Due to the differences between Chinese and western philosophies, westerners attach importance to science in diet, that is, emphasize nutrition. Therefore, western diet takes nutrition as the highest criterion, and eating is like adding fuel to biological machines, paying special attention to the nutritional components of food, whether the contents of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and various inorganic elements are properly matched, whether the heat supply is just right, whether these nutritional components can be fully absorbed by consumers, and whether there are other side effects. These problems are put forward by the university in cooking, and the color, aroma and taste of dishes are second-class requirements. Even France, the leading food country in the west, although its food culture is similar to ours in many aspects, in terms of nutrition, the two sides have already pulled away.
China's cooking technique "Harmony of Five Flavors" aims at the pursuit of delicacy. In the process of processing, hot frying and long-term slow fire attack will destroy the nutritional components of dishes. Although French cooking also pursues delicacy, it also does not forget the premise of "nutrition". They don't want to give up nutrition and pursue delicious food. Especially in the 1960s, modern cooking thought especially emphasized health preservation and weight loss, thus pursuing lightness and less oil, emphasizing the use of fresh raw materials, and emphasizing the preservation of original nutrients and original flavor in the cooking process, so vegetables were basically eaten raw. Therefore, it is common for western diets to attach importance to nutrition.
In all fairness, talking about nutrition also touches the biggest weakness of China's diet. Although we pay attention to diet therapy, food supplement, food supplement, and health preservation through diet, our cooking is in pursuit of prison? Hey? Hey? How much is the charge? What are you talking about? Small =? The next night? ∑∑∑∑∑∑? Thinking about leaves and pine trees? Hey? I'm afraid I am a poor animal, but I don't know what I am doing. What's left? Hey? Kao Rong souhui? Tired? What happened to Guangdong?
We have always regarded the pursuit of food as the primary purpose of eating. There is a folk proverb: "Food is the first priority for the people, and taste is the first priority for food". Although people always say "good color, smell and taste" when praising food, it is because our sensory organs "eyes, nose and mouth" are arranged in this order. People's inner feelings about "color, fragrance and taste" have always been "taste".
Because people in China attach great importance to taste, some dishes in China are just taste carriers, such as sea cucumber, fish lips, shark's fin, bear's paw and hump, which are all recognized as valuable dishes. Their main ingredient is animal glue similar to cheap skin, which is not delicious in itself. We should feed it with fresh soup and feed it to people when we are full. Isn't this the authentic taste carrier?
China people attach importance to taste, which is also reflected in their daily conversations, such as family dinners. As soon as the main course is served, the host often modestly says, "The dish is not ready, and it may not be to your taste." He would never say, "Vegetables have low nutritional value and insufficient calories."
Western cooking pays attention to nutrition and ignores taste, at least not to enjoy taste as the primary purpose. They eat cold drinks and ice cubes in iced wine. Once the taste nerves all over the surface of the tongue are chilled, they lose their taste sensitivity greatly and gradually become unable to distinguish taste. Bloody steak, big white fish, big white meat, raw vegetables, boiled beans and potatoes, although they have "taste", do not enter the "Tao", which all reflect the westerners' neglect of taste. Their refusal to use monosodium glutamate is enough to prove that this generation belongs to people who don't know the taste, and they are not guests who know the taste!
Based on the emphasis on nutrition, westerners eat more vegetables, not only tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, but also Chinese cabbage, onions and broccoli. So their "salad" is like a plate of rabbit feed, which makes it difficult for us to accept. Modern China people also talk about nutrition and health care, knowing that once vegetables are heated, vitamins will be destroyed, so they advocate frying with strong fire. Although this also reduces the content of vitamins, it will not be completely lost, but it is much more delicious than rabbit feed. Therefore, modern cooking in China aims at the best balance between nutrition and taste, which of course belongs to the "golden mean".
