You just have to hand it to the Chinese.  They know how to get even in a good-old trade war.

Beijing is apparently less than thrilled over efforts in the upcoming budget bill that – because of safety concerns — might ban importation of some food products from China.

To retaliate, Chinese importers are refusing to import chicken feet from the U.S. And Chinese consumers sure do like American chicken feet. According to a U.S. House ag committee  researcher, China is the largest consumer of the scrawny, yellow claws. Last year, Chinese shoppers bought about 800 million pounds of the delicacies, she said.

For more of the dollars-and-cents intrigue and trade office shenanigans, here is a link to a really well done, fact-filled piece that Reuter’s reporter Bob Burgdorfer wrote this week,

But let’s get to the heart of the matter: Who really cares about chicken feet?  Well, my great-grandmother, for one. She used them in her chicken soup, which was rich, golden and loaded with flavor.

And if you wonder what the Chinese do with all those fowl feet, I offer you a link to the weird meat experts.

I’ve read this site several times and I can’t find a name to whom I can credit this interesting, culinary reportage. But here’s what he or she writes about the topic:

“Lots of Chinese restaurants, especially Cantonese dim sum ones, serve chicken feet as a popular small dish. Usually for brunch. They are prepared in different ways — from plain steamed, to fried with a slightly spicy black bean sauce.”