EAT: Our Food Resolutions for 2018
For my first EAT column of 2018, I thought I’d deviate from the usual format and instead jump on the bandwagon to talk about New Year's resolutions. This year, I'll be trying to take better care of my health and the environment by cooking at home (whether that means not dining out or not ordering take-out) and eating less meat. However, with so many tempting dining events happening in Beijing every week, whether or not that will actually happen is a whole other story...
Eat out less but better
Obviously, eating out is kind of a key part of writing about restaurants (hard life, I know). But when I’m not dining out for work I’d like to try and cook at home or, if I do decide to eat out, make it a real treat. Beijing has some pretty great fine dining restaurants — I’m thinking Opera Bombana, Mio, Transit — but if you’re eating out all the time at more casual places then there never seems to be a reason to treat yourself. So, instead, I’m going to be saving up for a big, Instagram-worthy once-a-month blowout.
Cook more Chinese food at home
As an extension of the point above, when I am cooking at home I’m going to make a point of trying out more Chinese recipes. Not only does it seem sensible to be able to actually make a decent fist of the food of the country you live in but it’s cheaper than buying imported ingredients. My goal is a restaurant-standard mapo tofu.
For those who’d like to do the same, The Hutong offers excellent cooking classes for pretty much every variety of Chinese cuisine — I’ve always found their classes leave you with a good foundation in Chinese knife skills, too.
Eat less meat
A common resolution, perhaps, but one that has proven benefits for your own health and the health of the planet. Beijing has some excellent vegetarian restaurants (mostly Chinese, although the opening of vegetarian restaurant Root Pop in Shuangjing last year changed that) and many other restaurants now offer creative and delicious vegetarian options. See more of our recommendations for vegetarian dining here.
Order less delivery
Whether you can’t be bothered to cook or you’re imprisoned in the house by the high AQI, nowadays it’s all too easy to reach for your phone and open one of Beijing/China’s many delivery apps. But all those delivery orders come at an environmental cost as well as a financial one, generating literal tonnes of plastic waste every year. Even if I probably won’t be deleting the Baidu Waimai app just yet, I’m going to try and limit myself to only ordering delivery at the weekend. Read about more ways to reduce the waste from your take-out orders here.
Photo: Wikimedia
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