Norm and arbitrariness
Westerners emphasize science and nutrition in diet, so the whole cooking process is carried out in strict accordance with scientific norms. From new york to San Francisco, the taste of steak is the same, and the only side dishes of steak are tomatoes, potatoes and lettuce. In addition, standardized cooking requires that the amount of seasoning added is accurate to grams and the cooking time is accurate to seconds. In addition, the article "Eating in the Netherlands" published in the first issue of Overseas Digest 1995 also describes that "the kitchen in the Netherlands is equipped with scales, liquid measuring cups, timers and measuring cups, and dozens of seasoning bottles of the same size are arranged on the seasoning rack, just like a chemical laboratory."
Cooking in China is completely different, not only the major cuisines have their own flavors and characteristics, but also the collocation of side dishes and seasonings used in the same cuisine will be different according to the chef's personal characteristics. Even if the same chef cooks the same dish, although each has its own methods, it will be adjusted according to different seasons, occasions and diners' identities (for example, the flavor is strong in winter and light in summer, the wedding banquet must be brightly colored, and the funeral banquet should be red; Poor people should use thick oil and thick juice to kill greed, and gourmets should have fresh and unique meals. In addition, due to the change of the chef's own on-the-spot mood, he will do some improvisation. Therefore, China's cooking not only does not emphasize the standardization of accuracy to seconds and grams, but also emphasizes randomness.
The randomness of food processing first led to the repeated expansion of menu space in China: the diversity of raw materials, knives, seasonings and cooking methods, and then cross-combination, one raw material can be made into several or even dozens of dishes. For example, the most commonly used raw chicken can cook dozens or even hundreds of dishes in the hands of Guangdong chefs. So are other raw materials. Therefore, in places rich in certain raw materials, it is often possible to make banquet tables with this raw material, such as the whole duck banquet in Beijing, the whole dog banquet in Yanbian, the whole fish banquet and the whole oyster banquet in Guangdong, the whole cow banquet in Li Hesheng, Changsha, the whole sheep banquet in some Muslim restaurants in Beijing and the whole pig banquet in Beijing casserole house, all of which reflect China's cooking.
Their respective harmonious combination
Mr. Qian Mu, a master of Chinese studies in Taiwan Province Province, said in the preface of "On the Academic Balance in Modern China": "Taiwan Province's scholarship varies with different cultures. China is harmonious but different, while the West is divided but different. This cultural feature is also reflected in Chinese and western food culture. In addition to several soup dishes in western food, such as Russian red vegetable soup (Luo Songtang), a variety of meat and vegetable raw materials are cooked in one pot. Fish is fish, chicken is chicken, snail is snail, and oyster is oyster. The so-called "roast beef with potatoes" is just cooked beef cooked with potatoes, and it is by no means a combination of potatoes and beef. Even seasoning ingredients, such as ketchup, mustard sauce, lemon juice and spicy soy sauce, are all eaten now. All of the above reflect "the West attaches importance to separation". "
China people have always regarded harmony and cooperation as the most wonderful realm, paying attention to the harmony of music and singing, and advocating the harmony of form and spirit in medicine. We hope to achieve "political harmony" in national politics. And we call the marriage of husband and wife "marriage" and the beautiful marriage "a match made in heaven"; When we show reverence, we put our hands together as a gift. When all the beautiful things are together, we call it "a perfect match".
The core of China's cooking is "harmony of five flavors", which is called "harmony of five flavors" in Suntech, Wen Zi. Lu's "Chunqiu Benwei Pian" praised the "harmony of five flavors" as "the change in the tripod, exquisite and delicate, inspiring, and wonderful metaphor".
China's theory of five flavors harmony consists of original flavor theory, smell yin and yang theory, time sequence theory and palatability theory. In other words, the "harmony of five flavors" should be carried out on the basis of attaching importance to the natural taste of cooking materials, and the basic laws of yin and yang and five elements should be used to guide this harmony. Harmony should conform to the time sequence, pay attention to the season, and the final result of harmony should be delicious and palatable. Therefore, almost every Chinese dish must be cooked with more than two kinds of raw materials and various seasonings. That is, home cooking is generally vegetarian, such as fried shredded pork with leeks, fried garlic sprouts with sliced meat, braised pork with yuba and fried dried beancurd with celery ... If these raw materials are cooked in a western-style kitchen, shredded pork with milk is cooked with leeks in white water, or fried pork chops are cooked with clear water and garlic sprouts together, is it natural for China diners to "laugh and cry"? The authentic western food is steak with two potatoes, three tomatoes and four-leaf lettuce. Although they are in the same dish, they are fragmented and do not interfere with each other. Only when you eat it can you reconcile it.
