Hot pot meals leave a foul smell
Print Edition
Food additives used in hot pots may leave a smell on clothing and hair for days, a chef at a hot pot restaurant in Hubei Province told a newspaper.
A peculiar smell is often left on the clothing and hair of hot pot diners due to the pungent odor produced by different seasonings that are boiled in the pot and poor ventilation in restaurants. The smell can linger for days if the clothes are not washed.
The chef surnamed Li told Chutian Gold Daily that the peculiar smell is caused by a variety of hot pot additives, flavoring agents and fragrance agents.
The additives are common and also used in regular dishes in restaurants to add flavor, the newspaper cited Li as saying.
Concentrated bone soup, one of the additives used by Li, can be purchased on Taobao.com for about 45 yuan (US$7.43). The powder can make about 100 liters of soup, according to the product description on the website.
Another additive used by Li is “hot and spicy balm,” which sells for around 58 yuan.
A product description says it can remove a variety of odors in food, and enhance the flavor and fragrance of a soup base, according to the report.
The product description of an oil-based hot pot fragrance said it’s made of oil extracts from natural spices, which will made the customers come back for more.
After an experiment run by the newspaper and Li, volunteers were asked to describe the difference between a traditional hot pot and one using mainly additives. All said the one using the additives had the best smell, according to the newspaper.
“The pot with all the additives will make you feel parched,” one volunteer was cited as saying.
Sun Baoguo, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of food science at Beijing Technology and Business University, said none of the additives are harmful to humans if chefs and restaurants use them properly.
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