According to Reuters, the Chinese government has arrested the Chinese television reporter who allegedly fabricated the story of finding cardboard in the pork buns sold on the street in Beijing. Here's the scoop: A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings", the China Daily said on Thursday. [via Serious Eater Prairie, in Talk]... More

With the priority that the Chinese place on food in their culture, it's a shame that the recent food scares have been tinged with a hint of racism, says Jeff Yang in the Washington Post: That's troubling, because it reinforces the notion that befouled food is the consequence of a foul culture. Chef and gustatory adventurer Anthony Bourdain may have said it best in a 2006 Salon interview in which he noted that there's "something kind of racist" about culinary xenophobia: "Fear of dirt is often indistinguishable from the fear of unnamed dirty people."... More

Ahead of next year's Summer Games, the Chinese government pledges that its food will be safe for "athletes, coaches, officials, and others" attending the events. "All the procedures involving Olympic food, including production, processing, packaging, storing and transporting will be closely monitored," Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told reporters Tuesday. In a related move, the government also executed a former food and drug chief there who was found guilty of taking cash in exchange for approving six untested medicines.... More

Andrew Martin in the New York Times reports that "The Food and Drug Administration today issued an alert challenging imports of five major types of farm-raised seafood from China, including shrimp and catfish, because testing found recurrent contamination from carcinogens and antibiotics. The alert means that the fish will be allowed for sale in the United States only if testing proves that it is free of certain antibiotics and carcinogens found previously." Here's the kicker: "In May, for instance the F.D.A. turned away 165 shipments from China, 49 of which were seafood. Monkfish was rejected for being filthy. Frozen catfish nuggets were turned away because they contained veterinary drugs. Tilapia fillets were contaminated with salmonella."... More

OK, so as a visual spectacle of hot pot cooking, nothing beats the world's largest hot pot I posted about last month, but this 1.5 mile-long hot pot table that sat 100,000 people is still pretty amazing, especially when you consider they "ate about 30 tons of tripe and 20 tons of duck intestines." I do not envy the clean up crew!... More

It's tricky because they're so big, but cows are roasted on spits whole all the time. Boiled? Not so much. According to Weird Asia News, "during a Food Festival in Sheng Yang China, one company boiled a 1,500 lbs cow. It was 1.3 meters long and 2.5 meters high." The boiler itself was capable of containing three tons of water, and it took ten hours to boil the cow. (The photos might make you squeamish, so if you're in doubt don't click through!)... More

A woman from Liaoning, China fell head over heels for a restaurant manager after eating dinner at his restaurant and subsequently had dinner there every night for the next two months, until she ran through her entire life savings of 10,000 yuan ($1,233). You'd think that would've stopped her, but no—she mortgaged her house and would've spent all that money at the restaurant too, except the object of her affection finally called the police. I don't know what else to say, other than that I hope the food at the guy's restaurant was delicious.... More

One of the most surprising vistas in China is the Starbucks tucked into a corner of Beijing's Forbidden City, which has sold coffee to all and sundry since 2000 (at the behest of palace managers, who needed to raise money for maintenace of the villas and gardens). Apparently it may not stay there much longer.... More

Chinese researchers breed green pigs. I think the writer puts it best when he notes: "Jokes about fluorescent green SPAM are probably apropos."... More