cholesterol diet. I'm no expert on cholesterol, but does fried Chinese food not have the same cholesterol level as other fried food?
- the_clarence 8y ago
  Chinese food can be verryyyy oily, but cantonese food tend to be healthier I find. It's possible that he sticks to vegetable dishes or steamed food.
  - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
    Cantonese invented sweet and sour pork, which is very much fried. I think you’ll find healthy and unhealthy options in most Chinese styles fairly equally. Now the stuff they sell at restaurants in the states is another story, but that is more about clientele.
    - moufestaphio 8y ago
      > but that is more about clientele. Yeah, absolutely agreed. Most 'traditional cuisines' tend to be fairly healthy. My pet theory on this is along the lines of an evolutionary standpoint.. if it wasn't healthy, the people eating it would have been more likely to die off. Unfortunately North American's got all the delicious foods from all the cultures that immigrated :)
      - bobthepanda 8y ago
        Traditional food for the average person is very healthy. Of course, the average Cantonese person was very poor until decades ago. Most of the dishes that have made it abroad usually consists of tastier fare for a more wealthy population. We know a wealthy Chinese woman as far back as 600BCE had high cholesterol and a heart attack. https://allthatsinteresting.com/xin-zhui-lady-dai https://allthatsinteresting.com/xin-zhui-lady-dai
    - the_clarence 8y ago
      I've never seen sweet and sour pork in hk (and people there refer to it as western cuisine)
- 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
  Cholesterol is added via animal fat (e.g. frying in lard, tallow, or butter), not by the process of frying. Plants do not contain cholesterol.
  - Tharkun 8y ago
    > Plants do not contain cholesterol. Yes, they do. Source: Cholesterol and Plants by Behrman et al.
    - mallomarmeasle 8y ago
      Isn't this a bit pendantic? I think cholesterol occurs in plants, but at levels that are probably insignificant to human diet.
- simplify 8y ago
  Cholesterol is not really a diet ingredient, but a substance that is created and maintained by your body. It's vital to functions such as learning, memory, and repairing blood vessels. Almost all cells in your body can make cholesterol. Eating foods with cholesterol does not directly correlate to your body's own level of cholesterol. If someone has high cholesterol, it's likely a symptom of a different problem.
- village-idiot 8y ago
  I'd be much more worried about how well rice and "low-sugar" play together.
  - mathgeek 8y ago
    Strictly by the definitions of nutrients, "white" carbs and sugar are not synonymous.
stevenwoo 8y ago
That has an interesting trivia tidbit revealed about real estate in there - foreign investment in USA residential real estate has shifted from 10% Chinese to 30% Chinese in ten years. Also, I feel something is missing from the story. Just as a statement of fact and not a criticism - his personal taste is pedestrian not adventurous - his favorite dishes are noodles without sauce and rice with soy sauce. I would have loved to have heard what his wife (if she is still around) thought about their shared hobby.
appleiigs 8y ago
Customers who liked this article also liked: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey-nation/article30539419/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey... The above article was posted on HN awhile ago. Author goes to number of small town chinese restaurants in Canada and tells their stories. Very long read. Not sure why I liked it so much, but was a good relaxing read.
JAdamMoore 8y ago
He totally nailed New York being worse than California. The entire east coast is a joke.
_hardwaregeek 8y ago
Yeah, maybe he does have some profound insights into Chinese food just by virtue of volume, but the fact that he doesn't like spicy food and his favorite dish is soy sauce and rice means that I'm probably not going to trust him for food advice. Kind of a shame actually.
- zawerf 8y ago
  Maybe soy sauce on rice can be done really well? A lot of my favorite rice dishes are equally plain sounding (saffron with rice, coconut oil rice, and even japanese donburi are mostly "just" soy sauce and rice). If it's literally just plain soy sauce on plain rice though, it's probably just nostalgia over childhood poverty meals. It's not bad but you don't do it by choice!
  - stevenwoo 8y ago
    I am second generation Chinese from the same region as Chan, and I, too, did not enjoy most of the regional dishes my parents gave me and actually chose to eat soy sauce on plain rice when the dishes were unpalatable to me. I mean actual poverty meals but my bias/ignorance is showing because it's actually not clear from the article if that's what he meant or if he meant what you are describing.
    - irrational 8y ago
      This is fascinating to me. When my kids don't want to eat what we are serving they will often have carrots or broccoli with ranch dressing instead. I never stopped to wonder what kids in other cultures eat in similar circumstances.
  - wenc 8y ago
    Side note: soy sauce and butter on rice [1] can be really good. It doesn't sound that good, and I didn't believe it could be good until I tried it. [1] https://norioonwine.blogspot.com/2010/11/rice-with-butter-and-soy-sauce.html https://norioonwine.blogspot.com/2010/11/rice-with-butter-an...
dashmatte 8y ago
haven't we all eaten at 7300 Chinese restaurants? i think i have. i wont reveal what i think unless someone with deep pockets flashes me Abraham Lincolns Washingtons and some 50 cent Kennedys in front of me...then pull a chair up, get cozy with a blanket and ill tell u everything i know.
chandavkl 8y ago
Well this is David Chan and the article has some errors. Like soy sauce rice was my favorite AS A KID, I do like food and do return to some restaurtants

115 points by rustcharm 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

faitswulff 8y ago

Chan is also a friendly figure on Twitter and will chat about restaurants (located almost anywhere) with anyone.

