中美饮食文化差异.doc

Cultural Differences between American and Chinese diets
Language is the carrier of culture, and food is an important factor of culture. So there is some positive meanings in the study of food culture for foreign language learners America is an important English-speaking country, so it helps the English learners in China a lot to learn something about the cultural differences in American food and Chinese food. Here, the writer compares the cultural differences between American and Chinese foods through daily diets, diet concept, dining etiquette and the reasons for the differences in food cultures.
One. Comparison between daily diets
(one) Chinese Daily Diet
The Chinese food is famous all over the world for the splendid cooking skills, careful procedures and great variety of cuisines, which is one important aspect of Chinese culture. In their daily life, the Chinese staple food is rice and wheat, with various dishes of meat, vegetables and sea food. In the cuisines, the Chinese food focuses on the balanced combination of meat and vegetables, and the texture, the flavor, the color and the taste of the food are all highly regarded. Cuisines vary with the time, location and people, and the harmony of different flavors is very important. There are many ways of cooking in Chinese cuisine, such as fry, deep fry, stew, steam, bake and so on. The Chinese pay great attention to the flavor of their food, using a large number of ingredients such as salt, sugar, vinegar, spice, chili and so on to make their food tastier. They also combine the basic ingredients into complex ones such as Chinese onion oil, pepper salt, sweet vinegar to further increase the vast amount of Chinese cuisines. In China, people usually have three meals a day, namely breakfast, lunch and dinner, each contains the staple food and the dishes. Usually the meals are had together with family members. Breakfast is simple, but lunch is the most important meal of the day of the Chinese. For lunch the Chinese usually have rice, or noodles, together with various vegetables and meat. Dinner is not so important in the Chinese culture. The Chinese people believe it is healthy to eat less and simple in the evening, so there is usually just some porridge and simple dishes for most people at dinner.
(Two) American Daily Diet
America is a typical immigrant country. Since Columbus’s discovery of the New Continent, the Europeans have long been immigrating to America. With them they brought their living habits and native cuisines to the new country, which helps to form the complicated and melted American food. You can find cuisines from almost all the countries all over the world in America, with even some very rare food from minority people from other continents. The American food is designed to be popular and convenient. It is simple, but suitable for a high-speed society. The Americans want their food to be fast, convenient and nutritious but not delicate or complex. One can’t help thinking of hot dogs, hamburgers and sandwiches when thinking of American food.
The Americans have their three meals of the day at similar time with the Chinese. For breakfast they usually have bread, cereal, milk, sausages and so forth. At lunch, they usually eat casually. Most people at work would have some fast food such as sandwiches, hot dogs and so on. Dinner is the most important meal of a day for the Americans. After a day’s work, the families reunite and have a wonderful meal together at dinner. Usually they have steak, roast meat, fried chicken and so on, with vegetable salads and fruits, the staple food being bread or rice. Before sleep, the Americans prefer to have a little snack, such as fruits, cookies etc. In flavor, the Americans prefer rich, raw and cold foods. Their dishes are usually salty, with a little bit of sweet taste. When they cook ,they usually get rid of the bones in the meat, dispose of the fish and shrimp heads in advance. Besides, the Americans don’t eat the internal organs of animals, fat meat, chicken and pig feet, which are often considered great delicacy in China. They don’t put ingredients in the food when cooking, because they want to keep the original flavor of the food. There is soy sauce, salt or pepper on the dining table for those who want them.
Two. Diet Concept
(one) Chinese Diet Concept
There is this famous saying in China “To the people foodstuff is all-important”. From it can be seen how important the Chinese people consider their food. Food is considered by many in China the greatest pleasure in life. All over the world, the Chinese cuisine is the most widely-ranged. The Chinese can eat almost all the animals and plants so long they are edible. According to scientific surveys, the Chinese eat six time more kinds of vegetables than the western people. In their cuisines the first priority is the best combination of the color, the flavor and the taste, nutrition being the second important. From this point the Chinese people’s rations are revealed; they have elevated their food culture into a kind of art. When at a meal, the Chinese usually gather around a large table and eat the same plate of dish with a chopstick, which perfectly reflects the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of harmony and the Confucian value of group thinking.
(Two) American Diet Concept
In such an advanced country like America, people have a strong sense of time. So they focus much more on the quality than the quantity. In the choice of food, they tend to focus on the science of nourishment. Although they do regard the taste of food very highly, their focus is much more on the pragmatism, which is related to efficiency. Their pragmatism is mainly revealed through such means: firstly, in the respect of health, the Americans are becoming more and more aware of the important influence of food on their body figures, with more and more Americans refusing the so-called “junk food”; secondly, in the respect of money, the Americans prefer to spend more on their clothing, houses and cars than their food; lastly, the Americans prefer food that is simple and quick to make than complicated, delicate yet time-consuming dishes. For the Americans, “ Time is money”, which is actually one typical character of the western cultures. Plus factors such as single-parent family, high-paced life, most Americans prefer to eat outside rather than cook their food at home. In their cuisine, the color, the flavor and the taste are at a much lower position than efficiency and nutrition. And here lies the most important diet concept in American, i.e. food is just a means of satisfying the hunger. At a meal, the Americans prefer to eat separately, with everyone having his own plates of food. This differs greatly from the Chinese and is a very clear sign of the Americans value of independence and individualism.
