Cuisine Festival@ Shanghai Exhibition Center
Get your grub on at this huge festival dedicated to FOOD (and drink). On November 7 and 8, the World Events Agency, a trade show company based in China for 5 years, is holding the Cuisine Festival. The show features an impressive list of Shanghai’s top restaurants and suppliers running from Bastiaan Bakery and Cantina Agave, through Exit Bar and Grand Hyatt, down to Sherpa’s and South Beauty.
1000 Yan'an Zhong Lu, Jing An near Tongren Lu. 延安中路1000号, 近铜仁路. Get tickets at http://www.thecuisinefestival.com. 8am -9pm.

Search for Creative City (寻城记) with NeochaEDGE and KIC
NeochaEDGE is collaborating with Knowledge & Innovation Community (KIC) to organize 4 weekends of Chinese creativity and fun as part of the Search for Creative City (寻城记) event series. 16 of Shanghai’s most interesting creative groups will exhibit, perform, host games, and sell products, 7 of Shanghai’s most prolific graffiti artists will perform daily live-art, and there will also be a 50-stall flea market and daily musical performances by Chinese bands. And it all ends this Saturday.
KIC Plaza (234 Songhu Rd., Yangpu District, near Wu Jiao Chang / Fudan University) 凇沪路234号，创智天地广场 (近五角场), starts 2pm

Morning Tears Charity Party at Bell Cafe & Bar
You probably have found yourself in Taikang lu on lazy Saturday afternoons anyway, so you might as well go this weekend and actually contribute to a charity too. At Bell Bar, any drink profits will directly be going to the charity Morning Tears, which works with orphans, abused, neglected and street children and children whose parents are in prison.
Bell Cafe & Bar, No. 11 Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu 泰康路248弄11号 近近思南路, Noon-5pm.

SUNDAY

Body in Circumstance@ 1918 ArtSPACE
A joint exhibition with German artist Judith Sturm and Hangzhou-born artist Lu Yi, featuring a common subject: paintings of people in summer outfits. Sturm focuses on close-ups of the female bodies, while Lu captures summer beach scenes.
1/F, 6 Xiangshan Lu, by Sinan Lu. 香山路6号楼1层，近思南路.
1918 ArtSPACE Warehouse, 78 Changping Lu, by Xi Suzhou Lu. 昌平路78号, 近西苏州路.

ELIOT LIPP Workshop@ The Lab
On the Sunday following the ELIOT LIPP show at The Shelter, PAUSE and FREE the WAX will hold a free one-hour workshop with Lipp at The Lab. Get technical with synths and drum machines.
5F, 343 Jiaozhou Lu. Free BBQ! Starts 5pm.

Charity Carnival at Millennium HongQiao Hotel Shanghai
This annual charity carnival aims to raise money for children suffering from congenital heart disease (we talked to the organizers last week!). Magic and kung fu shows dominate the stage while vendors display a range of souvenirs and gifts. International food, a live auction, raffle draw, kids' corner and arts and crafts table round out the festivities.
Millennium Hongqiao, 2588 Yan An Xi Road上海市延安西路2588号, Free for children, RMB200 for two adults 10:30am-4:30pm.

Baobei Foundation Charity Clothes Sale
For more feel good happenings, head over to Gourmet Cafe to help raise money for the Baobei Foundation, a charity dedicated to providing medical care and foster homes for orphans bornw ith critical neurological and gasto-intestinal disorders. Lots of goodies, designer labels and latest fashion items will be on sale.
Gourmet Cafe, 1F Shanghai Center, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu. 南京西路1376号 上海商城1楼12pm to 5pm.

The Shanghai survey also showed that one third of the white collars in Pudong's Lujiazui area prefer burgers, fried chicken and pizza because they are fast and convenient.

"I'll eat hamburger or pizza when I am busy at work, even though they are not healthy, and usually cost much more than Chinese meals," said Shanghai's Jiang.

And Shanghai isn't the only place where this trend holds true. Foreign food is gaining popularity across the nation, particularly among Chinese youth and city residents. While this is old news for the likes of Shanghai and Beijing (which by itself has more than 5,000 foreign-food restaurants), the trend has been radiating out from metropolitan centers to the rest of China at an amazing rate.

Not only are the number of foreign restaurants in China high, but so are the prices of the food they serve. Foreign food, even in fast-food form, remains significantly more expensive than its Chinese counterpart. This, however, doesn't seem to stop many kids, urbanites, and (apparently) white-collar workers from pulling up a chair at the local McDonalds when hunger strikes.

ABC News writes:

Foreign food is fashionable, and rising urban incomes mean city slickers can afford it. "We have a saying," says Mr. Xu. "You eat Chinese food for its flavor, and Western food for its style."

Needless to say those KFC buckets are pretty stylish, but those who are just looking for an inexpensive meal can also turn to a different source for lunch. In order to provide reasonably priced lunch options to the masses, some local governments have begun ‘lunch projects’ (yes, like those in many public schools) to subsidize lunch costs for those employed by the area’s largest companies. One such program in Qingdao involves workers buying their lunches (at an average of 10 yuan, or $1.50) from ‘lunch vans’, which park outside of companies during their lunch breaks to dish out food to hungry employees. Lunch out of an ambiguous van- now that’s good eatin’.