Cantonese salted fish

It historically earned the nickname of the "poor man's food", as its extreme saltiness is useful in adding variety to the simpler rice-based dinners.

Shí-ròu (實肉) (firm fleshed) salted fish does not need to be fermented; it is prepared by seasoning followed by direct sun and wind drying.

A famous song named "Without the Two of Us" by Hong Kong popular singer George Lam has a line related to salted fish.

As salted fish is the symbolic dish of the poor, this line make the allusion that with love even a simple and humble life is enough.

Health and cancer associations classify the salted fish as a Group 1 Carcinogen,[1][2][3][13][14] including The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety itself.

[12] The epidemic of nasopharyngeal cancer is significantly higher in populations which consume large quantities of the salted fish, which, in descending order are: China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Malaysia.

[15] Because of the abnormally high prevalence in Southern China, with Guandong province and Hong Kong reporting some of the highest incidences in the world, it has been called "The Cantonese Cancer.

"[16][17][18] In 1967, Ho presented evidence that the Tankas, who consumed the dish daily, had twice the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer, compared with the Cantonese population in Hong Kong.

[4] It is unclear whether after all the research whether the public, Chinese, or Cantonese cultural sentiment has changed toward this dish, though people have become more aware of the problem over time.