Trip to Beijing and Shanghai - could I eat anything?

[millan]

Hello all!

I haven't been to the board for a very long time.
But now I find myself with an interesting dilemma and need some input.

I have an opportunity to travel in the fall with a group of people to visit Beijing and Shanghai for 10 days.
Do anyone here have any experience with what type of food I might find there?

We would be staying at fairly expensive hotels so I'm guessing I could always find something for breakfast each day.
But the rest of the time - am I doomed to go hungry every day or will it be possible to find things I could eat in these Chinese cities?

[colormist]

For some odd reason I thought Bill went to China. Hopefully he chimes in.

I, personally, would pack some emergency snack foods and hope that you can find food locally that you can eat. I also previously had a phone that had an app that translated other written languages to english using the phone's camera. If you don't speak the language, that kind of app might help with menus.

Also contact the hotel and see what they offer food wise. They might also be able to help with the local restaurants.

I turned down a four week trip to India (paid by my employer) because I wasn't certain I'd be able to find food to eat. It was to more rural areas of India to visit their diabetic health clinics. You should have better luck finding safe foods staying in a big city.

[denverjay]

My brother who also has HFI lived in China for a while, so I am sure you will be okay. I will have him jump back on this board to give you advice and pointers to eat well there.

[michaelcchiu]

Hi Millan,

I am Michael, I am Chinese and lived in Hong Kong and traveled throughout China including big cities like Beijing and Shanghai as well as smaller cities and also rural countryside, I also live in the USA and previously in NYC, Boston, Tokyo Japan, and now Charlotte North Carolina.

Lots of info to share below, thanks for reading and hope it helps you and safe travels!

I can help answer any questions, China for me is one of the easiest countries to travel to / find safe foods to eat, even if I wasn't Chinese or cannot speak the language, I have lived in HK/China area for 15 years (in comparison Malaysia is more challenging, sometimes Thailand or Phillippinnes, never been to India that should be a tougher time as well, most other places in Asia or the West are overall fine).

If not picky about food (prioritize safety over taste/quality), if all else fails ask them to just plain water broil / pure steam cooking anything without adding any extra ingredients (I got used to always eating rather bland and plain food).

As for me I practice very strict HFI diet, try my best to avoid any knowingly eat anything I can't eat / digest, both at home city and when traveling abroad (I love world travel and have been to over 30 countries and managed to survive so far).

So in China my staple is:
~steamed white rice (I can eat a ton of these) Chinese breakfast usually has congee (I always eat just the plain white congee without anything added)
~or safe ~noodles usually rice based or Japanese Udon)
~green leafy vegetables (global vegetables spinach/broccoli/lettuce easily found anywhere), I also like Chinese vegetables Choi Sum, Bok Choy, watercress, amaranth, etc
~mushrooms are also easily found everywhere
~meat (my usual mix of beef, pork, chicken)
~seafood (I love this stuff pretty much anything including common fish, shrimp, scallops, clams, squid)
~if add anything only salt, and cooking oil (I avoid olive oil or try to avoid reused oil used for cooking many other foods or reuse from frying other foods) to be safe can possibly avoid oil as well

***Things to avoid (my own diet is extra strict to avoid getting sick, I really only eat salt, and when I cook it myself sometimes add butter or cheese.

~sauce of any kind (I try any way I can to avoid)
~marination of any kind
~I also avoid pepper, garlic, all spices, and of course no sugar (real, artificial, any kind of sweetener), I also avoid honey or syrups or any glaze
~I generally avoid all soups (lots of stuff go in there)
~sadly no dessert or snacks or junk food of any kind
~no packages or processed foods (I only sometimes eat plain cheese and butter)
~I personally avoid all kinds of alcohol as well
~I avoid all fruits of any kind
~I also avoid any root vegetables including potatoes, carrots, and some other juicy vegetables like tomatoes, corn etc (I only eat leafy green vegetables and mushrooms, and sometimes bell peppers ~non spicy kind)

Recently sometimes drink coffee (only fresh milk, no condensed milk no sugar no cream), I also drink alot of water and tea (careful as some teas taste sweet or made with flowers or fruit or honey).

In China I eat mostly meat, seafood, egg, green leafy vegetables with huge portions of rice/noodles like multiples of what other people may normally eat, its my main fuel source and keeps me going as calories / glucose energy. Chinese breakfast I eat congee (rice soup)/noodles, eggs, milk/cheese, vegetables or meats/seafood if they have it. China also has popular steamed buns/breads/pastries (looks plain and white but I recommend avoid it, I also don't eat any kinda of dumplings or really all that is on the popular "dim sum" menu). I can usually find plain steamed chicken no sauce, shrimp w scrambed eggs, steamed fish no sauce, steamed vegetables, etc.

I also think Japanese style foods works well too (also lived in Tokyo for 6 months) and you can find Japanese foods worldwide including China, I especially think it's tasty and easy to find sashimi (without sauce, no wasabi, no vinegar sushi rice), teppanyaki/BBQ meats, hotpot/Shabu shabu (boiling pot to cook raw foods, I always get plain water instead of any kinda of soup to cook the foods plainly)


Hope that is helpful, do feel free to write to me directly if any questions or when you are traveling
ask hotel, or your friends, to help you translate /write in Chinese your food allergies, what must be avoided (sugar/sauces/spices), and few examples of the foods you want to eat and briefly describe how to best cook in which way)

At worse plain water broil/steam everything, or be a bit more vegetarian for the times when they can't accommadate much (if meats or seafood difficult to arrange or already pre marinated) and try to avoid eating anything that may make you sick (while trying not to starve), especially bad to even be mildly sick when traveling abroad

China is a wonderful place and people should be helpful and understanding
Good luck and eat well and safe travels

my contact info below welcome to contact me anytime

Hi HFI friends and support community
I am Michael from the USA/Hong Kong

I would love to meet those with HFI in person someday around the world. I do love to travel around the world and have visited over 30 countries, finding safe foods to eat has been ok but sometimes challenging especially in certain countries, welcome any tips or shared experiences!

P.S. I'm currently in Europe for the week in Germany Munich and Switzerland Zurich, would be great to meet anyone from the HFI communities around those areas! Please message me (FB messanger ID / wechat / line Viber / Skype michaelcchiu

or FB email lookup [e-mail]) or [phone] whatsapp