Sweet & Sour

Sweet

The longer time you spend in China, the better it is to eat street food. If you only have a few days, you probably want to be pretty careful about what you eat to avoid spending the whole trip in the bathroom. I have a handy rule for staying safe eating food sold on the street: If it came right off an open flame or out of a pot of boiling water or a very hot cloud of steam, it's good. Barbecued lamb skewers, dumplings and bowls of noodles can be enjoyed at ad-hoc roadside restaurants for a few yuan.

Sour

I hate it when I see people on the street spit, or in the restaurant or anywhere. None of us were brought up spitting at the table or hawking a good one on the city sidewalk. With that said, I am sure we all have, at least on the sidewalk. Discretionary practices should be adhered to. Clearing my throat or expel it in public embarrasses myself and looks bad.So when in Rome, so to say, you pick up good habits as well as bad.I for one will still try to excuse myself from the table if I feel a good one coming on.

(China Daily 08/03/2009 page10)