Not Fresh Enough

Today (Wednesday) I took leftovers for lunch to the office. They were from Monday, and included beans, potato slices, and bits of chicken. I asked one of my coworkers to order some extra rice for me from the delivery place they were ordering from. I used the rice as a base and filler for my leftovers.

One coworker, Kathy, asked me where I got the food and I explained that Dean’s Ayi, who is a fabulous cook, made them for lunch on Monday. “So old!” she exclaimed. “They’ve been in the refrigerator – and they’re really not that old” I answered her.

She explained that she always throws away anything that is not eaten within 24 hours. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this, and probably won’t be the last. My coworkers often tell me not to “da bow” (doggie bag) items like noodles because they are so fresh and lacking preservatives, so they will go bad very quickly.

I’m really not sure how much truth there is to this. I wonder if it’s the way their parents raised them to think, based on the fact that most of them didn’t grow up with a refrigerator.

When we first moved here we noticed that eggs are not kept in refrigerators in the grocery store. I was afraid to buy non-chilled eggs, thinking that they would be spoiled when I got them home, especially during the hot summer months. At some point we got over that and we now buy unrefrigerated eggs regularly. I think at least part of the reason they are not refrigerated in stores here is because they are fresher than in the U.S., but I haven’t gotten a real clear answer from coworkers on this. When I ask them why they don’t refrigerate them, they tell me they “just don’t” and that it is unnecessary.  

Apart from the eggs, we were also surprised to find that here in China they do not stamp foods with a “best if used by” date. Instead, it’s a “packaged on XX/XX” date. We like to buy fresh milk from Hong Kong dairy, and usually it’s packaged the day before we buy it. The largest size we’ve found is smaller than 1 pint, so we go through it pretty quick. The milk is probably fresher here than in the U.S., though that is not to say it’s healthier. We have no idea how it’s processed, but so far, we haven’t gotten sick from it (that we know of).

What we do know is that milk is expensive – about the equivalent of $8.00 a gallon if you convert it. It’s cheaper and more common to buy boxed milk here, but we still think it’s strange to buy unrefrigerated milk off the shelf. It just doesn’t seem fresh enough.