No, Chinese people don’t eat bats
Since this whole coronavirus thing started, my blog is being found by people curious about the Chinese culinary traditions. Not in these polite terms, though. Some of the searches were as colourful as these (I’m copy pasting them verbatim):
- nasty animal chinese eat
- why are chinese such dirty stinking nasty pig people
- most disgusting forms of chinese food
- why do the asians eat weird animals that shouldnt be eaten?
- chinese slug thing they eat
I’ve also seen many nasty comments on YouTube and newspaper articles which said things like “we wouldn’t be in deep shit now if the Chinese didn’t eat everything that moves”. It’s sad that so many people are so quick to point the finger and blame 1.4 billion people of eating “disgusting things”. Many of these reactions came from a video that was shared after it was discovered that the virus might have come from a wet market in Wuhan where wild animals were sold illegally. That video showed a Chinese woman eating a bat soup. The only problem being that… the video was from a travel show and it was filmed in Palau. Not in China. For the record, the virus is thought to have passed to humans not through eating a bat, but through eating another animal that had been previously infected by a bat. It’s not known yet what animal it was specifically.
And here comes the newsflash: No, bat is not a regular part of Chinese people’s diet, just in case anyone was wondering. I can promise you that in my 12 years of living in China, I have never seen bat meat sold in the supermarket. I haven’t seen dog, cat or rat meat either. Which doesn’t mean that these animals are not eaten in China at all; some people in specific areas do eat them. But it’s not a widespread thing. I’m also not sure if declaring those foods illegal makes any difference; cocaine is illegal in all countries (as far as I know) but people that want to use always know where to get it.
No, Chinese people don’t eat bat burritos.
Another thing is that, even if Chinese people did eat bats, who are we to say that’s not ok? I don’t think anyone who is not vegan can say with a straight face that eating bat is wrong, while munching on a pork chop. We can say that eating wild animals is not ok because of the health risks involved, but not shaming people that have habits different to our own. The other day I read a very interesting article from Jared Diamond, the author, and Nathan Wolfe, a virologist. It was about preparing for the next pandemic that will surely hit us again in the not so distant future. This article argues how Chinese wet markets are the perfect breeding grounds for pandemics and I liked that the authors didn’t simply say “Stop eating wild animals, nasty Chinese”, but explained why some people eat wild animals and why it is hard for the government to control it. Here’s an excerpt:
How could the all-powerful Chinese government capable of locking down millions of people within days not have the will to put a quick and complete end to the wild animal trade? But wild animal products represent more than a mere delicacy for some Chinese populations. Probably a better analogy would be if scientists discovered that the trade in cheese or red wine were causing regular epidemics. How would the French respond to a global demand for a ban? For some Chinese populations, wild animals represent a more fundamental part of their culture than cheese and red wine do to the French. Yet despite the cultural challenges, China and other governments around the world must act quickly and decisively to end the wild animal trade.
Those people that search online about nasty Chinese foods and find my blog do so because of a post I published a few years ago and which I called “10 Chinese dishes that foreigners find gross“. The funny thing is that there’s nothing on that list that I personally find disgusting (I’m not in the habit of saying that what other people eat is disgusting, anyway), so those people must have been quite disappointed. They wanted gore and I gave them stinky tofu…
Stinky tofu. It doesn’t smell great, but it’s yummy.
So, fellow stranger, if you were looking for pictures of disgusting foods or bat soups, I’m sorry I let you down. If you are interested about the food that Chinese people actually eat, you can have a look at some of my old posts, like Chinese dishes that foreigners love, Suzhou specialties, popular summer foods, or how the typical Chinese breakfast looks like. I promise you everything is quite tasty and harmless.
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I just can’t write a post without mentioning the coronavirus, can I? No, I can’t. I’m really worried about Spain, my home country. In the 8 days since I published my previous post, Spain has passed from 10,000 to 42,000 confirmed infections and from 342 to 2,937 deaths. 12% of the infected are health workers. The death figure is most probably going to overpass China’s within today. In China, companies, individuals and the expat community are donating and sending masks to Spain. Let´s check back and see how things are in a week… I´m not very optimistic.
Thank you for such a clear and well reasoned post. It’s horrifying the number of stories I’m seeing on social media about people of Asian descent being harassed here in the USA — no doubt encouraged by Trump’s overt racism. “The Chinese virus”? Really?
And I so agree on the notion that what’s considered gross depends on where you are from. People in Philadelphia eat Scrapple–basically, all the leftover organ meats turned into a sausage. In the UK there’s black pudding–I mean, pig’s blood sausage? Really?? Shudder!
