China's food culture is profound and has a long history, enjoying a high reputation in the world. People in China talk about eating, not just three meals a day to satisfy their thirst and hunger. It often contains the philosophy that China people know and understand things. When a child is born, relatives and friends all want to eat red eggs to show their happiness. "Eggs" represent the continuation of life, and "eating eggs" embodies the high hopes of China people to carry on the family line. Children should "eat" at the age of one, "eat" at the age of eighteen, and "eat" when they get married. When they reach their 60th birthday, they should stagger their celebrations. This kind of "eating" is a kind of physiological satisfaction on the surface, but in fact, "the meaning of drunkenness is not in wine", which expresses rich psychological connotation through eating this form. The culture of eating has surpassed "eating" itself and gained more profound social significance. Through the communication between China and the West, our food culture has appeared new characteristics of the times. Paying attention to the nutrition of color, fragrance, taste and appearance is the progress of the times. The practice of ten bowls and eight large plates has also been reformed, which is also very gratifying. However, China's food culture should have a solid fulcrum in the collision with the cultures of other countries in the world, so that it can be perfected and developed in the process of learning from others and maintain its eternal vitality. I think this fulcrum is the characteristic of excellent traditional culture, which is the basic connotation that China's food culture needs to explore. Therefore, the investigation of the basic connotation of China's food culture is not only helpful to deepen the theory of food culture, but also has far-reaching positive significance for China's food culture to occupy the world market. In my opinion, in terms of its deep connotation, China's food culture can be summarized into four words: essence, beauty, affection and courtesy. These four words reflect the unique cultural implications of food quality, aesthetic experience, emotional activities and social functions in the process of food activities, and also reflect the close relationship between food culture and Chinese excellent traditional culture. The essence is a summary of the inherent quality of China's food culture. Confucius said, "I can't get tired of eating delicious food." . This reflects the ancestors' awareness of high-quality food. Of course, this may be limited to some aristocrats. However, as a cultural spirit, this exquisite consciousness has penetrated and implemented in the whole process of eating activities more and more widely and deeply. The choice of ingredients, cooking, compatibility, and even the eating environment all reflect the word "essence". Beauty embodies the aesthetic characteristics of food culture. One of the important reasons why Chinese food can conquer the world lies in its beauty. This kind of beauty refers to the perfect unity of the form and content of China's diet activities, and refers to the aesthetic pleasure and spiritual enjoyment it brings to people. The first is delicious. Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said that "if you don't know the taste, your cooking will be poor", and regarded the aesthetics of "taste" as the first essence of cooking. "Yan's Spring and Autumn Annals" says: "Harmony is like soup. Fire, water, acyl, sugar, salt and plums cook fish, and the wages are paid. Fu Cha is mixed and delicious. " That's what I'm saying. Beauty, as the basic connotation of food culture, is the charm of China's food, which runs through every link in the process of food activities. This is a summary of the social and psychological functions of China's food culture. Eating and drinking can not be simply regarded as a medium of emotional communication between people, but a unique social activity. Chatting while eating, doing business, exchanging information and interviewing. When friends leave, people are used to expressing farewell or welcome at the dinner table, and emotional turmoil is often calmed down by the dinner table. This is the regulating effect of dietary activities on social psychology. In the past, it was an excellent psychological massage for everyone to sit down and drink tea, listen to books, put on a dragon gate array or vent their dissatisfaction with the court. The reason why China's diet has the function of "lyricism" is because of the philosophy of "drinking morality, eating harmony and enjoying all the people" and the resulting diet with national characteristics. For the emotional culture in food activities, there is a problem of guiding and improving the taste. We should advocate healthy, beautiful and enterprising cultural sentiments and pursue noble sentiments. Ceremony refers to the etiquette of eating activities. China pays attention to "etiquette" in diet, which has a lot to do with our traditional culture. This is a ceremony of being born, sick, seeing off, welcoming, worshipping God and ancestors. Lee woon-jae said in the Book of Rites: "The beginning of husband ceremony begins with diet." There is not a page in the Three Rites that does not mention the food and wine in the sacrifice. Ceremony refers to a kind of order and norm. The orientation of the dining table, the placement of chopsticks and spoons, and the order of serving … all reflect the "ceremony". When we talk about "ceremony", we should not simply regard it as a kind of etiquette, but should understand it as a kind of spirit and an internal ethical spirit. This spirit of "courtesy" runs through the whole process of food activities, thus forming the logical starting point of China's food civilization. Essence, beauty, affection and propriety respectively summarize the basic connotation of China's food culture from different angles. In other words, these four aspects organically constitute the overall concept of China's food culture. Essence and beauty focus on the image and quality of diet, while affection and courtesy focus on the mentality, customs and social functions of diet. However, they do not exist in isolation, but are interdependent and mutually causal. Only its "essence" can have a complete "beauty"; Only its beauty can inspire "love"; Only "emotion" can have the fashionable "ceremony" in the era of science and technology. The perfect unity of the four constitutes the highest realm of China's food culture. Only by accurately grasping "essence, beauty, affection and courtesy" can we deeply understand China's food culture and better inherit and carry forward China's food culture.