Why do chinese people eat lots of different animal's meat?

Question

If you have watched olympics these past few weeks, you must have noticed on TV, different kinds of food that chinese eat, from snakes to dogs to lizards to bugs to scorpions to pretty much anything...It is probabbly safe to assume that Chinese eat more diverse animal meat than than anybody in the world.

Some of the food shown on TV is really gross looking and probably tastes the same for people not used to eating those food.

It made me wonder why they eat almost any animal they could lay their hands on? Is it just a cultural thing or Is there some reason behind it? A friend of mine once told me China had a great famine sometime ago and they had no staple food to survive on, and that time they started eating all kinds of animals to stay alive and it kinda caught on from there? Is that true or the Chinese are used to eating these food since many many centuries??

I am not trying to offend chinese or anyone, I just want to know the reason behind their eating habits. Please respond if you know the answer. Thank you.

Answer 1

I find it ridicules and unnecessary to eat hamsters on a stick  seahorse on a stick and rat fetus.  China did have a famine so you have good logic to think like this. I think eating this kind of food is why so many diseases are being spread amongst humans. I also think they eat anything that moves  because asian cultures don't have an Abrahamic faith based background.

Answer 2

Because its YUMMY!

Answer 3

they find dogs to be delicious and tasty what can i say.

if chinese eat the most animals means they are most diverse in stomach

Answer 4

So...what is with Americans, who only slaughter chickens, cows, and pigs for meat. It's discrimination, I tell ya! Americans treat cats and dogs like kings but chickens, cows, and pigs like dirt. They get cramped living spaces and average to bad food.

Answer 5

The cuisine of China is NOT the result of some past famine. Many cultures are very open to a wide variety of cuisine. In Mexico they have been eating grasshoppers for thousands of years.

- I urge you to try some of this exotic cuisine when you travel. Although you will occasionally try something that you can't stomach, the majority of these things are actually delicious.

Answer 6

Pshh at least thats not as bad as what you get at your Mcdonalds.

Answer 7

OMG I saw a plate of p***s on there too. The restaurant serves p***s from 12 or so diff. animals :cow, dog, horse, sheep, etc etc. I dont know, the Chinese eat alot of weird shytt, but hey if they can stomach it, w/e...

Answer 8

THEY'RE TRYING TO SURVIVE. P.S, IT'S THEIR CULTURE. LET THEM EAT WHAT THEY WANT TO EAT AND U CAN TRY IT IF U LIKE.

LAST WEEK IN MY GOVERNMENT CLASS, THERE WAS PRESENTATIONS AND THE PERSON THAT DID CHINA BROUGHT CHICKEN FEET. I MEAN THE LEGS WITH THE CLAWS THAT TOUGHT THE GROUND. THOUSE STICK THINGS NOT DRUMSTICKS. IT WAS SO LIKE.I WANTED TO THROW COS WE HAD TO TRY IT.