Comparisons of Eating Culture

AcknowledgementsAt the point of finishing this thesis, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to all those who have lent me hands in the course of my writing this these.First of all, I would like to thank for Hao Xiaodong, my thesis guide teacher.He has led me through all the stage of the writing of this these. Without his guidance and patient help, I could not reach its present form.Secondly, I’d like to express my gratitude to my classmates who offered me references and information on time.Last but not the least, I’d like to thank those leaders, teachers and working staff especially those in the School of Foreign Languages. Without their help, it would be much harder for me to finish my study and this thesis.AbstractEating is the foundation for the subsistence and development of human beings. However different countries have different cultural backgrounds and this thesis explores the differences between Chinese and Western eating culture. Different countries have their own different dietetic cultural. In different culture contexts, in concept, tableware, cooking ways and so on, these differences are obvious. But as the communication and integration of the international, Chinese and Western eating culture will be developed in common communicate. This will make the communication of the culture in the world have a great development. This paper will mainly discuss the differences of eating culture from the abstract aspect and the differences of eating culture from the concrete- the differences in concepts and nature, the differences in diet objects, cooking way, table ware, table manner and dietary patterns. After the comparison the thesis will illustrate the reason for the comparison. Thus better understanding of eating culture can be realized.Key words: Diet；Differences；Culture；Communication摘要饮食是人类生存和发展的基础，然而不同的国家有不同的文化背景,该论文正是探索中西方饮食文化的差异，不同的国家有它们自己的饮食文化，在不同的背景下，在观点，餐具，烹饪方法等，这些差异都十分明显。

但作为交流和国际一体化,中西饮食文化将会在共同的交流中发展，这将使世界文化交流在有一个很大的发展。

关键词：饮食；不同；文化；交流IntroductionAs our human beings, eating is very necessary. In the very early time, eating is just one of the basic forms of social time. However, under the different culture background, having different eating idea and eating custom, then finally form the different eating culture.As one of the world ancient nations, China’s diet has a history almost as long as that of Chinese civilization. But in western countries, people pay less attention to the food problem than the Chinese did, and there is even not aware of it to the “heaven”degree.Receiving the influence of respective cultural tradition, the Chinese and western dietary culture has had different characteristic. The differences in concepts, targets, patterns, attribution and nature had reflected the different dietary in the different state characteristic; such characteristic has enriched the research value of dietary culture. Studying these cultural differences, we can find out a joint enhancing the communication between China and the west through a comprehensive study of the subject. It may be a great help to the communication of the Chinese and western culture.What’s more, when people are communicating under the different culture background, and eating culture is an important part in the intercultural communication. Understand the differences between Chinese and western eating culture and its origin, for foreign language learners, not only increase the understanding of the target language culture but also improve the success rate of intercultural communication.1.Differences of Eating Culture from the Abstract AspectWhen we compare the two different kinds of eating culture, we can consider the differences in two parts; one is the abstract aspect, and about the abstract aspect, it separated in two parts: eating concept and eating nature.1.1Differences in ConceptsIn the west, when people talk about food or eating, they usually care about the intake of calories, vitamins, protein and so on during a day. Comparing with the Chinese diet, western diet tastes stereotyped, as simple as chewing the candle, but the sense tells them: We must eat them all because we need different kinds of nutrition. So, in the west, about the concepts of eating, people pay more attention to the reason, maybe the food is not delicious, and even unpalatable, but the reason forced them have to eat them all, because they are full of nutrition, on other words, west people know what their bodies need, so they don’t care about what they eat.On the other side, because many west people are busy working, so they have little time to cook, when it is dinner time, they only eat something to fight hunger. They ignore the color or taste of food because their aim to eat is not to be hungry. While in China, people pay great attention to the color, smelling and taste. Chinese people think that when eating something, the dish should be smelled well at first, because when you smell the food good, so you will have the appetite to have a taste. Then before you eat, the dish should be looked very nice. Many Chinese dishes looked rather like a work of art than a dish, Chinese cooks some times work as artists, they can carve vegetables to hills or animals. So sometimes a Chinese dish looked like a vivid painting. At last, when put the food into mouth, the taste should be very good. When eating a Chinese dish the enjoyable is from visual sense, smelling and tastesense.It is quit much more enjoyable than west food, but maybe west food is healthier.Hundreds years ago Chinese people pay much attention to the feeling of the tone when eating food, but now, people from most west countries still think food could make people get energy and nutrition is OK.1.2Differences in the NatureDifferences in