Ah, Chinese food. It is quite interesting to say the least. Every morning, there are several carts with vegetables lining the streets. Some have fruit as well. You want to make fresh salsa for dinner? No problem. You want a salad? You got it. But, what about the main course? That is where it gets hard to swallow (so to speak).
There are is a usual "fish guy" along the street to work. He has buckets of fish lined up the sidewalk. Sometimes they are alive, other times they are dead. One morning, I caught what I hoped would be the last time for seeing it - a live fish being filleted! The poor thing was flapping back and forth, while a huge butcher knife was going to work. There were fish guts going every direction and I almost cried. I know..silly, right? But, how inhumane. At least kill it first. That I understand. Knowing how upset this made me, I doubt I'll be able to watch the toads or snakes being prepared. I am told they are smacked off the ground to kill them, then scrubbed, cleaned, and prepared all in front of you. Granted, they are killed first, but I do not need to see how my food ends up on my plate.
That being said, the live birds packing the wire cages along the sidewalks are also hard for me. You can buy a live chicken or pigeon, or if you prefer, they can decapitate it and pluck it for you. I have always been a meat eater. I still am. But, there is no way I would ever survive if I had to kill my own food. A lot of people here become vegetarian while living here. I can understand why. Besides all of this, most of the time you order meat, it comes with bones still in it. Of course, I had that experience in Astana too, so not a real shock to me. And sometimes, you just aren't sure what the meat is that you are eating. I usually stick to noodle or rice dishes while out, unless they have dumplings. Those I will not give up! :)
PS..I purposefully worded the title of the post, so that alive went first. When I did it the other way, I spent the next 10 minutes singing Bon Jovi ! haha
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