Bread for China

Let them eat shortcake

Western palates have long feasted on such Chinese dishes as Peking duck and dim sum. Now, at last, the Chinese will be able to sample such sometimes questionable Western delicacies as white bread, doughnuts and perhaps eventually shortcake. The People's Republic of China next summer will open an American-style demonstration bakery in Peking. The goal: to give the Chinese a quick Western alternative to time-consuming products like boiled rice and hand-shaped noodles.

The $1.5 million bakery has been under discussion since November 1978, when Chinese officials told visiting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland that they wanted to supplement their country's staples--rice, noodles and dumplings--with more convenient Western bakery products. Echoing the traditional complaint of the American housewife, the Chinese are concerned that workers spend too much time in the kitchen. Under an agreement reached last month, U.S. Wheat Associates will spend about $700,000 from grower contributions and Agriculture Department funds to equip the new Peking bakery.

Though introducing the Chinese to sliced bread might not improve the quality of China's cuisine, it is expected to help U.S. grain sales. Chinese imports of U.S. wheat, which totaled just 300,000 tons three years ago, could top 5 million tons this year. And if nearly 1 billion Chinese take a liking to hamburger buns or Danish, wheat exports could soar. The only problem may be that many people will complain that they are hungry again an hour after eating a jelly doughnut.

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