China people call cooking "cooking", which means that we have always integrated cooking and blending. In the west, there used to be cooking without adjustment, but now there is adjustment, but it still belongs to two independent processes.
In terms of eating utensils, the west pursues a separate meal system. First of all, we should order our own dishes and what we want to eat, which also reflects the respect of individuality in the West. After serving, people eat their own dishes, add seasonings at will, eat a second dish after eating one dish, and never mix the first dish with the second one. For Chinese food, a table of people sit around and eat a table of dishes, and the hot pot in a cold and hot casserole is full of tables. Diners eat one mouthful in the east, one mouthful in the west, and several dishes are swallowed at the same time, which is completely different from the utensils in western food, and reflects the fundamental difference between Chinese and western cultures.
Mechanical and interesting
Due to the standardization of western food, cooking has become a mechanical job. KFC old man fried chicken should be prepared according to the formula; The temperature of oil and the time of fried chicken should also be strictly regulated, so the chef's work becomes extremely monotonous mechanical work. He is like a worker on the auto production line, and even a robot can take his place. Furthermore, the purpose of westerners' eating is to absorb nutrition. As long as the nutrition is up to standard, everything else can be tolerated. Therefore, it is definitely meaningless for a chef to repeat mechanical work every day with an extremely tolerant attitude towards diners.
In China, cooking is an art, as San Mao, a female writer, said in the article Hotel in the Desert: "I have always hated doing housework, but I am very interested in cooking. I appreciate the art of frying a few onions and pieces of meat into a dish. "Cooking is an art, which, like other arts, embodies the unity of rigor and improvisation. Therefore, cooking in China has always been extremely interesting, even with a certain degree of playfulness, attracting China people who take diet as their greatest pleasure in life.
Interesting cooking is a tradition in China. The unearthed Han Dynasty portrait "Kitchen Map" is very similar to the performance of a large acrobatic troupe. In Du Fu's poem "Two Ways", "A machete cuts through the air" refers to a knife with many bells tied to its back. It is said that chefs in the Tang Dynasty can use it to play Ding Dong's music when cutting vegetables. Unfortunately, this kind of knife and operation skills have been lost.
Similar instant-boiled mutton, Sichuan spicy hotpot and Guangdong seafood hotpot are widely loved because of their freshness, tenderness, spiciness and comfort, and also because they move the main part of cooking to the dining table, so that people can experience this interesting cooking while eating. Another example is Xi 'an's mutton buns, which are hard and hard. It seems that the guests want to break it into pieces by themselves, and it tastes better than the chef's chopping. On the one hand, the barbecue in the "barbecue season" in Beijing is disappointing because it is not as delicious as before, and on the other hand, it has turned itself into a "gentleman who talks but doesn't do it". This change has turned it into a boring one, and it tastes bad. This is all because I don't understand China's interesting cooking, and it is absolutely impossible for western chefs to blindly direct tragedies and pursue the pleasure of cooking. The creed of westerners is "work while you work, and play while you play". According to their mechanism dichotomy, playing at work is dereliction of duty, and working in the game is a loss-making business. Both of them are "I do nothing"? For China people who advocate mastery, "there is a game in work and a job in the game" is the right way in the world.
Cooking has always been regarded as a great pleasure by China people, and it is regarded as a positive expression of enriching their lives. As the saying goes, "there is heaven above and a kitchen below." Cooking is no less important to China than music, dance, poetry and painting, and it is of great significance to improve the realm of life.
(Excerpted from Eat, Drink and Have Fun: A Comparison between China and the West, China Tourism Publishing House, 2002, 1 version, pricing: 18.00 yuan. Address: No.9 Jianguomen Inner Street, Beijing, 100005)