‘Out of control’: woman in China spends US$38,000 on hotpot meals across China over 9-year period, shocking social media
- Woman piles on 13.5kg in weight by eating so much hotpot
- No interest in clothes or cosmetics, ‘my only hobby is eating’, she says
A hotpot-mad woman in China has spent a total of 270,000 yuan (US$38,000) to eat her favourite dish 627 times in more than 20 cities over the past nine years.
The hotpot devotee, surnamed Kong, has caused a splash on mainland social media after she revealed her addiction to getting her favourite hotpot meals from the famous mainland restaurant chain, Haidilao.
Kong, from Nanjing in the eastern province of Jiangsu, revealed her hopelessness for hotpot on a social media platform on November 17, the Yangtze Evening News reported.
“I don’t cook. I don’t have other hobbies and I am not interested in clothes or makeup like other girls. My only hobby is eating, especially eating Haidilao,” Kong was quoted as saying.
Haidilao is a household hotpot brand in China famous for its spicy Sichuan food and considerate service.
Kong, who is a manager at a bed and breakfast hotel, said she first sampled Haidilao hotpot about nine years ago after many recommendations.
“My initial impression was that its raw ingredients were fresh and the taste was super,” she said. “Since then, my affection for Haidilao has been out of control.”
The woman said she is not only fond of the restaurant’s food, but touched by its service.
She recalled a time when she went on a business trip to the northern province of Shanxi, a Haidilao outlet there agreed to let her sleep in the eatery because she needed to catch a flight the next morning, they even gave her a quilt and pillow.
Kong said she usually went to Haidilao outlets with friends, rather than with her family, because her relatives were concerned about the danger of eating so many hotpot meals.
She admitted her habit had caused her to put on 13.5kg in weight.
“I am aware that eating a lot of hotpot is likely to increase the level of lithic acid in our bodies, a cause of gout,” Kong said.
“My physical checkups have shown some indexes are not as good as they were before, so I will restrain my enthusiasm for hotpot a bit.”
Wang Yan, a doctor from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, wrote on the website baidu.com that diners should not eat hotpot more than once every one to two weeks.
“Eating hotpot too often will result in shang huo (a Chinese term referring to excessive internal heat),” she said, adding: “I suggest people consume a lot of vegetables when they eat hotpot.”
Kong’s addiction triggered a heated discussion on mainland social media.
“She is just flaunting her wealth,” one person said.
“I doubt it is an advertisement by Haidilao. An ordinary person couldn’t stand eating hotpot so frequently for nine years,” said another online observer.
