In terms of dining atmosphere, Chinese people like to be lively when eating, a lot of people gathered around to eat and drink, laughing and joking, everyone together to create a lively and warm dining atmosphere. Unless it is in a very formal banquet, Chinese people do not have any very special etiquette at the table. Westerners, on the other hand, like a quiet and elegant environment during meals, and they believe that they must pay attention to their manners when they are at the table, and must not lose their etiquette, for example, they mustn't make any unpleasant noises when they are eating.
Western and Chinese banquet etiquette is also unique. In China, from ancient times to the present day, most of the left as the honor, in the banquet guests, the status of the very noble guests to be arranged in the left of the upper seat, and then arranged in turn. In the West is to the right as the honor, men and women spaced out and seated, couples are also separated and seated, female guests seat than the male guests seat is slightly higher than the men to be located on their right to pull open the chair for the female guests, in order to show respect for the lady. In addition, Westerners should sit upright when eating, and consider it rude to bend over, bow their heads, and eat with their mouths, but this is exactly the way Chinese people usually eat. When eating Western food, the host does not advocate heavy drinking, Chinese dinner table wine is a must, to wine to cheer up, sometimes in order to show respect for each other, drinking is a cup of a cup of wine.
Etiquette is a kind of culture, is culture has vertical inheritance and horizontal borrowing and integration. As the world globalization continues to accelerate the pace of economic and cultural high-speed collision and integration of the background, a large influx of Western culture into China, the traditional Chinese etiquette is also constantly by the impact of Western etiquette culture. How to protect the traditional etiquette of the Chinese nation and remove its dregs, and make a reasonable and effective integration with the Western etiquette has become a topic that people constantly think and discuss. More and more people realize that Chinese and Western etiquette and culture will penetrate each other and develop continuously.
About the differences between Chinese and American food culture, the concept of food is different
Contrasting with the Chinese diet that focuses on "taste", the West is a rational concept of food. Regardless of the color, aroma, taste and shape of the food, nutrition must be guaranteed, and how many calories, vitamins, proteins and so on should be taken in a day. Even if the taste is uniform, it must be eaten - because it is nutritious. This concept of diet is compatible with the entire philosophical system of the West. Metaphysics is the main characteristic of Western philosophy. The object of study in Western philosophy is the theory of things, and the theory of things is often the theory of metaphysics, and the theory of metaphysics is coherent with each other, and then it is formed into the philosophy of metaphysics. This philosophy has brought vitality to Western culture, which has realized a rapid development in natural science, psychology, and methodology. However, in some other aspects, this philosophical proposition has greatly hindered, such as food culture. In the banquet, you can pay attention to tableware, pay attention to materials, pay attention to service, pay attention to the shape of the raw materials of the dish, color aspects of the collocation; but no matter how luxurious and high-grade, from Los Angeles to New York, steak are only a flavor, no art. As a dish, chicken is chicken, steak is steak, even if there is a match, that is also carried out in the plate, a plate of "French lamb chops", one side of the mashed potatoes, leaning on the side of the lamb chops, the other side of the boiled green beans, add a few slices of tomato will be. Contrasting colors, but in terms of taste, the various raw materials are not related to each other, reconcile, each is its own taste, simple and clear.
The Chinese people attach great importance to "eating", and the proverb "food is heaven" shows that we regard eating as important as heaven. Because our nation has been in a low level of productivity for thousands of years, people always have not enough to eat, so there will be a unique food culture that puts food above all else, I think, this is probably out of a survival need. If a culture to eat as the first thing, then there will be two phenomena: on the one hand, the function of eating will be played to the extreme, not only to maintain survival, but also to use it to maintain health, which is the cultural basis of the "medicine is not as good as the food"; on the other hand, the excessive importance of eating, will make people promote the pursuit of delicious.
In the Chinese culinary arts, the pursuit of deliciousness is almost extreme, so much so that when Chinese people go overseas to make a living, they open restaurants as a business, and it has become a fundamental part of our life in the world! Unfortunately, while we have made the pursuit of deliciousness our first requirement, we have neglected the most fundamental nutritional value of food. Many of our traditional foods are subjected to hot frying and prolonged cooking over a gentle fire, which destroys the nutrient content of the dishes, and much of the nutrient content is lost in the processing. Thus, when it comes to nutrition, it actually touches on the biggest weakness of Chinese food culture. There is a folk saying: "Food is the sky, food is flavor first". It is this pursuit of flavor that has caused us to lose sight of the true meaning of eating.
