Differences between Chinese and Western food culture I. Brief description Chinese people say: one side of the water and soil to raise people. European mountains and castles, how to look like an oil painting, heavy, precise, majestic. The water and pavilions in Jiangnan, China, how to look like an ink painting, floating, like a dream. What is "culture"? The definition in the book says that culture is the sum of all material and spiritual products. I say culture is everything you see, a grass, a tree, a word and a deed." Food is the God of the people", food culture is close to our lives, appreciate the connotation of food culture, in fact, is also in the first page of the book to read life. Second, the study of Chinese and Western food culture The characteristics of Chinese food culture: The origin of Chinese food culture is the ancient Oriental doctrine of yin and yang, which is a kind of philosophy with a strong romantic color, and is still affecting our dietary life, the Chinese people's dietary pursuits are "delicious enjoyment, dietary health," the dietary taste sensation in the first place, pay attention to the dietary aesthetic enjoyment of the arts. The traditional Chinese dietary concept does not include the idea of nutrition, but only the idea of nourishment. Diet and health care include two aspects of "evidence-based dieting" and "dietary discipline". The principle is still yin and yang and the five elements of the phases of life, the Chinese people take food as a kind of art, with a romantic attitude, the pursuit of food and drink for spiritual enjoyment. The cultural characteristics of Western diet: Western modern scientific civilization, the formation of Western dietary practices have a great impact on the Western developed science, analysis of food ingredients content, grasp the specific nutritional requirements, but it is a piece of cake. Westerners treat diet, first of all, what nutrition, can produce how much energy, flavor is secondary. If heating and cooking, will cause nutritional loss, then half cooked or even a thousand crispy raw food. Westerners treat diet as a science, focusing on dietary functions in a realistic manner. Comparison of Chinese and Western food culture Nutrition is the basic condition for human survival, and it is the main indicator to reflect a country's economic level and people's quality of life. Westerners take staple food as the mainstay, and put cereals on top of all other foods, not only to ensure that grains and other foods can complement each other nutritionally, but also to ensure that the ratio of rice and vegetables is appropriate. Chinese food is slightly salty, but this is greatly improved by the dilution of light, tasteless staple foods. Supplementary: If we were to use an abstract adjective to describe the difference between Eastern and Western food cultures, it would be roughly like this: the East is "hot", while the West is "cold". The East is "hot" and the West is "cold". In terms of water, which is the source of life, everyone can't live without drinking water every day. However, people in Asia like to drink hot water, while people in Europe and America like to drink cold or iced water. Whether it is winter or summer, making a pot of hot tea is the way of hospitality in the East. Similarly, cold water, water with ice and lemonade are always preferred by Westerners, both in summer and winter. The water you drink with Western food is usually lemonade, cold. Most Western countries have better water quality, and when you visit their homes, you usually open the tap directly and pour the water into a glass, which is of course also cold. The most amazing thing about the Orient is that they can still drink a glass of water filled with ice cubes in the middle of winter. Does drinking water also reflect culture? Of course. Oriental people always like to make the people very warm, sit together and drink a cup of hot tea, as if they were a family, while Westerners will always be very concerned about personal privacy and pay attention to the distance between the people to keep. We can talk, you can be a guest, but you are you, I am me , we are not a family, and we don't have to be as close as a family, so why don't we just drink some cold water and not get too hot. Add: In terms of the three meals you have to eat every day, the first one is breakfast. Eastern specialties, or at least Chinese breakfasts, include congee, steamed buns, doughnuts, steamed dumplings, steamed dumplings, cakes, potstickers, and so on, all of which are not hot. Breakfast stalls are a unique sight, steaming hot, accompanied by yells, and this joyful scene pervades every corner of the neighborhood. In the West, breakfast is usually bread, juice, coffee, milk, of course, there are hot things, but there will not be a steaming feeling, why? Why? One reason is that there are not many hot things, and the other is that they don't have the habit of going out to the street to buy breakfast at street stalls, and going out to eat breakfast is to go to a small curry house to eat breakfast while flipping through the newspaper alone. The difference is not only based on tradition or habit, but also on cultural differences. We like the feeling of being part of a group, whereas Westerners prefer the elegance of being alone. Next, let's talk about the most important and obvious difference, the main meal. Oriental food, focus on cooking, frying, deep-frying is only the most simple and does not reflect the level of cooking, but also stewing, boiling, steaming, stir-frying and a series of cooking methods to show the power, so the food is often very tasty, but also a thousand different flavors. Westerners, on the other hand, focus on ingredients, which must be fresh, which is why they have lettuce salads, half-raw steaks, and even whole raw beef. We eat for flavor, they eat for freshness. Westerners don't know what stir-fry is, because they eat mostly raw and cold things, which is understandable, raw and cold things are fresh, even if you want to eat cooked, just blanch, fry, grill, this kind of cooking will not be flavorful, but it definitely maintains the original flavor of the food. They like to add all sorts of condiments to their food, such as salad dressing for salads, herb cream sauce for salmon, and black pepper sauce for steak, but we do not need to do so because the flavors are already in the food. The relationship between the "cold" west and the "hot" east is equally obvious. If we were to bring a hot stir-fry in our kitchen to a Western home, I'm afraid the smoke alarms would go off, and it would be on the level of a fire there. Oriental people like "everyone", like warmth, like the warmth of all kinds of feelings, so the food is also flavored, seasoning and food through the subtle cooking has been all integrated, while the Westerners can communicate but do not blend, can be contacted but not intimate, so pouring seasoning sauce, feel touched and not reach. Lastly, let's talk about the way of eating. The difference between the East and the West is also very obvious. We like to eat in a circle, so the dining table is usually a round table, whereas in the West, it is a square table, so is this roundness and squareness just a simple form? In fact, it is not difficult to realize that the feeling of sitting in a circle is different from that of sitting at a square table. We put all the dishes on the round table, it looks lively, and the round table is also more convenient when eating, so that no one is too far away from a certain dish to reach it, because our chopsticks can reach out to this dish or that dish without any fear. We are "hot", we share the same table, the food is steaming hot on the round table, and we can mingle. However, in the West, people eat from their own plates, that is, the so-called "sharing", each person has his own dish, of course, it does not matter that it must be a round table to facilitate access to food, it is not as good as a four-square table, it seems to be more appropriate, eating together but not overly intimate. Even like Thanksgiving to eat turkey this kind of dish, although it is a plate need to everyone **** enjoy, the host or waiter will certainly be divided first, walk to your side, divided into your plate, try to avoid the inconvenience caused by having to take the table **** with the food. Another characteristic of Western food is that they will not put all the dishes on the table, but after eating one, and then on one, which is hot and hot Oriental table compared to, of course, "cold". There is cold and hot, but not good or bad. It is because of the differences in culture, which creates a colorful world.