thewarpaint 8y ago
If I'm not mistaken: https://twitter.com/chandavkl https://twitter.com/chandavkl

ioewjfowe 8y ago

and he is still alive?

generaltsos 8y ago

> He cannot speak Chinese. He adheres strictly to a lifelong low-sugar, low-cholesterol diet. I'm no expert on cholesterol, but does fried Chinese food not have the same cholesterol level as other fried food?

the_clarence 8y ago
Chinese food can be verryyyy oily, but cantonese food tend to be healthier I find. It's possible that he sticks to vegetable dishes or steamed food.
- seanmcdirmid 8y ago
  Cantonese invented sweet and sour pork, which is very much fried. I think you’ll find healthy and unhealthy options in most Chinese styles fairly equally. Now the stuff they sell at restaurants in the states is another story, but that is more about clientele.
  - moufestaphio 8y ago
    > but that is more about clientele. Yeah, absolutely agreed. Most 'traditional cuisines' tend to be fairly healthy. My pet theory on this is along the lines of an evolutionary standpoint.. if it wasn't healthy, the people eating it would have been more likely to die off. Unfortunately North American's got all the delicious foods from all the cultures that immigrated :)
    - bobthepanda 8y ago
      Traditional food for the average person is very healthy. Of course, the average Cantonese person was very poor until decades ago. Most of the dishes that have made it abroad usually consists of tastier fare for a more wealthy population. We know a wealthy Chinese woman as far back as 600BCE had high cholesterol and a heart attack. https://allthatsinteresting.com/xin-zhui-lady-dai https://allthatsinteresting.com/xin-zhui-lady-dai
  - the_clarence 8y ago
    I've never seen sweet and sour pork in hk (and people there refer to it as western cuisine)
0xcde4c3db 8y ago
Cholesterol is added via animal fat (e.g. frying in lard, tallow, or butter), not by the process of frying. Plants do not contain cholesterol.
- Tharkun 8y ago
  > Plants do not contain cholesterol. Yes, they do. Source: Cholesterol and Plants by Behrman et al.
  - mallomarmeasle 8y ago
    Isn't this a bit pendantic? I think cholesterol occurs in plants, but at levels that are probably insignificant to human diet.
simplify 8y ago
Cholesterol is not really a diet ingredient, but a substance that is created and maintained by your body. It's vital to functions such as learning, memory, and repairing blood vessels. Almost all cells in your body can make cholesterol. Eating foods with cholesterol does not directly correlate to your body's own level of cholesterol. If someone has high cholesterol, it's likely a symptom of a different problem.
village-idiot 8y ago
I'd be much more worried about how well rice and "low-sugar" play together.
- mathgeek 8y ago
  Strictly by the definitions of nutrients, "white" carbs and sugar are not synonymous.

stevenwoo 8y ago

That has an interesting trivia tidbit revealed about real estate in there - foreign investment in USA residential real estate has shifted from 10% Chinese to 30% Chinese in ten years. Also, I feel something is missing from the story. Just as a statement of fact and not a criticism - his personal taste is pedestrian not adventurous - his favorite dishes are noodles without sauce and rice with soy sauce. I would have loved to have heard what his wife (if she is still around) thought about their shared hobby.

appleiigs 8y ago

Customers who liked this article also liked: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey-nation/article30539419/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey... The above article was posted on HN awhile ago. Author goes to number of small town chinese restaurants in Canada and tells their stories. Very long read. Not sure why I liked it so much, but was a good relaxing read.

JAdamMoore 8y ago

He totally nailed New York being worse than California. The entire east coast is a joke.

_hardwaregeek 8y ago

Yeah, maybe he does have some profound insights into Chinese food just by virtue of volume, but the fact that he doesn't like spicy food and his favorite dish is soy sauce and rice means that I'm probably not going to trust him for food advice. Kind of a shame actually.

zawerf 8y ago
Maybe soy sauce on rice can be done really well? A lot of my favorite rice dishes are equally plain sounding (saffron with rice, coconut oil rice, and even japanese donburi are mostly "just" soy sauce and rice). If it's literally just plain soy sauce on plain rice though, it's probably just nostalgia over childhood poverty meals. It's not bad but you don't do it by choice!
- stevenwoo 8y ago
  I am second generation Chinese from the same region as Chan, and I, too, did not enjoy most of the regional dishes my parents gave me and actually chose to eat soy sauce on plain rice when the dishes were unpalatable to me. I mean actual poverty meals but my bias/ignorance is showing because it's actually not clear from the article if that's what he meant or if he meant what you are describing.
  - irrational 8y ago
    This is fascinating to me. When my kids don't want to eat what we are serving they will often have carrots or broccoli with ranch dressing instead. I never stopped to wonder what kids in other cultures eat in similar circumstances.
- wenc 8y ago
  Side note: soy sauce and butter on rice [1] can be really good. It doesn't sound that good, and I didn't believe it could be good until I tried it. [1] https://norioonwine.blogspot.com/2010/11/rice-with-butter-and-soy-sauce.html https://norioonwine.blogspot.com/2010/11/rice-with-butter-an...

dashmatte 8y ago

haven't we all eaten at 7300 Chinese restaurants? i think i have. i wont reveal what i think unless someone with deep pockets flashes me Abraham Lincolns Washingtons and some 50 cent Kennedys in front of me...then pull a chair up, get cozy with a blanket and ill tell u everything i know.

chandavkl 8y ago

Well this is David Chan and the article has some errors. Like soy sauce rice was my favorite AS A KID, I do like food and do return to some restaurtants