Is Shanghai a food desert? Why?

Foodies know that every city has its own unique food culture and flavor, and some cities even enjoy the reputation of "food capital". But there are also some cities where the variety and quality of food is so unsatisfactory that they can be called food deserts. So, in my mind, which city is the culinary desert?

I think Shanghai is the real food desert. There may be some people who question this conclusion, after all, Shanghai is famous for its sea food and all kinds of gourmet snacks. But I would argue that compared to the cuisine of other cities, Shanghai's variety and quality always seems to be slightly too thin to be satisfactory. First of all, let's take a look at Shanghai's mainstream cuisine - Hai Pai Cuisine. This cuisine occupies a major share of Shanghai's food market, but it is for this reason that the variety of Shanghai's cuisine is relatively homogenous. Whether it's an old or a newly opened small restaurant, most of the dishes are based on the traditional haipai craftsmanship with little variation. Compared with the Lu, Sichuan, Cantonese and Hunan cuisines of other cities, the flavors of Haiku cuisine are not as diverse, making it difficult to pick out unforgettable culinary delights.

Secondly, Shanghai's snacks, though diverse, are of varying quality. As a city rich in food culture, Shanghai has countless famous snacks, from the famous xiao long bao and glutinous rice chicken, to the big stalls, vegetables and rice congee, fried ghosts and so on. However, with the increasing degree of commercialization, many snack stores, in order to meet the market demand, do not hesitate to use poor quality raw materials, and even add some unhealthy seasonings, in order to highlight its unique flavor. This not only affects the flavor of the snacks, but also may put people's health at risk.

Finally, although there are many restaurants in Shanghai, most of them are luxury brands. Compared with teahouses and restaurants where local cuisines such as Sichuan and Cantonese are conventionally served, most of Shanghai's upscale restaurants are Western-style, which are expensive and not easily affordable for ordinary people. It is difficult for Shanghainese to experience their city's culinary culture without pursuing luxurious pleasures. Overall, Shanghai as a globalized city, because of the rendering of the Western food culture, and the local food culture ounces have not been effectively protected, in terms of taste and cultural precipitation is not outstanding advantage.

Thus, in my mind, Shanghai is a culinary desert. Of course, Shanghai has a long way to go, and I'm sure that in the future there will be more new varieties of food, or more restaurants offering delicious and affordable food to the public. But the reality is that many profit-driven businesses are chasing short-term profits, Netflix and trends, while high-quality, healthy food isn't what they're after.

In summary, food is the cultural card of a city and an important symbol of its development. A real gastronomic desert does not mean that there is no food, but that there is no satisfactory food. Only by constantly improving the quality, maintaining good taste and cultural precipitation, can we make the food culture become more colorful and bring more satisfaction and support to people.