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Is It Rude to Refuse to Eat Food in China?
Written by Robert Vance on September 23, 2008 – 10:20 amDear Jean,
I have been in China for 3 months now and in general I have had a first rate experience. I even like most of the Chinese food that I have encountered here which is a surprise because I never liked Chinese food at home. I do have one problem, however, that maybe you can help me with. In my locale, people like to eat dog and I am afraid that perhaps I have already partaken of dog without even knowing it. Some of the families of my students have invited me over for special occassions and until now I have never really asked what I was eating. Now that I know that dog might be on the menu, I do want to know what is going in my mouth. How do I go about asking about this when I am invited to dinner? Is it rude to not eat something that is offered to me in Chinese culture or can I simply refuse?
Thank you so much!
Janine
Jean answers Janine’s question about China
Dear Janine,
Wow! What an interesting question. I am sure that you are not the first ex-pat in China to have encountered this problem. Frankly, you do not need to eat anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. A Chinese host who is familiar with Western culture should always alert his or her foreign guests that dog is being served but this does not always happen. It is perfectly acceptable to ask your host politely what is being served. If you discover that dog meat (or something else that you do not wish to eat) is on the table then simply do not transfer any onto your plate. If your host tries to serve you some dog meat, politely refuse by saying that in your country dogs are ‘our friends’ and that you would prefer not to eat that kind of meat. This response will most likely draw some laughter and could be a great ice-breaker. You should not worry about offending your Chinese hosts; they will understand.
I hope that helps answer your question. Robert Vance wrote an interesting article entitled Could You Pass Some More Donkey Please? which you may enjoy reading.
Sincerely,
Jean
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I am not going to lie. I have tried donkey and frog. However, when I run into something like snake, hot spicy food from Hunan or Sichuan or something similar, I just refuse to eat it. I apologize a million times, but I just won’t eat it.
@Daniel,
Donkey meat is pretty delicious; I love frog! I’m with you on the snake. Hot spicy food from Sichuan or Hunan? Pretty good stuff but I don’t like it when everybody ‘dips’ into the pot. Doesn’t seem sanitary. I will never eat dog no matter how much it offends someone. I think it’s a crime
You refuse to eat dead dog but you happily eat other dead animals? I think that’s hypocritical. If it’s wrong to kill a dog for food what makes it alright to kill another animal?