Beijing has roast duck, Hangzhou has Dongpo Pork, and other cities that have been criticized as "food deserts" also have their own famous delicacies, but they are still unfortunate to be on the list.

What foods are holding you back?

From the complaints of blockbusters, we found the "targets" in the Internet catering industry.

The traditional snacks from various places are the most criticized by netizens.

In food guides, these "hidden delicacies" often need to be found in dilapidated Syrian-style alleys, but they often make tourists from far away beat their chests and feet.

The snacks that people complain about are usually divided into two categories. One is "How could ×× do this" disqualified snacks, such as hot dry noodles without sesame sauce; the other is local food that is not well accepted by foreign tourists, such as

Old Beijing’s favorite bean juice and fried belly.

At which moment did you realize it was a "food desert"? By analyzing netizens' complaints about Beijing and Hangzhou, we can actually summarize everyone's complex emotions about "food deserts."

Taking Beijing as an example, people’s complaints about Beijing focus on certain foods, such as braised pork, roast duck, and noodles with soy sauce.

Although in the eyes of Beijing locals, these foods can be regarded as local representatives, in the eyes of outsiders with different tastes, these foods are not very convincing.

Media person Liu Chun also discussed Beijing snacks on Weibo from the perspective of an outsider.

In the comment area of ??that Weibo post, fried liver, preserved fruits, pea yellow and other foods have become the targets of criticism.

(Source: Weibo) Taking Hangzhou as an example, people’s criticism of “Hangzhou cuisine” focuses on their lack of understanding of the taste of the cuisine.

For example, words such as Hangzhou cuisine, lightness, sweet and sour are relatively popular, and you can see some pornographic remarks such as "I don't want to lose weight, but Hangzhou is really unpalatable" and "Sweet and sour food"

How can I swallow it?"

Sure enough, the reasons for being fat in this world are all the same, but there are countless versions of the reasons for being thin.

It's just that being forced to starve to lose weight seems particularly miserable.

Judging from the comments of netizens, when they came all the way to Hangzhou, they found that the more popular the place, the harder it is to get good food.

Because everyone has mentioned many times the queue for the time-honored New White Deer Restaurant, and the lakeside scene where you can take street photos every three steps.

This kind of description full of scene makes people feel a little uncomfortable.

Moreover, among the keywords in Beijing and Hangzhou, we also found the scene of “takeout”.

The term "food desert" is actually not only an evaluation of a city by foreign tourists, but also the deep sorrow of people who live in this city every day.

Migrant workers whose bodies are drained by work every day always want to replenish their blood with a delicious meal.

But whether it’s the tangled meal selection process or the meal that’s not delicious in the end, it’s inevitable that people feel that the food in this city is really not friendly enough to the people living here.

This has also resulted in all vacations becoming a reason for them to travel or go home to explore delicious food.

The life far away is called life, and the life close at hand is just working.

In the comment area, we also found many local residents who fiercely criticized a city.

"I have no desire for life anymore" "The takeout I order most is salad" "Takeout is the IQ tax"... The disappointment a city brings to people is probably the most painful feeling of life written in the most understatement.

We can also read everyone’s expectations for food and the contrast that reality brings to them.

When young people are attracted to a city by a beautiful promotional video, they find that it cannot satisfy their simplest desire for food, so they can only call the city a "food desert". This is their most helpless cry.

What are the criteria for judging a “food desert”?

In fact, in the process of everyone discussing "food deserts", we also discovered a new problem - everyone has different definitions of food deserts.

Media scholar Lou Jian is a native of Hangzhou who has settled in Beijing. According to our selection above, he has been living in the "desert" for decades.

But he raised a question - when people talk about food deserts, are they talking about local food, or food that can be eaten locally?

Such contradictions are more obvious in the two big cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

In this food desert selection, Shanghai ranked 4th.

When everyone praises the city’s food culture, French, Italian, Japanese and Korean food are the best choices.

However, in Weibo posts complaining about Shanghai, local dishes and xiaolongbao are also the targets of criticism.

Why is Beijing, which has so many excellent restaurants in Beijing, still ranked first as a food desert in the selection?

Another point of conflict when discussing food deserts is the price of cuisine.

In posts discussing Hangzhou food (the really delicious kind), many people mentioned Jinsha Restaurant, a high-end restaurant with an average price of 743 yuan per person.

Wang Xuanyi, the author of "State Banquet and Family Banquet", was born in a Zhejiang aristocratic family.

In her impression, Hangzhou cuisine is graceful, and its value lies more in showing the sincerity of the owner.