Chinese people in the tasting dishes, often say that this dish "delicious", that dish "is not good"; however, if you want to further ask what is called "delicious", why "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good". Why "delicious", "delicious" in where, I'm afraid it is not easy to say clearly. This shows that the Chinese people on the diet is the pursuit of an ineffable "mood", that is, the use of what is usually called "color, aroma, taste, shape, ware" to this "realm" of concrete
Chinese food has its unique charm, the key lies in its flavor. And the production of delicious, lies in the harmonization, to make the food of the original flavor, after heating the cooked flavor, together with the ingredients and auxiliary flavor and seasoning of the flavor of the blend, intertwined and fusion and coordination together, so that they complement each other, mutual help penetration, water and milk blending, you have me, I have you. Chinese cooking emphasizes the beauty of harmony, which is the essence of Chinese culinary art. The shape and color of the dishes is something external, but the taste is something internal, heavy internal and not deliberately modify the appearance, heavy dishes taste but not too much to show the shape and color of the dishes, which is the most important manifestation of the Chinese beauty of the concept of food.
In China, the pursuit of beauty in food clearly overrides reason, and this view of food is also consistent with traditional Chinese philosophical thought. As a representative of Eastern philosophy, Chinese philosophy is notable for its macroscopic, intuitive, fuzzy and inscrutable features. Chinese cuisine is prepared in a way that harmonizes and combines, ultimately to produce a beautiful taste. This preoccupation is about proportion, about the overall fit. It contains the rich dialectical thought of Chinese philosophy, everything to the taste of the dish for the degree of goodness, harmony, the degree of change within the thousands of variations will determine the richness of Chinese cuisine and rich in change, determines the characteristics of Chinese cuisine cuisine and even the characteristics of each chef.
About the differences between Chinese and American food culture three, the different ways of eating
The way of eating in China and the West is very different, and this difference also has an impact on the national character. In China, any banquet, no matter what the purpose is, will only have 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 has been difficult to reform.
Western-style banquets, food and wine, although very important, but in fact that is as a side show. The core of the banquet is fellowship, through the neighboring guests to talk to each other, 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, everyone takes what they 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, lack of some Chinese chat happy **** happy mood.
On the differences between Chinese and American food culture, eating habits
Differences in eating habits from the cooking process, the Chinese love to add vinegar, ginger, garlic, onions and peppers and other spices, can be sterilized, anti-fat, improve appetite, help digestion and other effects. Westerners although the spices monotonous, but there is no lack of advantages, they do not like to put MSG when cooking, because MSG sodium, excessive intake of health; many Chinese people used to buy fresh food daily cooking; Westerners tend to buy a week's worth of food stored in the refrigerator, the daily consumption of frozen food, and the consumption of canned and pickled products for the Chinese people, respectively, eight times and six times, we must know that they contain a greater number of preservatives and colorings Chemicals, are not good for the body, which deserves the attention of the urban white-collar people whose lives are becoming simpler. Chinese people stir-fry more than with a big fire, so much smoke, plus more than not pay attention to the kitchen ventilation equipment; and Westerners do not like to use a big fire choking the pot, and the kitchen ventilation conditions are quite pay attention to. Thus, the rate of lung cancer among cooking staff and housewives is significantly higher among Chinese than among Westerners.
From the dietary structure, Chinese people eat a lot more vegetables every day than Westerners, while Westerners eat a lot of protein every day, but the gastrointestinal function is affected by eating too little fiber, so the prevalence of the digestive system and the rate of cancer are much higher than China; Chinese people love coarse grains, while Westerners prefer fine grains such as white flour. In fact, coarse grains contain more nutrients than fine grains; Chinese people love to eat vegetable oils, while Westerners like to cook with high cholesterol animal oils, in addition to daily intake of large amounts of butter. No wonder the Americans cardiovascular morbidity rate is particularly high: Chinese urban and rural residents love soy milk, tofu, bean sprouts and other soy products, while Westerners tend to "stay away from"; Chinese people, especially in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta area of the residents love to eat pig liver, intestines, lungs, and other animal offal, the Westerners do not have this hobby. Animal offal contains a large amount of cholesterol, should not be eaten; steamed food nutrients destroyed less. Westerners like steamed food (less nutrient destruction), while China prefers hot fried (more nutrient destruction); Westerners have realized that is known as "red meat" of beef, horse meat and lamb, etc. is one of the causes of colon cancer and prostate cancer, but also aware of the fat of the red meat is also one of the causative factors of prostate cancer and heart disease, pay attention to It is also realized that the fat of red meat is also one of the causative factors of prostate cancer and heart disease. Many Chinese newspapers and magazines have also reported on the problem of red meat, but the Chinese people have not been able to pay enough attention to it.