Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
To highlight what I would and do fall back, are selective Asian styles of food preparation and dishes that are healthy.

. . . .

So I genuinely credit..a long family history of home Asian cooking that became healthier and healthier over the decades...to a point where my parents barely use any soy sauce in their cooking. Yes, it is STILL a Chinese tasting dish.
shootingstar, your illustrations of how Asian cooking can be adapted are excellent.

I feel like I should also clarify some of my earlier comments too, as while I feel you make some valid points, there are those who take it too far.

apologies in advance for going a little off-topic, too.
*warning* *cultural baggage rant about to begin*

I have occasionally encountered non-Asian people in my life who place what I feel is TOO MUCH stock in what, to them, is an exotic cuisine. There is a lot of marketing around the potential benefits of soy and green tea, for example.

I think the idealization of things from other cultures can lead to misperceptions about those cultures as a whole. Those misperceptions in turn lead to messed-up thinking.

Two illustrations:

A few years ago my dear FIL, who has been trying to lose weight, was trying to introduce soy to his diet, I don't know on whose recommendation. I think he tried different kinds of tofu, imitation meat, and soy milk. He found all forms of it unpalatable, even when I made soy milk from scratch, which tastes way better than the branded-stuff-in-a-box that is readily available in your neighborhood grocery. When I suggested that the benefits of soy might not outweigh his displeasure in eating it and the American Soy Growers Association's marketing team might have something to do with why he was putting so much pressure on himself to eat something he didn't like, he said,

"Well what the heck are they eating over there (in Asia) if they're all so d@mn healthy?!!!"

I had to explain to him that Asians, too, struggle with obesity, heart disease, high risk of certain cancers, osteoporosis, Alzheimers, etc. Just at different rates than other populations. Lesser for some things, greater for others. And that a good diet can only protect you so much from smoking like a chimney.

FIL felt better after that. In his mind he had built up some impossible higher standard of health, which I think were really frustrating his weight loss efforts.

Illustration #2 was when an acquaintance asked what I did for Thanksgiving and I related the annual Taiwanese potluck that my Auntie Lin hosts.

"Oh, that sounds SO healthy! How WONderful! Oh, I bet it was all very HEALTH-y!"

I swear this guy was about to enter an orgasmic fit of ecstasy. Was he seriously fetish-izing my Thanksgiving dinner? I mean, there's only so much non-frying of an eggroll before it isn't an eggroll anymore, am I right? And there was a lot of stuff fried in peanut oil. Certainly not an everyday meal, and it probably would not be considered heart-healthy.

That encounter just bugged me. If I enjoyed my dinner, it wasn't because of any potential health benefits. It was because it was lovingly prepared by a wonderful group of family friends who wanted to pull out all the stops on a special evening. And Auntie and Uncle Lin make the best eggrolls.

If there is a misperception out there that Asians have fewer health problems than other populations, then potentially there is less education regarding screening and diagnosis out there for people who are at risk of developing certain medical conditions, and that conditions needing treatment go undiagnosed for longer periods of time. And that people misplace their faith in an exotic diet.

Oh, and how do you explain that occasional octogenarian who smokes a pack a day and eats bacon like it's an essential nutrient?

Good eating habits didn't protect my mother or her mother from breast cancer (Mom is a 20-year survivor, though!); didn't protect my father from Graves' disease; didn't protect his mother from arthritis; didn't prevent my friend Joe from succumbing to leukemia at age 33. I could keep going . . .

I'd just like to see people stop thinking Asians have discovered the fountain of youth or some magical elixir of health. We are as human and vulnerable as everyone else.

*rant over*