Salads are an integral part of Western dining experience. Raw vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and celery are staple foods of a Western diet. Americans often eat salad as a healthy lunch.

But, to Chinese diners, eating raw vegetables is the opposite of healthy; raw vegetables are seen as dirty and unsafe to eat. Cooking them, either by steaming, stir-frying or boiling (depending on the vegetable), makes them soft, hot and moist.., which, for the Chinese, is healthy and refreshing!

Therefore salads in China are only available at Western restaurants because nearly all Chinese consumers favor cooked vegetables.

(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)