There’s blood sausage in Spain too! And innards are also eaten there. One of Madrid’s most famous local dishes is cow’s stomach in tomato and paprika sauce. If an animal is being killed for food, let’s not waste anything…
So if they (ANYBODY ANYWHERE) doesn’t eat bats. Why did I just see today an episode of “Explained” featuring Bill Gates, a food/meat market selling live bats “bats are in high demand” was said by the narrator. It’s dated Nov 2019 (yes really) on Netflix about pandemics. Sars, Ebola H1N1, was discussed but another worse pandemic and planning on economic crisis and death statistics.(Bill Gates) Uh hmmm? Quite a coincidence.
If you eat bats ok that’s your business, but really do they? Anybody could buy live bats accidental or purposeful cause of problems.
Please, read again, because I wrote: “…Which doesn’t mean that these animals are not eaten in China at all; some people in specific areas do eat them”. Obviously I cannot categorically confirm that no one in a population of 1.4 billion does or does not do something. But I do dare to say that 95% of Chinese people wouldn’t touch a bat with a 3 meter pole, and I’m being generous as it’s probably closer to 99%.
I was just thinking yesterday… we haven’t heard from Marta!! Happy that you wrote and all is well. BUT as you say, we have to worry about others around the world. We have to try and think positive, this is something we cannot see or control. Wishing you well, always happy to hear from you. :)
Thank you! Hope you’re also fine over there.
So far, fine. Keep posting, so we know you are WELL. We will too. :)
People in the US ate smoked bats.
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/08/07/158221181/on-the-road-in-florida-hard-times-politics-and-smoked-bat
My main question here is if the bats were bought in a store or hunted in the wild…
Look, if you eat ANY animals, you don’t get to bitch about which animals are okay and which ones are not. Pigs are smarter than dogs, but most Americans would freak out over eating a dog. Such hypocrisy.
As for the wild animal/ animal market origin theory of the coronavirus, the latest research I read shows that it might be two different viruses combining (bat and pangolin), and that the first person infected wasn’t even at the Wuhan market. So we still don’t know.
The stupidity of humans is inexhaustible, especially when looking for a single person to blame for their misfortunes. Asian-Americans are taking a lot of abuse right now, thanks to our inexhaustibly ignorant President constantly saying “Chinese virus.”
Spain and the United States are well on their way to being horrific. I hope your parents are okay.
Yep. I eat meat so I don’t get to say that eating snakes or foxes is disgusting. My MIL is buying and cooking a lot of frog lately (well, maybe more like toad? they’re huge).
I’ve also read that the first case, and several of the cases in December, didn’t have any connection to the market. I wonder if we will ever know where it came from.
My family is fine for now, thanks. How are things over there…?
It’s pretty bad and about to get much worse, especially in New York. Then Florida is going to be worse than Italy or Spain; it’s our oldest population and the Governor refuses to lock down anything, especially the beaches.
And our idiot President? He refuses to invoke the Defense Production Act to MAKE more protective gear and ventilators. He also needs to commandeer the stockpiled ones, but of course businesses before people. Can’t upset the CEOs. Better to let health care workers die. It’s beyond infuriating. It’s negligent homicide.
I agree with what you and Autumn have said. I’ve also read articles about the origin of the coronavirus not being the wet market in Wuhan:
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6477/492.full
Here’s where things get really interesting. According to one Dr. Giuseppe Remuzzi, who is the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Italy, strange cases of pneumonia were observed in northern Italy as early as October last year:
The interview is in Italian, but here’s a translation of the relevant part:
Thanks for the article. So, as early as January 31 scientists already knew the market was probably not the origin… but it’s still pointed at as the culprit though.
I think people just like the idea that China’s filthy eating habits caused the pandemic, so they keep harping on the “bat-eating” and “dirty wet market” meme.
I’m actually inclined to be more forgiving to Trump on this “Chinese virus” shtick. For all his track record of racism, Trump doesn’t seem to have a visceral hatred of China and he has a strange reluctance to criticise China’s president personally (Trump says he and Xi are “good friends”, kinda like how he likes to tout his great relationship with Putin and Kim Jong-un). The real red-baiting Sinophobes are people like Mike Pompeo and Rick Scott, who insisted on referring to the coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus” and the “Chinese coronavirus” even before Trump started doing it partly in response to suggestions that the American military may have brought the coronavirus to China during the military games.
I am not inclined to be remotely forgiving on anything when it comes to Trump. Especially now, when his screwups are about to increase the death toll exponentially.
Every time that man says something racist, he emboldens his racist supporters. And his rabid supporters care a lot more about what he says than Scott or Pompeo.
I remember years ago there was a huge fuss made because it was found that some meat products contained horse. At the time I remember thinking ‘Really? It’s still meat isn’t it?’ As long as it is grown and slaughtered in a humane manner fit for human consumption, I don’t even have a problem with eating dog and cat. It’s the wild animal trade that needs to stop, these are the animals that carry diseases, not just Covid-19 but TB etc. If eating dog and cat in a humane way helps countries to meet their food shortfall, then why shouldn’t they?
I think there’s basically no difference between eating cow and horse, yep. The main problem there would be not having horse meat listed in the ingredients… what if someone is allergic to horse meat? Hehe.
