The tender, newly emerging shoots of bamboo have been an important and treasured forest vegetable in Asia for thousands of years. Dried, pickled, fermented and used fresh in season, stir-fried, steamed, stewed and used in curries, bamboo is eaten in China, Korea, Japan, throughout South East Asia and in all of South Asia. In its canned form, it should be bought as whole shoots, for two reasons: First, you can see that it is small, tender shoots that you are buying, not slices or strips of larger, more fibrous ones, and second, you know that you are not purchasing product from which the bad bits have been trimmed. Bamboo shoots take on a peculiar tinned smell when canned; freshen them by blanching and shocking them in cold water, then cut them in slices or strips as desired.