the nature of the Chinese and western diet are inosculated with the respective lifestyle and the pace of life. In the west, people do the duplication of pipeline operations, and implement piece-wage system, so the paces of their lives are so fast. People fall under the mechanical method either intentionally or unintentionally, and believe that "Work is work, and game is game." Mechanical lives led to oneness of diet or a single blind about diet, and eat beefsteak and potatoes every day. Monotonous diet is the same as work, for which the purposes is to fulfill the "incident", naturally with no interests, and all these have no word in terms of taste. But China is not, "The game is work, and the work is of a game”.Such life manner is also emerged in diet. A baker sells bread in the street, he likes using the rolling pole to beat the chopping board rhythmically when they knead flour. When the cooks fry a dish, even beating scoop, they also care the sense of rhythm during cooking. These would not work for any conveniences, but it increases the interests of workers. Only in such an atmosphere work will be meaningful, and it will have more creativity and artistry of Chinese cuisine.There still exist various differences between Chinese and western dietary cultures. But with the development of cultural communication between China and the west, along with the strengthening of communication between China and the west, China has imported various kinds of western food, known as the "KFC" "DICOS", "McDonald". This marks a new western dietary culture exchanges and infiltration.We believe that with the development of society, the cultural differences between Chinese and western dietary will no longer be the difference.2. Differences of Eating Culture from the Concrete2.1 Differences in Diet ObjectsAll diet cannot be done without vegetables, especially in China, there are 600 varieties of vegetables, six times more than in the west. In the ancient times, the Chinese dishes, vegetable dish is usual food. Meat dish entered the normal diet only on holidays or higher living standards. About the reason why Chinese people consider the vegetables as the main dish; it has inextricably linked with the advocacy of Buddhists. They regard animals as human beings and Chinese people think plants have no soul. So, they advocate vegetarianism. But now, as the development of society, Chinese people eat all the things that can be eaten, even some usual material such as animal’s splanchna, insect, flowers and so on which west people think that is amazing.But westerners regard meat as their main food. Because very long ago, almost of the ancestors of westerners are hunters or fishmen, they hunt wild lives in the forests and get fishes from the ocean or rivers. And what’s more, at that time, they don’t know how to grow different vegetables and they are nomads, so they can not wait the vegetables grow up. So, thousands years later their later generations still like eat meat more than vegetables.West people always feel that their diet is more reasonable on the mix of nutrition than China. The food industry is more developed, such as cans, fast food, although the taste is monotonous, but it saves time, and it also has good nutrition. Therefore, in their countries: people are generally healthier and taller than Chinese, and the people have strong shoulders and developed muscles; but Chinese people look short, their shoulders narrow and legs thin, their skin yellow and their body weak. Thedifferences between Chinese and western food for Westerners to judge the merits of the two diet is not justified. Mr. Sun Yat-sen had profound study of the culture of food and incisive exposition. In his composing The Scheme for National Reconstruction, detailing the differences between Chinese and Western diet phenomenon, he concludes: "Chinese ordinary people drink green tea, and eat simple food such as vegetables and tofu for meal. Such kinds of food are the most healthy and beneficial according to the research of hygienist. Therefore, the remote people in china, whose diet are far from meat and wine, always live a long life. Also China has a big population, and Chinese people have enormous power to resist disease, but they never try the non-diet. “He added:" The Chinese vegetarians all eat tofu. Tofu is expected as the real meat in plants, as it has the nutrition that meat has. It is the meat without toxic materials. So the Chinese are vegetarian used to be a custom without the promotion of scholars. It is also a custom that the European and American drink thick Wine, eat meat and fish. So there was science promotion before and a severe law later, such as the United States Prohibition. And the transfer will not carry out in a short time. "Mr. Sun’s words tell out the scientific benefits of Chinese diet and disadvantages of Western diet.2.2 Differences in Cooking WayWhen talking about the cooking way, Chinese people always say they can use all the different kinds of way which you can think out to cook food. In China, people can cook food in countless ways such as steam, boil, fry, stir-fry, roast and so on. And Chinese cooks like to mix many different kinds of material together and what is the unbelievable is that Chinese cooks can even cook a dish into other dish’s flavor, for example, cooks cook the pork into the fish flavor, and this is how fish-flavored pork comes.Because of Chinese dishes pay much more attention to the taste, so when Chinese people cook food, they would like to use all the methods to cook the foodwhich they want to eat.When west people cook food, they could hardly mix different kinds of food together, they often put little seasoning during their cooking. When the cooking, fish is fish, chicken is chicken, there is not