饮食文化

我国悠久的历史、广袤的国土、与世界各国和海外文化的广泛接触，孕育了中餐烹饪的独特艺术。几千年的推陈出新和不断累积，使中餐受到越来越多的海外人士的青睐，成立我国对外文化交流的友好使者。

China’s long history, vast territory and extensive contact with other nations and cultures have given birth to the distinctive Chinese culinary art. With several thousand years of creative and accumulative efforts, the Chinese cuisine has become increasingly popular among more and more overseas gourmets, virtually functioning as an envoy of friendship in China's cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

现代中国已享有“烹饪王国”之美誉，精致的烹调艺术盛行全球，中餐烹饪已名列世界顶尖菜系之林。中餐烹调所用的天然配料，品种繁多，几无穷尽；烹调方法，层出不穷，不可悉数。这些无以伦比的中餐烹饪特点，足以说明了中餐馆以及中餐烹调之所以名扬海外的缘由。

Modern China enjoys a worldwide reputation as the “kingdom of cuisine”. The exquisite Chinese culinary art, regarded indisputably as one of the w orld’s finest culinary traditions, has prevailed all over the world. The nearly endless variety of natural ingredients and methods of preparation employed in Chinese cuisine stand out unequaled in the world, which may very well account for the universal popularity of Chinese restaurants and Chinese cooking overseas.

评判中餐烹调的优势可依据中餐的三大要素，即“色、香、味”。“色”作为“色、香、味”三要素中的首要标准，充分体现在宴会菜肴的装盘、摆放和图案上。最能显示色彩的是首先上桌的那道煞费苦心而精心制作的冷盘。“香”不仅是指鼻子对食物的直接感受，它还包括所选原料的新鲜程度以及佐料的合理调配。“味”则体现了恰到好处的调味艺术，当然它还包括实物的质地，以及切菜单刀工。色、香、味这三大要素的高品质，只有通过选料、调料、适时烹调、把握火候、装盘上桌这些微妙步骤的细心协调，才能取得。

The three essential fa ctors, or key elements, by which Chinese cooking is judged are known as “color, aroma and taste”. The color of Chinese food, the first of these elements which is so evident in a Chinese banquet, includes the layout and design of dishes, best exemplified in particular by the large elaborately-prepared cold dish served at the beginning of the dinner. Aroma implies more than what one’s nose can detect directly; it also includes the freshness of the raw materials used and the blending of seasonings. Taste is the art of proper seasoning, though it also involves the texture of food and fine slicing techniques. These three essential elements, color, aroma and taste, are achieved by the careful coordination of a series of delicate activities: selecting ingredients, mixing flavors, timing the cooking, controlling the heat and finally, laying out the food on the plate for the table.

八人一桌的标准晚餐含四道冷盘、四道热炒，外加汤和米饭。外国宾客见之，常常惊叹不已，将其视为一次丰盛的晚宴。但在中国人眼里，以这种规格的晚餐招待宾客，只是一种起码的标准。准备10道分量适中的菜肴并不为过，即使献上16道菜，亦不足为奇。在中国，一桌标准宴席包括四至八个事先制作好的冷盘，八道现做的热炒、两道观赏性大菜（如全鱼、乳猪、全鸡等），此外还有汤、米饭和点心。晚宴结束前还有一道水果。来华访问的海外宾客应记住，赴宴不可贪吃，每道菜“浅尝可止”。从这个角度上来讲，中国宴席犹如西方国家的冷餐招待会。

Visitors to China are often surprised when a typical dinner for a table of eight people consists of four courses of cold dishes, four courses of hot dishes, coupled with soup and steamed rice; they consider this a lavish spread. But in the Chinese mind, a dinner prepared as above for guests is the minimum requirement. Ten courses of dishes, not necessarily prepared in huge quantities, would not be considered excessive, and few people would blink at sixteen. A standard banquet will consist of four to eight prepared cold dished,