I think that you have mentioned this before.....where in China is rice not served? Or maybe just you weren't eating rice for some reason & I misinterpreted your sentence. And what is the stigma?

I'd be interested to find out. There are certainly alternative favourites (eg, noodles in the south.... dumplings in the north)

That said, I think the Philippines are bigger consumers of rice than the chinese... I remember it being a big thing a few years back that it made the news.

business meals where the Chinese vendor was ordering the menu, or better having their employee order the menu and handle the cash for payment - rice was stigma as “common” food so business meals wouldn’t have any rice. Surely I’m not the only american who’s had to deal with this in China. That whole private room nonsense that isn’t super common in usa fine dining restaurants unless it’s a blatant chef’s table. Maybe fried rice would be served. I went to China a lot in the 90s up to 2006. Don’t miss going. Internet made it easier to not need to go.

I had rice at every meal while in China (including breakfast ) but I was there as a tourist so no business meals like that.

I have been to a few business meals in mainland China, and there was always rice as a side.

Of course I avoided the restaurants serving dog and other domestic pets. I didn’t eat Cuy in Peru, either.

Lucky you! I wasn’t a tourist so it wasn’t really easy to get it. I can’t even recall if it was served at breakfasts which seemed to be also at restaurants. I would have preferred to have it at every meal. Even the meal with the live drunken shrimps didn’t have white rice. Ditto with the cooked snake dishes. Maybe it was the same meal - that was Shanghai March 1998. There were still a lot of people on bicycles during that trip. It changed / gentrified when I was back in fall 2001.
it is possible that I had white rice with lamb at the Xinjiang cuisine place in hangzhou in November 2005 before I caught the bus to go to PVG (Shanghai airport).
Anyway I’m just glad that I don’t have to return to China for now and if I travel internationally then I have other places I’ll want to first visit. I still really enjoy Chinese food in my own city where I live; there really are a lot of Chinese restaurants here and I still get white rice.

I just don't think it's worth the trouble. A lot of opportunities for a bad result in the chain of events from buying the oysters to getting them to your plate. Unfortunately, other than Rockefeller, there aren't a lot of other options for cooked oysters in our area that I've seen. One of the apps I regret not getting in SC was bacon wrapped oysters - that were then dunked into the fryer to cook both. As I mentioned, my wife only likes them raw. She was willing to try it, but I could tell she wasn't thrilled so we passed.

I tried an oyster once. It felt like I had a mouth full of phlegm. I guess I’m in the minority here. I like scallops, clams and mussels. But not oysters.

I started going to China a few years after that. Business and celebratory meals usually had rice (along with the "family" dishes). Usually it was a large bowl of rice either in the centre of the lazy susan or in a rice cooker/warmer in the corner (private room or not). I haven't been in a few years, but I don't think things have changed that much.

I've found that Japanese restaurants often do great fried oysters. (After all, they do great tempura!) I used to always order them at the long-ago closed Naniwa, and I still order them at Sushi Dokku (not listed on the menu, but they always have raw oysters on the menu and are happy to fry them).

I've been through the exact same thing many many times, though in Hong Kong. Not enjoyable for me either.

How can you remember the experience of a mouthful of phlegm? I wonder if you just had a bad oyster. Was it raw or cooked? You enjoy so many yummy shellfish items. An oyster is so pleasant.

I am sorry that you didn’t just order this as your main course. What did you get as a main? Sometimes appetizers are best eaten as the main. I look forward to you returning and getting this dish.

Lucky you. My hosts didn’t have it. As a guest, I never ask anything of a host unless it’s some form of money discount. And usually I don’t ask for that because inevitably I’ll get some price adjustment. Instead I would compare quotes to get a range, if needed. Anyway you are so lucky to get rice.

Glad to know that someone here went to China / Hong Kong / Taiwan and couldn’t get rice. We suffer together in memory. Plus omg these meals waste so much time - surely after spending hours together we all wouldn’t really want supper together as well. Business manners are not always ftw lol

I bought these pasture raised chickens (I also bought they're eggs which are amazing and only $10/dozen) at the local Saturday market last weekend. They're really nice, although not cheap at $25/chicken. I can definitely taste the difference though and they BBQ magnificently. Served here for dinner last night with a salad of BBQ roasted capsicum, tomatoes, onions capers and a chimmichurri dressing.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f34217494.jpeg

Looks delicious! Although maybe it’s the camera angle, but that leg quarter looks small. 25 for a small chicken and 10 bucks for a dozen eggs is a little rich for my blood. Around here, 18 packs of regular eggs are about 1.89. Eggland Best eggs are about 4 bucks, and organic free range are generally 5 or 6 bucks for a dozen
Honestly with eggs, I taste very little difference. (Perhaps my palate is unrefined😀).

Having more time inside I've decided to start cooking for myself more. Only took me some 25 years but I'm getting there. Here is my double bacon cheeseburger on an everything bagel. Nothing fancy but was pretty good.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2e2bd8444a.jpg