A Short History of Gluttony In Shanghai

by Bill Savadove

Gluttony has a weighty presence in the history of Shanghai, where East met West as Chinese merchants and foreign settlers brought their home cooking to the city after the late 1800s, when the port opened wider to the outside world.

In 1929, the Sunday breakfast menu at the luxury Palace Hotel offered fruit salad and stewed prunes to start; four kinds of cereal; boiled, fried, scrambled and poached eggs; three kinds of omelets; potatoes cooked three ways; five proteins including fried fish, ham, bacon, minced beef, and a breakfast lamb chop; ending with French brioche pastry spread with honey or orange marmalade. Beverages were tea, coffee, or cocoa.