The double standard of eating one animal and saving another. There’s a great Ted Talk, Carnism that goes into this double standard. The talker’s a vegan, but she makes you think. I used to have a vegan complex when the cats were alive. I feed then chicken and I’m the vegan. I did make sure they had organic chicken hoping the chicken had a good life. When I get another cat or dog, I’m going to have this complex again.
The Chinese community here in Spain have been donating masks to hospitals. Mossos (Catalan police force) have been regularly tweeting photos of the donations. I haven’t read the comments however. El Pais also keeps reporting that China’s sending over supplies and the Government has done a deal to get more (every countries fighting for the supplies at the moment so it’s tough getting them). A photo El Pais put on the en directo page of supplies from China made me smile and cry (I saved it if you want me to IG DM you). On the side of the cargo packaging on an Inditex warehouse read in both Chinese and Spanish: ‘Aunque los oceanos nos separan, los une la misma luna’. Although the oceans separate us, the same moon unites us.
Yep, I don’t like the double standard. Either all animals are fine as food, or none is.
I’ve heard you mention before your complex. It’s totally understandable, but what can you do? Cats and dogs are supposed to eat meat.
Jack Ma, China’s richest man (the owner of Alibaba, AliExpress, Taobao, etc) donated a lot of supplies to several countries, from his own pocket. Even at this gesture, some people had to comment things like “Well it’s the least he can do”. Hello? Jack Ma released the virus or was responsible in any way? Some people are nasty, no matter what…
I saw the Inditex thing, yes. That sentence in Chinese is from a very old poem from the Tang Dynasty or something like that, and very well known in China.
Not have pets is the answer! Some humans though like to live with animals!
I read today Inditex’s owner has purchased a load of essential medical equipment for the Spanish health system. I’m sure he’ll get some criticism for how he did it!
I don’t agree with eating any animal as you know Marta with me being vegan. I did appreciate your post and your views (and views of you other readers). I heard about Spain last night – very sad state of affairs. My thoughts are with you and your family back home. It’s a terrible situation everywhere – we had another person pass away yesterday here in Australia.
Thanks, Sue. As of last night China time, Spain already surpassed China in number of deaths… and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon.
Hope the situation in Australia doesn’t get much worse.
Thank you Marta. I read Spain is hurtling dreadfully. Terrible news.
Hello! Thank you some much for being an educated, rational and peaceful person + posting truthful facts, especially in these troubled times! I really can’t believe ppl wrote such hateful words to find even nastier publications…it’s pitiful, but I’m glad you’re taking care of it in a civil way, you’re wise!
I was fairly surprised (in a good way) to see you, as a non-vegan not being a specist! Despising a population because of its diet is already absurd on its own, let alone on which animal one eat… France cuisine is widely viewed as the most elegant but that’s because somehow??? everyone neglects the fact that snails is considered fine cuisine here (i’m French), not to mention goose liver and blood sausages…lately I heard about rabbit brain so you get the idea…it’s all a matter of open-mindedness and education. So yeah, just wanted to thank you, tell you that you rock, your blog is interesting, well-written + fun, hope you and your loved ones are doing great, best wishes!
Thanks for your kind words!
Snails, frogs, bull’s testicles, blood sausage, cow’s stomach, lamb’s brains… all of these are eaten in Spain. I remember loving lamb’s brains as a child, my grandma cooked them. Then after the mad cow’s disease, brains fell out of favour and I haven’t seen them in stores in ages. I think that, if we’re killing an animal to eat it, the least we can do is using all of its parts and not waste anything…
I’ve eaten the 臭豆腐and I’ve to say that if cooked on the Barbecue, with on pepper on the top, it’s very yummy.
I also like it, haha. It doesn’t even smell that bad once you’re eating it.
I think your logic is spot on. Never have I met any regular person from China or Chinese person who eats bats as part of their regular diet – none of them have ever tried it. Who knows really if the virus started at the Wuhan wet market. The media in Australia seem to think it all started in Wuhan in the wet market. Hope Spain is doing better (looks like it’s doing better). Here in Australia it’s all pretty quiet and it’s not like in the US. But winter is coming up here so maybe it will get worse. Hopefully it all gets better soon.
Well, for now the only clearly suspicious place is that wet market, but who knows. I doubt this kind of thing can be clearly pinpointed! Other experts I’ve read said that the virus could have been going around for a while and then for some reason it exploded in Wuhan.
I wonder what will happen to other wet markets. These markets might be asked to be more hygienic and clean up more, but I think things will still be the same 🙄
I think the key is stopping the sale of live animals in markets, I read something about China banning it but I’m not sure if it applies for all animals and everywhere. Many old people still want their meat being killed in front of them (well, this doesn’t apply to large animals, hahaha, but for chickens, fish, etc.) but they should adapt to modernity already (oh look, a refrigerator!).