The other day at work a Chinese colleague of mine headed into the kitchen, put something in the microwave and went back to her desk. As my stomach was rumbling of hunger I decided to check out her snack, and maybe see if I could have a bite too. That was, until I looked into the microwave and saw a… banana!
I was so stunned that I went over to her desk:
-Hey Lil, are you heating a banana in the microwave?!
(Sure, I’ve heard of oven baked bananas but not microwave baked ones!)
-Yeah!
-Eh… why?
-Because I cannot eat cold stuff.
-Eh… was the banana frozen or something?
-No, but it had been in the fridge so it was cold.
-But, like.. is it healthy to heat a banana in the microwave? Won’t it get all soggy and stuff? (To tell you the truth I know very little about how bananas react to microwave heat. I don’t eat bananas as I don’t like the taste of it).
-I don’t know?! Will it?!
A look of horror spread over Lils face. And then sighed and said:
-Thing is, I don’t know what to do. My body temperature is so low. I’m cold all the time. So I have to heat things up.
-To raise your body temperature?! I said.
-No… but if I eat things that are cold I get a diarrhoea.
-Oh…. right then. Well… Keep heating your bananas!
Later the same day I was in the kitchen, pealing an apple, when another colleague, Soph, sitting next to Lil (so she had overheard our banana conversation) came in to do the same thing as me. Once I had finished I left the kitchen, but on the way out I noticed the microwave door was open so I closed it, and when I did the microwave turned itself on, as the timer had not fully gone down.
-Whoops, I said, and turned the timer down to zero so that the microwave went off.
Soph watched me with a bemused expression on her face, and two minutes later she and Lil were in my room:
-So Jonna… you heat your apples in the microwave?!!!
-Ehhhh….
-That’s so funny, do you also get a diarrhoea if you eat cold apples?! Lil said.
-Ehum… sure. Right.
Sometimes it’s easier to play along than to try and explain.
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6 comments:
hahaha. that's absolutely
funny. If she has a cold body constitution, she should be having hot foods... not heating fruits in micro waves cos you're gonna get more radiation in your body!
she can also increase her body temp by having a jog early in the morning or do some bit of exercises. Yoga is good for raising body temperature in winter.
Well, cooked bananas are fine, like deep fried in batter (banana fritter). What's weird is her completely crazy misconception that NOT heating a banana will give her diarrhoea. Chinese have so many of these silly ideas that are not based on anything scientific.
Any why on earth was the banana in the fridge in the first place? If you can't eat cold stuff why would you cool it in the fridge?
lovely story~~~
i think is Chinese not willing to have something in cold... this is the habit.
Funny story!
At least she is not heating any canned food.
Low body temperature is usually sign of ill-health, maybe she should become your gym buddy and do hot yoga together.
That should keep her warm alright.
I think Chinese people will microwave anything, only this week one Chinese friend gave me microwave potatoes (not chips, actual potatoes) as a snack.
I thought it was pretty weird.. but not as weird as the banana microwaving..
Chinese medicine has a fixation with "body heat" and "body temperature".
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