Let's get naked

　　The abuse of food additives in Chinese restaurants has made the Chinese dining industry notorious, and the excessive use of the likes of MSG (monosodium glutamate) and thickener have kept many diners from eating out. To promote a healthy diet, the concept of luopeng, literally "naked cooking," which means cooking with no food additives and only using original ingredients, has been introduced to the industry recently and has been growing in popularity.

This is not new to the West, where naked and organic food has been popular for a while. But China has been a bit slow on the uptake. Nevertheless, it is now here and here to stay. First articulated last July by the Beijing Easteat Culture Group, a media company with several dining magazines, and following a series of promotional campaigns, the concept has been embraced by over 130 restaurants nationwide, with about 40 restaurants in Beijing participating in the move.

Currently around 2,000 food additives can legally be used in food in China. These can counteract the goodness of the natural ingredients, warned nutritionist Alex Tian. For example, trans fatty acids, a cause of cardiovascular disease, can soak up all the calcium and vitamin C before it is absorbed by the body. "A lot of nutrients disappear due to improper ways of cooking and excessive food additives," he noted.

The economic benefit is the primary cause behind the adoption of additives, explained Hao Xingguang, executive chef of the Beijing branch of the Hebei-based Zhili Native Association, which joined the campaign last year and promises all its dishes are additive-free. For example, with minced pork meatballs, it takes about 20 minutes to make half a kilogram with the right consistency and elasticity if doing it the traditional way. Yet with elastin, it can be done within two to three minutes.

As a result of economic issues, although more reputed restaurants are willing to take part in the move, it is not easy to sell the idea to smaller restaurants, said Yuan Xiaofei from Beijing Easteat Culture Group. "The economic benefit is a big concern. It will take time for it to be accepted by both restaurant owners and customers," he said.

However, while it might be more time consuming and expensive, the practice of luopeng is not difficult. "Naked cooking is not new, but actually an old practice used by every household," commented Wu Chen, manager of the Food Research and Development Center of Beijing's Jin Ding Xuan restaurant. "Home cooking rarely uses harmful chemical additives. This is how traditional Chinese cooking is practiced."

The primary and most easy step is to use the freshest ingredients since they preserve the best flavor, suggested Wu. The adoption of fresh ingredients can actually help save cooking time, while ensuring flavors remain topnotch. For instance, when cooking stir-fried steak with Sichuan peppers and halite (rock salt), instead of marinating the beef, the dish can be made in minutes if the peppers and halite are fresh. With the addition of lime, the dish will taste good and the meat will remain tender.

Besides safety benefits, the advocacy of luopeng has also been seen as a way to preserve time-honored Chinese cooking skills, said Yang Zhijun, manager of the Shiji Longchu restaurant, which is also an advocate of the new concept. In authentic Chinese cooking, sophisticated cooks use the most natural ingredients to cook a dish to ensure the best flavor and freshness. Before they get down to their business, chefs are often required to examine the ingredients, to be well informed about their characteristics, and thus to make the most of the ingredients and their flavors. "Nowadays a lot of chefs are incapable of telling the exact characteristic of a certain ingredient," lamented Hao.

As some restaurants embrace the new trends and others do not, the customer is at a disadvantage. After all, it might be easy for an experienced chef to tell whether food additives have been used, but for diners it is not so straightforward. Chef Hao gave pointers for people. Patrons can visit the kitchen, since a lot of big restaurants have open kitchens, and see for themselves what ingredients are being used. Another clue is to look at the color of a dish. If a dish shows an extremely bright color, it is likely that artificial colors have been used.