中西飲食文化差異的餐桌禮儀對比

1、On the differe nces betwee n Chin ese and western food cultureChap triIntroduction Food is the most important material in maintaining our life and improvingthe quality of our bodies, and is basic for the developme nt as well. An old say ing goeslike this “ food is the heaven to the people” , which m

2、eans that food ranks the first in allour n eeds .we should eat and drink before we en gage ourselves in the course of politics, scienee, art, and religion act s all producing activities of human, especially food production become a basic con diti on of the whole history .Food is so fun dame ntal to

3、our life so that all the other aspects of our living are determined by it, built on it, and limited byit. Since the human being cook with fire for the first time and come to a civilian age ,t he food we eat has begun to be of cultural property .It is not a history of sub-human eat ing and drinking ,

4、but a history in which the huma n being conq uers the n ature, cha nge t he n ature, and get adapted to n ature to exist and develop .And in this historic process, t he human gradually formed its food culture .Food as a category of culture, helps us to understand every area of the oriental and occid

5、ental world .With Chinese entry to the world ,plenty of things which are fresh to us ,at once flock to our country .Among the m, of course , food culture of other n ati ons come into our too .Nowadays, many people out of curiosity ,taste difference sort of food of other countries .But few of them th

6、ese people really grasp the esse nce of the food culture. While the food of one place can refl ect its culture, so it is necessary for us to learn the differences between Chinese and we ster n food culture b5E2RGbCApChapter 2 Defin iti on of food cultureFood culture is an important part of human cul

7、ture .It has two definitions in broad sense and n arrow sensen the broad sen se, food culture has someth ing in com mon wi th cook ing culture, and it is con sidered as the coun terpart of the latter. Gen erally speaki ng, cooking culture refers to the total amount of material and spirit treasure wh

8、ich is cr eated and accumulated duri ng the long period of food producti on and processi on by the huma n being .It is about what food huma n makes, and how to make .It in cludes the fo od in gredie nt, cook ing tool, cook ing skill and so on. In the narrow sen se, food culture r efers to the sum-up

9、 of material and spirit treasure created and passed dow n in the long period of human eating the food product. It is about what human eat, and how to eat an d why eat such food etc. It includes the variety of food, the tool uses in eating, the cust oms of eating, and the service of eating act. In a

10、word, cooking culture come to birth in the course of food producti on and processi on .It is a product ion culture, while food cul ture in the narrow sense is a kind of consuming culture, which come to birth in the cour se of food consuming .The product ion and the consuming is tightly conn ected to

11、 each other. If there is no cooking culture, they will be no food culture .The first one is the pr emise of the latter. The latter is derived from the first one .Thus, we usually define foo d culture in broad sense that is the sum-up of cooking culture and eating cultureEanqFDPwChapter 3 The differe

12、 nces betwee n Chin ese and wester n food cultUDXDiTa9E3dChina has a long history of 5000 years, while the west has one of about six hun dred y ears .Chi na has a food culture that is colorful, profo und and excelle nt, while the west h as its own special culture. Now we d like to talk about the dif

13、ferences saetween thewo cultures from the followi ng aspects.RTCrPUDGiT3.1 the differe nee of idea about foodWhat Chin ese people care about is the delicious ness of food .They emphasize the idea of using some cooking skills to unite and harmonize the tastes of foods which have differe nt n atural p

14、roperties, Chin ese people value the similarity of differe nt thin gs. Accord ing to their traditi onal idea, they tend to seek the relati on ship betwe en two differe nt objects, and make them cha nge to each other. So they value the u nity of differe nt tastes and they always try to harm onize foo

15、d of differe nt n atural p roperties into one .For example , in Shandong dishes , pork and soybea n oil are int erdepe ndent and their comb in ati on can almost make all dishes be of fan tastic smel l of pork and color of soybea n .It thus make food of differe nt n atures get un ificati on. So we se

