(source)-Thirty-five restaurants across China, including a popular Beijing hot pot chain, have been found illegally using opium poppies as seasoning, one of the more unusual practices bedeviling the country's food regulators.
Five restaurants are being prosecuted while 30 others, ranging from Shanghai dumpling joints to noodle shops in southwestern Chongqing, are under investigation, said the China Food and Drug Administration.
Cases of cooks sprinkling ground poppy powder, which contains low amounts of opiates like morphine and codeine, in soup and seafood are not new in China, though it is unclear whether they can effectively hook a customer or deliver a noticeable buzz.
Shaanxi provincial police busted a noodle seller in 2014 after being tipped off by a failed drug test. Seven restaurants were closed in Ningxia province in 2012 for using the additive and Guizhou province shut down 215 restaurants in 2004.
Before anyone gets up in arms about this, the big question is which customers were getting the poppy-laced hot and sour soup? Because if it was just random patrons looking for a nice meal, then you can get a little upset. Not too, upset, though. It is China, after all, so there's opium in everything.
But if the customers were going down to the basement to take part in the high-stakes games of baccarat and mahjong, then I'd be suspicious if they didn't get some opium in their sweet and sour dog pork. It's been a while since I've delved into the dark and dangerous underworld of Chinese-restaurant gambling, but I know that the people that run those joints won't just let anyone join. They need to know who they're playing with. If you're getting food at the same place you plan on playing baccarat, I would probably assume you're a relative n00b, so the old masters need to weed out the weak and unreliable. The best way to get someone's true colors to shine is to get them high on opium. I think that's in Confucius's teachings somewhere.
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