According to the Western botanist's survey, Chinese people eat more than 600 kinds of vegetables, six times more than the West. In fact, in the Chinese cuisine, vegetarian food is the usual food, meat only in the holidays or a higher standard of living, only to enter the usual dietary structure, so since ancient times there has been a "vegetable food", vegetable food in the usual dietary structure of the dominant position. The Chinese people's preference for plant-based cuisine is inextricably linked to the advocacy of the Buddhists. They regarded animals as "living souls" and plants as "spiritless", so they advocated vegetarianism.
Westerners in the introduction of their own country's dietary characteristics, feel more than China to pay more attention to the rational mix of nutrition, there is a more developed food industry, such as canned food, fast food, etc., although the taste of the same, but to save time, and nutritional good, so their country's people are generally more robust than the Chinese: tall, long legs, broad shoulders, developed muscles; and the Chinese people appear to have a thin body, shoulders, legs, narrow, yellow and weak. The Chinese, on the other hand, appear to be thin, narrow-shouldered, short-legged, yellow-colored and weak. Some people according to the obvious difference between Chinese and Western food objects this characteristic, the Chinese people called plant character, Westerners called animal character.
There is a great difference in the way of eating between China and the West, and this difference has an effect on the national character. In China, any feast, no matter what the purpose, will have only one form, that is, everyone sits around in a group and *** enjoys a seat. The fact that the feast is to be served at a round table creates an atmosphere of unity, politeness, and **** interest in the form. Delicious food in the center of a table, it is a table of people to appreciate, taste the object, but also a table of people's feelings exchange medium. People toast each other, let each other dishes, persuade dishes, in front of the beautiful things, reflecting the mutual respect between people, the virtue of courtesy. Although from the point of view of health, this way of eating has obvious shortcomings, but it is in line with our nation's "reunion" of the general mentality, reflecting the classical Chinese philosophy of "and" the scope of the influence of the thought of future generations, to facilitate the collective exchange of emotions, and therefore It is difficult to reform.
In Western-style banquets, although food and wine are very important, they are in fact used as an accompaniment. The core of the banquet is the fellowship, through the conversation with the neighboring guests, to achieve the purpose of fellowship. If we compare the fellowship of a banquet with a dance, then it can be said that a Chinese banquet is like a group dance, while a Western banquet is like a social dance for men and women. It can be seen that both Chinese and Western banquets have an obvious purpose of fellowship, except that Chinese banquets reflect more on the fellowship of the whole table, while Western banquets reflect more on the fellowship between neighboring guests. A more obvious difference from the Chinese way of eating is the popular Western buffet. This method is: all the food is displayed one by one, we all take what you need, do not have to be fixed in the seat to eat, walk around freely, this way to facilitate the emotional exchange between individuals, do not have to put all the words on the table, but also shows the Westerners on the individuality, respect for the self. But each eat each, do not disturb each other, missing some Chinese chat happy **** happy mood.
So it comes down to the difference between sensibility and rationality. However, this difference seems to be blurring with the development of science. More and more Chinese people are no longer focusing on the color, aroma and taste of food, but more on its hygiene and nutrition. Especially after the SARS outbreak. Also, people are getting busier and busier with their work, and find Chinese food too much trouble to cook, rather than a hamburger. In this way, the differences in diet are not so clear.
But as the saying goes, "the sword has its drawbacks and advantages", that is to say, in today's scientifically advanced, Chinese and Western food and beverage there are still shortcomings and drawbacks that can not be ignored. So how to avoid and eliminate the shortcomings of the two, how to improve the dietary structure of the two, how to combine the two organically, how to make the Chinese and Western diet for human health to make greater contributions. Our research team after careful investigation and careful comparison, here will briefly talk about the following four aspects of the differences between Chinese and Western food culture.