16、e, mediocrity is the theme of Chinese cooking culture. Since the west erners believe in separati on of the uni verse and huma n in their cultural spirit and t hinking model, emphasize the form and structure and value the clear ness, they for m a special idea about the food scie nee. The very idea is

17、 that ecological belief in s eparati on of the uni verse and huma n world, proper idea of bala need nu trie nt. In th eir opinion, one should choose his food only accord ing to his n eed as an in depe nd ent in dividual and the bala need requireme nt of all kinds of nu trie nts for each part of his

18、body. They con sider it is importa nt to make the proper match of food by the criteri on of variety and qua ntity. Through cook ing of the raw materials, they disp lay the nice taste of all kinds of materials .What they want is to meet the physiolo gical n eed of the body .For example, the taste of

19、crab lobster and sea fish live com pletely different, the westerners will definitely not mix the tastes of them when th ey prepare the dish with them5PCzVD7HxA3.2 The differe nces of cook ing skillThe so-called Chinese meditation of five flavors refers to the original taste of the f ood after heated

20、 and cooked, and the flavors of in gredie nts and con dime nts mix to gether and melt into each other and compleme nt each other. Chin ese people more ofte n tha n not add two or more con dime nts into the food and by this realize the pe rfect harm ony of the taste of the arterial and con dime nts.

21、The ultimate end of med itation is to cook delicious food. Therefore, Chinese people will surely add two or more kinds of in gredie nts and con dime nts to almost every dish they cook, eve n so me com mon home-made dishes, such as sliced meat, stir-fried with garlic bolts, w hile the same material a

22、nd ingredients are cooked in western way, the chef would probably slice the beef and tomatoes separately and put them in a plate with two p otatoes and four vegetable leaves without mixi ng with each other and thus affectin g the taste of each other. The westerners emphasize nutrition and balaneed i

23、n their diet, so they prepare their food accordi ng to scie ntific in structio ns strictly without any exception. The taste of the steak doesn t differ from New Yolrk to LosAngeand its other in gredie nts ,without any doubt are tomatoes, potatoes, and vegetableleaves .Moreover ,no rmalized cook ing

24、requires that the con dime nts should be ad ded precisely by gram ,and the len gth of time n eeds to be calculated by sec onds . BHrnAILg3.3 The differe nee of what food the people eatWe can enjoy the food culture , of which the premise condition is the food ,wit hout food, we are not able to cook a

25、nd eat and exsit.chi nese dishes are conn ected t ightly to vegetables .Ch in ese people eat various vegetables which are up to 600 ki nds in number, 6 times as many as the westerners do .As a matter of fact ,in Chine se diet ,vegetables is a rather com mon food .On ly in festivals or in the time wh

26、e n l ife con diti on is improved do they eat more meat .Due to this vegetaria n characteri stics in diet structure , Chinese people are sometimes regarded to be of plant chara cter, when this character is reflected in the culture , we can see that Chinese peopl e value reunion and they are attached

27、 to their hometow n and are not willi ng to lea ve. The wester ners are differe nt, they are desce ndant of no madic tribes and n aviga tion peoples in their cultural origin .their ancestor lived mainly by fishing, hunting and feedi ng domestic ani mals and sometimes also by collect ing and cultivat

28、i on. S o they ate more meat in their diet. Due to this, the westerners are con sidered by so me people to be of animal character. As a result, the westerners like to peruse indi viduality and like adventure and exploration. In the history of America .during the period of westward moveme nt, America

29、 ns packed their furniture and load them o n the truck and the n move away from their ling places to a new place without any hesitation. However, Chinese people miss their hometown all the time when they are abroad. Although it s advocated that the young should be able to settle down i n any place,

30、those Chin ese people who live overseas for several decades at the en d come back to their motherla nd .This ideology and spirit of retur ning to the birth place dose definitely have something to do with the essence of the Chinese food c ulture. It also stre ngthe ns the cohesive force of Chin ese p