a dish is that this kind of food with another food’s flavor.And west food is lightly in seasoned when compared with Chinese dishes, when they cook vegetables, they usually like to cook it into salad, because they think it is full of nutrition and cook it into salad can save much time. West people would never take much time on cooking food, they think the shorter time on cooking food, the better, and so this is why west people cook food in fewer ways than Chinese people do.And there is another reason why they have fewer ways in cooking: because they don’t pay attention to the taste, they only pay attention to how to keep the nutrition of the food, so they even would like not to use deep fry to cook food in home cooking.2.3 Differences in TablewareAs everybody knows west people use knives and forks to cutting food and Chinese people use chopsticks to carry food, this fact is not the accidental phenomena, it has the historic reason.Chinese people take the farming as the principle thing, in this kind of environment, they choose millet as their main food, and they tend to live and work in peace, and chopsticks can hold food lightly, this fact is suit for the meaning of peace.There is also another reason for why Chinese people use chopsticks: chopsticks was made of bamboo, and China just is the origin place of bamboo, so China is never lack of the material that is use to make chopsticks.But most west nations, their ancestors are almost hunting peoples, their living environment is very cruel, they have to fight with different wild animals for food, sothey have the spirit of risk, and they regard meat as their main food, and when they eat meat they also like use knives to cut.The two opposite culture also react in eating culture, especially in the difference of tableware. Chinese people use chopsticks to hold food, that’s seem to treat food lightly, while when west people use knives to cut food and use forks to get the food, that content the slaughter more or less.2.4 Differences in Table MannersChinese and Western food is quite different from the way that such differences also have an impact on the national character. In China, any of the feast, whatever the purpose, there will be only one form, that is we were sitting around, sharing one seat. The banquet must use the round table, this formally has created one kind of unity, politeness, altogether the interest atmosphere. The delicacy delicacies put on table of people’s centers, it not only is the object which table of people appreciates, tastes, also is a table of people sentiments exchange intermedium. People propose a toast of each other for food, vegetables, in the face of good things, reflects the mutual respect between people, the virtues of comity.Westerners prefer to be free and they do not like waiters serving them. They can choose whatever they want to eat by themselves. After serving up, people eat the entire various one and their random add spices, the second course dish eat after eating, before and after the two never mixed vegetables to eat. The most popular form of buffet in western is individual eating, incompatible interference, and lack of the emotional appeal for chat with each other.In the western-style banquets, food and wine are very important, but in fact it is setoff. The core banquet in friendship of party is compared with dance, then it can be said that Chinese banquet is like collective dance, and western banquet is like dancing between women and men. Therefore, the purpose of companionship is obvious between Chinese banquet and western banquet, only Chinese banquet more reflectedin all guest, and western banquet more reflected the friendship between adjacent guests. And Chinese food is more obvious differences between them were western popular buffet. This method is: we need display all the food, should not fixed in his seat to eat, you can walk freedom, this method in favor of the emotional communicated between individuals, not speak all the words on the table, this also showed respect for the personality and self.2.5Differences in Dietary PatternsThe Chinese and Western dietary patterns can be very different, and these differences affect the national character. In China, a celebration, no matter what, there will be only one way, as sitting together, sharing one feast. Banquet uses round table, which has created a unity of form, which is courtesy, comity atmosphere. Cate are in the center of the table. It is the objects for people to appreciate and taste, and it is also an intermediate of communication. People toast each other and share the vegetables, which reflect the mutual respect between people in the face of the good things, also show the virtues of comity. Although from the health point of view, this approach has obvious deficiencies, but it is in our national "happy" mentality, it reflects the classical Chinese philosophy area of "and" impact for future generations. It is helpful to facilitate the collective emotional exchanges and consequently difficult to reform. The western-style banquets, although the food and wine are very important, but in fact they are just foil. The core of Banquet is friendship, by the conversation with the guests who sitting next to achieve the purpose of recreation. If making an analogous compare between the recreation of the banquets and dancing, it may be said that the Chinese banquet is like group dance, and the western banquet is like men and women dancing. This shows that communication purpose of Chinese banquet and western banquet are very obvious. Only the Chinese banquet is more popular in theCommunion, but western banquet shows guests reflected in the friendship between neighbors.The more obvious differences between Chinese and western dietary patterns is buffet dinner