Three. Comparison between dining etiquettes
(one) Chinese dining etiquettes
China has long been known as the “State of ceremonies”. Good etiquettes are a traditional virtue in China. There is a famous saying “ the etiquette begins with the dining” in China, which clearly shows the long history of etiquette in the Chinese food culture. The setting of the seats, the order of serving the dishes, etiquettes at the table and the payment of the dinning bills all show the highly-regarded dining etiquette.
When setting the seats, the Chinese pay great attention to the age, social status and sex. Usually it is the eldest or the one with the highest status get to the seat first. The Chinese consider the left side of the table as more important, and the seat facing the entrance of the room the most important of all. So the most important guest gets this seat, and other guests sit to his left side, while the host or hostess sit to his right side. In the Chinese feudal society, women were rarely seen at feasts, with a few exceptions who were yet at the inferior status at the dining table. Of course such scenes only belong to the past. Nowadays in China, people still hold the tradition of letting the elderly and superiors get their seat first, with the age at a superior position over the social status.
The serving of the food is another main character of the Chinese dining etiquette. The proper order of serving should be like this: the cold food comes before the hot; the main dishes come before the soup, with the fruit or desserts the last to be served. Such order can vary, at different places or with different minority groups. But generally speaking, the current order of serving is greatly influenced by the “Man” people.
At a meal, the Chinese like to make the dining process lively. All the people gather around the table, share the food and talk while eating and drinking. They would propose toasts to each other and even put food in others’ plates without asking first (usually this is a behavior from the elderly to the young), which is usually considered a sign of affection and friendliness in China. People love to chat while eating, and the wide range of the topics and contents of conversations at the dinning table often surprise the foreigners, believing the Chinese are a people of great knowledge. When eating at a restaurant, the Chinese would compete to pay the bills, which is considered something related with the “mian zi”, or “face” in China. People tend to respect those who are generous enough to pay the bills for others more. Going Dutch is rarely seen in China.
Generally speaking, the Chinese don’t pay much attention to what they wear at dinners. Except for some very important occasions, such as a wedding feast, the Chinese prefer to wear very casually. Even eating at a restaurant, people wearing T-shirts and jeans are very often seen.
（Two）American dining etiquettes
Contrary to the Chinese, the Americans are much more casual at the dining table. They don’t have so many specific rules about arranging the seats or serving the dishes. However, they do possess certain types of very typical dining etiquettes. For example, when you go dining at an American house, the most important standard of taking the seats is “Lady First”. At the table, the hostess should be the first to take her seat, and the others are supposed to follow her. Usually the hostess would sit at the seat facing the door, and the host would sit beside her. The important guests would sit by their right. The same is true in eating the food. The hostess is the first to start eating. When serving the dishes, they usually place the dishes from the outer table toward the inner table, and so is the taking of the food.
At the dining table, the Americans are rather quiet. Unlike the Chinese, they don’t like talking loudly. When eating and drinking, they take special care not to make any loud noises so as not to disturb the others. When drinking, the Americans do give toasts to others, but never so noisy and hilarious like the Chinese. They usually say something quietly and politely to other people, and then drink silently. Speaking loudly is considered very rude at the dining table.
After the dinner, the hostess is still the first to leave the table. All the others must leave after her. If something urgent happens, and a guest must leave in advance, he should go and ask for leave from the hostess.
When dining at a restaurant, the Americans prefer the Acting Appointment, which is quite different from the Chinese.
One thing very important is that the Americans do not put food in others’ plates. They just choose whatever they enjoy and eat it on their own. So it is considered rude to leave food in the plate. If you can’t eat it, just don’t take it.
Unlike the Chinese, the Americans consider formal clothing very important for dining with others. When invited to dinner, most people would choose to wear formal clothes that they wear at work, such as shirts, suit and so on. Unless you are very close to the host and hostess, and there are no other guests besides you, it is very improper to wear casual clothes such as jeans to dinner. At some fancy restaurants, formal clothing, such as a suit and leather shoes are required. If you wear some casual clothes, you may get denied access at the door by the guard of the restaurant.
Despite the differences between the Chinese and American dining etiquettes, there is one great similarity. That is, after the dinner, the guests are supposed to meet the host and hostess and show their gratitude to them before leaving the house.
Four. The causes of the cultural differences between Chinese and American diets.
From the above we can see in the diet culture, the Americans and Chinese have a lot of obvious and significant differences. But what are the causes? The main cause should be the different values held by the two different peoples from very different cultural backgrounds. In the various kinds of cultures, clothing, food, housing and traveling are called the surface layer of culture. They are all physical, but they can well reflect the mentality of the people, and they are deeply influenced by the values and world views of the people.
China has a long history and deeply-rooted traditions. The Chinese cherish their traditions very much and they stick to a lot of old, traditional ways. In diet culture, the most important part is the traditional values that have been passed down from generations to generations.
In contrast, America is a rather young country. It doesn’t have such long history or deeply-rooted traditional cultures like China. It is a very typical country of immigrants. So the various kinds of cultures from the immigrants all constitute a part of the American culture. As a result, the American diet culture is greatly influenced by the stress effect and diversification of its culture.
Five. Conclusion
With more and more international co-operations and communications, the world is becoming smaller. The economic and cultural interactions between China and America have very positive effects on both countries. And so do the diet cultures. In America, more and more Chinese restaurants have emerged, and eating Chinese dishes have become quite popular among the Americans. While in China, American fast foods such as MacDonald’s are seen in most cities and towns. In the future, there will be more and more interactions between the two diet cultures, and they will definitely have very good influences on each other.