31、eopXeAQX74jox3.3 The differe nce of table mannersIn china , any banq uet , no matter for what purpose , is held in the same way .That is , people sit around a round table eating and drinking , entertaining and talking.This creates a atmosphere of un ity and happ in ess and polite ness. Delicious dis

32、hes are put in the cen ter of the people and n aturally become the media by which peopl e excha nge their feeli ngs and emoti ons. They toast to each other in a manner of gr eat joy .Although accord ing to hygie ne sta ndard, this kind of table manners obvio usly has big defects, it accords with the

33、 com mon idea great union of Chin ese peop le .It also reflects the in flue nce of the classical philosophy has on the Chin ese des cendants. In the west, people have their dinner in a completely different way .Fro m the old time until now, they have never eaten food which is put in the same plat e

34、or bowl .Each of them has his own share of the food which is contained in his o wn plate .This displays the stro ng in dividuality of the westerners in their culture.They advocated in dividual idea, ask for in dividual freedom, try to realize in dividu al dream, with as little limited and constricti

35、on from the mass as possible. This kin d of thought poses great in flue nce on the wester ners daily diet. They emphasize t he in depe ndence of in dividual, so from the beg inning to the end they eat their ow n share of food .Even thought they also sitting around a table in dinner time, each of the

36、m has his own set of tableware, and his own share of dish. In this way they d o not interfere each other. It seems somewhat cheerless and cold, but it is very hea lthy and clea n. It is decided by on eself what he want to eat, how to eat, accord ing to his own n eed and love. The in dividual has the

37、 right to choose the food. For exa mple, when you go to a western restraint and ask for a share of steak, the cook ma y probably ask you questi ons like: would you like to roasted steak or fried steak., how long do you want your steak cooked etc.The cook will prepare the steak stric tly accordi ng t

38、o your requireme nt. Besides, con dime nts are usually put on the tabl es .It depe nds on the customers to decide whether to add some con dime nts or not.So does the beverage drink?drinkmuch or littlet s the customers own busiThe waiters and waitress will not in terrupt themLDAYtRyKfE3.5 The differe

39、nee of tablewareChopsticks and kni ves are the two most typical table wares of the East and the West, represe nti ng two kinds of differe nt wisdom. Chin ese table wares are quite simple and are ofte n used for several purposes. Chin ese people use fewer types of table wares, whi ch is also perhaps

40、in flue need by their idea of harm ony and un ificati on. Chopsticks are usually made from bamboo .hold a pair of chopsticks on hand and enjoy the dishes i t s not only economical but also convenient. Chopsticks can do almost what our hands can do ,so chopsticks are ofte n con sidered as stretched p

41、art of handsn the west ,peopl e ofte n use several typed of table wares for one purpose, which may also probably resuIt from the in flue nee of the idea of in dividualism. Among the tableware, kni ves and for ks are two kinds of table wares with very long history in the west .They play the same r ol

42、e dinning and they are always used together. One hand holds the knife, on the other h and hold the fork .cut the food with knife, and then put the food into the mouth with th e fork. This has become a daily habit of people when they are eating .Moreover, in a fo rmal banq uet several sets of kni ves

43、 and forks are used. That means, whe n they eat one dish, they use one set of kni ves and forks. Whe n they eat ano ther dish, they use ano therSetZzz6ZB2LtkChapter 4 how to properly view the differe nee of the food culture betwee n china and the weSdvzfvkwMIlChin ese people have begu n to eat Chin

44、ese food from their birth, so they may more or less feel tired of Chin ese diet. Since the ope n-up policy was carried out, all sorts of for eig n commodities flock into chi na ,western food especially the sn acks quickly inv ade Chinese food market .In most big cities ,the advertisement of Kentucky

45、 and McDonal d s are spreaded here and there .A lot of people flock onto the westerrtaura nts .Ma ny child and teenagers feel proud of eating hot dogs and hamburgeroung peoples ,to sh ow they are up with the fashi on , eve n hold their weddi ngs in some wester n restaura nts .The popularity of weste