which is popular in the West. This method is to display all food, and everybody is picking not fixed in his or her places to eat. They walk freely. This approach would provide the emotional interaction between individuals; they never need to put every word on the table. This also shows a western personality and self-respect. However, all the eating without jamming lacks the real affective tone like the Chinese people. Some people want to put the buffet in the Chinese food, but I think it is not feasible. The writer of the Principles of Cooking tells us the main reason: "First, buffet is not like drinking tea. Drinking tea is just the thing to you before you choose, and displayed in the cafeteria there is a large number of food to eat, so when you want to have it, it is cold yet. Chinese cuisine will serve hot, if cold, nothing to eat. Secondly, buffet dishes only can do hard dishes and beneficial dishes. Then you can access for large plots. And those most representative of the Chinese culinary arts, such as the tender and lighter dishes, are not in this show. Third, the buffet can do stewing pot; it means a big pot in terms of food. Any sophisticated cooking of a dish can only be cooked in a pot at two most, and it is not able to cook the dish for dozens of people. So it will not be delicious, never talking of the taste. Under such circumstances, it is clear that the use of buffet dinner will deny Chinese culinary arts. "( Zhang Qijun,2000, p55) The Chinese people are drinking around the table to show harmony and unity, but the buffet has broken such pattern. It raises the personal independence and self-mentioned at the first place. This is the opposite of the scale of the great unity of all Chinese traditional culture.3. The Reasons for Understanding the Different Eating CultureWith the understanding of each other’s eating culture, the Chinese and the Western will comprehend the culture of each other more closely. For example, knowing the eating culture of the west, Chinese will get the answer why the Western having Western- style food with folks in their left hands and knifes in their right hands and why the Western are in favor of eating meat. Eating is the foundation for the subsistence and development of human beings. However different countries havedifferent cultural backgrounds, also eating habits and eating customs are also different in many ways.Chinese eating custom has a long history. It has developed a lot in thousands of years in China, and become precious cultural heritage of China. Also it had been famous in the world. Some western countries had been settled by other countries, so these countries were effected a lot in eating custom. They learned good from others’ and combined with their own eating habits. In this way, they came into their own eating customs.The different culture between China and western countries cause the difference in eating culture between them.The Chinese diet is more have the regional characteristics, different places have the different favorite food to eat. And the food diet of southerners is based on the plant, the residents have the habit of drinking soup and eat porridge, no matter if the food has been put on, they must be the first to eat soup, drink soup before eating a bit, after fond, they also have another bowl of soup to drink, this to be considered as eating a meal. And they mainly eat rice. The majority of western countries are in the open ocean environment of geography, they developed industry and seafaring, since the ancient Greece, they have valued the study of natural objects.At the same time, the marine environment, mountain tsunami, unrest, this all constitutes the personality of the western nation pay attention to the space expansion and military conquest. Followed the progress and development of the social, people have been get the basic meet in terms of food, they do not worried just because they have not enough food to eat, on the other hand, people are paying attention to the nutrition of diet food, and trying to convince themselves to eat more healthy, more nutrition. Knowing the eating culture of Chinese, the Western will understand the reason why Chinese eating with chopsticks, eating with only one bowl. The impact brought about by economic globalization is stronger and deeper than the internationalization. Chinese and western culture is in rapid confluence. It is eating culture, which plays an important role in the confluence.ConclusionThe cultural communication focus on how to assimilate advantages of the other countries’ culture, abandon its shortcoming, and learn how to transform and make it localized. The differences between Chinese and Western food dietetic culture is obvious, and they have their own strengths. We can still easily find that there exist various differences between Chinese and western eating cultures. Followed the economic globalization and the accelerated flow of information changes, Chinese and Western food culture will be continued integration in the collision, complement each other in the fusion. Chinese food now has begun focus on nutrition, health, the science of cooking, western food also begun to develop from the realm of Chinese food’s color, smell and taste. So in the face of the food cultural exchange, we should find each other's advantages and draw the mutual advantages. China is the country of a long history with an ancient culture, and enriching in cultural traditions. China's reform and opening up policy create the conditions on international relations and cultural exchanges. We need to use such an opportunity to absorb the excellent cultures from other countries. Chinese and Western food culture will develope in common communicate. 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