46、rn food in china shows that many Chinese people blindly wor ship the western culture .In fact , in America Kentucky food like fried chickens and Mc Don ald s food like hamburger are con sidered by the n ative America ns as junk food .Al l these junk food are known to have more or less to with the ob

47、esity ,cardiovascular dis ease and diabetes ect. so what measure should we take whe n confron ted with the invas ion of the wester n food? As a Chin ese, we should accept and develop our own food cul ture. The moon in foreign countries is no more round than that in our country. Howeve r, nowadays th

48、ere are lots of people who feel proud of eating western food. What is wo rse, some of eve n deny Chin ese food culture. They eat hot dogs or fried chicke n, just to show their richness and nobleness, although these foods do not really agree with their own tastesn fact, everyth ing in the world has t

49、wo sides, good side and bad side. So w hen we view the differe nee of food culture betwee n chi na and the west, we should see both the good and bad side of each otheqyni4ZNxiFirstly ,we should choose our diet according to our need .Chinese people like sitting t ogether and eati ng the abundant dish

50、es, but with the tempo of the moder n society beco me faster and faster, it s far from efficient to eat the whole tableful of Chinese food during the extra work ing time. We can not deny the fact that the bread does great con tribut ion to the life of those people who are working around the clock. B

51、ut also should not fo rget the fact that bread can not take the place of delicious food no matter how convenie nt it is. And eating too much fried chicken is probably the cause of obesity though it ca n show your rich nessEmxvxotocoSecon dly, Chin ese people pursue delicious ness in cook ing the foo

52、d. During the proce ss frying the food in hot oil or cook it in low temperature for a long time, ofte n cause t he loss of nutrients which is contained in the raw material. So in the area of cooking sk ills, we Chinese should learn from the west. But Chinese people regard food as the hea ven and reg

53、ard the taste as the most importa nt, while the wester ners emphasize nu tritio n but pay less attention to the taste. They eat fresh vegetable such as tomatoes, cucumb ers. From the field cabbages and onions which may be picked right now. They do not cook these vegetables since they are afraid to d

54、amage the vitaminxE2yXPq5Thirdly, nowadays with Chinese people s living standard being gradually improved, their need for meat are by and by satisfied .As a result of this ,the phenomenon of exces sive nu triti on grow more and more com mon tha n before. Many people get differe nt kin ds of diseases

55、. Such as obesity and coronary disease, heart disease, because they have got too much meat while eat little vegetables. So considering this point, I think Chinese diet structure is more healthy .we eat a healthy vegetarian diet which is good for our b ody. Therefore, we should careful choose the rig

56、ht food to eafewMyirQFLFourthly, Chin ese people are used to hav ing dinner together and putt ing the dish in th e same plate, which does not always display an atmosphere of happ in ess whe n they hol d a banquet, eating doesn t matter too much. What is important to them is the face, so t he price,

57、the abundan ce, the quality of the food, this become the carrier of the host moti on and the symbol of hospitality. The more high-sta ndard the food is, the deeper th e friendship is displayed. No one wants to be thought of as stingy. There is little freedo m and ease in this kind of banquet. Chines

58、e people this habit, that is, this way of excha nging feelings. In my opinion, is also of little freedom. On the other hand, the westerne rs are used to hav ing the food in own plate. The food in his plate bel ongs to himself onl y. I thi nk this way displays in dividual freedom and is healthy, too.

59、 The wester ners like to go Dutch whe n they have dinner together in the restaura nt .This can avoid a lot of pr oblems such as the problem of face and mon eyvU42VRUsChapter 5 con clusi onThis thesis talks about only a small part of Chinese and western food culture. From t he argume nts above, we have eno ugh con fide nee to believe that these two kinds of foo d culture will go forwards hand in hand in the com muni cati on and excha nge of both si des.