Differences between Chinese and western food cultures. A brief introduction to the saying of China people: One side of the soil and water will nourish one side. The mountains and castles in Europe look like oil paintings, thick, accurate and magnificent. The water and pavilions in the south of China are like an ink painting, floating like a dream. The definition of "what is culture" says that culture is the sum of all material and spiritual products. I said that culture is everything you see, everything you say and everything you do. "People eat for the sky." Food culture is close to our life. Understanding the connotation of food culture is actually reading the first page of Life. 2. Study on Chinese and Western Dietary Cultures The characteristics of China's dietetic culture: The source of China's dietetic culture is the ancient oriental theory of Yin and Yang, which is a romantic philosophy and still affects our dietetic life. China people's dietary pursuit is "delicious enjoyment and dietary health preservation", putting the taste feeling of diet in the first place and paying attention to the artistic enjoyment of dietary aesthetics. China's traditional concept of diet has no concept of nutrition, and only pays attention to health. Diet regimen includes "dialectical diet" and "moderate diet". The principle is the coexistence of yin and yang and five elements. China people regard diet as an art and pursue the spiritual enjoyment of diet with a romantic attitude. Cultural characteristics of western food: modern western scientific civilization has a great influence on the formation of western food customs. For developed western science, it is just a piece of cake to analyze the composition and content of food and master the specific nutritional needs. Westerners treat food, first of all, what nutrition it has and how much energy it can produce, and taste is secondary. If cooking is heated, it will cause nutrient loss, so it will be eaten half-baked or even crisp. Westerners regard diet as a science and pay attention to its function with a realistic attitude. The comparative nutrition of Chinese and western food culture is the basic condition for human survival, and it is also the main index to reflect a country's economic level and people's quality of life. Westerners give priority to staple food and put grain above all other foods, which not only ensures that grain and other foods can complement each other in nutrition, but also ensures that the proportion of rice and vegetables is appropriate. Chinese food tastes a little salty, but the situation has been greatly improved after the bland staple food is diluted. Due to the influence of regional characteristics, climate and environment, customs and habits, catering products will be different in raw materials, tastes, cooking methods, eating habits and so on. It is precisely because of these differences that catering products have strong regional characteristics. The differences between Chinese and western cultures have created the differences between Chinese and western food cultures, which come from different ways of thinking and philosophy of life. People in China pay attention to "harmony between man and nature", while westerners pay attention to "people-oriented". Here, we briefly talk about the differences between Chinese and western food cultures from the following three aspects. 1. Two different dietary concepts Compared with China's diet which pays attention to "taste", the west is a rational dietary concept. No matter the color, fragrance, taste, shape and nutrition of food, how many calories, vitamins, protein and so on should be taken in a day. Even if it tastes the same, you must eat it-it is nutritious. This concept of diet is compatible with the whole western philosophy system. Metaphysics is the main feature of western philosophy. The research object of western philosophy is the cause of things, and the cause of things is often metaphysical. The two are interrelated and form metaphysical philosophy. This philosophy has brought vitality to western culture and made it develop by leaps and bounds in natural science, psychology and methodology. But in other aspects, this philosophical proposition has great obstacles, such as food culture. At the banquet, you can pay attention to the collocation of tableware, materials, services and raw materials in shape and color. But no matter how luxurious and high-end, from L.A. to new york, steak has only one flavor, and there is no art at all. As a dish, chicken is chicken and steak is steak. Even if there is a match, it is done in the disk. A plate of "French lamb chops" with mashed potatoes, leaning against the lamb chops, and boiled green beans and some tomatoes on the other side. The colors are in sharp contrast, but the raw materials are irrelevant, the taste is harmonious, each has its own flavor and is simple and clear. China people attach great importance to "eating". The proverb "Food is the sky for the people" shows that we regard eating as important as the sky. Because our nation has been in a state of low productivity for thousands of years, people are always hungry, so we have a unique food-oriented diet culture. I think this is probably due to the need of survival. If a culture takes eating as the first thing, then there will be two phenomena: on the one hand, to maximize its function is not only to maintain survival, but also to preserve health, which is the cultural basis of "medicine tonic is not as good as food tonic"; On the other hand, excessive attention to food will make people admire the pursuit of food. American food is very interesting. They eat almost anything with forks, and it seems to be considered against good table manners to hold a knife in their right hand for more than a few seconds. Eating habits and customs American eating habits are very interesting. They eat anything with forks. It seems that holding a knife in your right hand for a few seconds is considered against good table manners. The system is that if it is absolutely necessary to use a knife, people hold a fork in their left hand and cut a piece of meat or anything in the normal way. Then they put down their knives and transferred their forks to their right hands. Only in this way can they deliver food to their mouths. This is obviously ridiculous, but it is considered good manners. This usage means that if it is absolutely necessary to use a knife, people will hold a fork in their left hand and cut small pieces of meat and other things in the usual way. Then they put down their knives and turned their forks to their right hands. Only then did they put the food into their mouths. This is obviously funny, but it is considered good manners. This system has several results. First of all, Americans don't use knives unless they absolutely need them, because it is usually complicated, and you will see them trying to cut potatoes, fish and even bacon with forks. Second, at the end of the course, because only one implementation was used, the food had to be chased on the plate with a fork-the last mouse had to use its thumb to keep the food in place, which was not supported by the height 1. There are several results. First of all, Americans don't use knives unless they absolutely need them. Because it will complicate things. So you will see them cutting potatoes, fish and even smoked pork with forks. Secondly, because only one kind of utensils is used, when eating a dish, you should use a fork to hold the dish everywhere, and the last bite often needs the help of your thumb, although it should not be used. Third, there is usually a knife and two forks on the table, and the fork outside is used to put salad. There is no need for foreign tourists to follow the American system and try to eat salad with only a fork, but if you use a knife, remember to save it for meat. Third, there are usually a knife and two forks on the table, and the fork outside is used to eat salad. Foreigners don't have to try to eat salad with a fork like Americans do. But if you use a knife, remember to use it to cut meat. If possible, even dessert (except ice cream) is delicious with a fork. The spoon you see next to dessert is for drinking coffee (but if you eat dessert with it, no one will say anything). If possible, even sweets (except ice cream) are eaten with forks, and the spoon next to the dessert you see is for making coffee for you (but if you eat dessert with it, no one will say anything. On the Differences between Chinese and Western Catering Cultures Due to the influence of regional characteristics, climatic environment and customs, catering products will have different degrees of differences in raw materials, tastes, cooking methods and eating habits. It is precisely because of these differences that catering products have strong regional characteristics. The differences between Chinese and western cultures have created the differences between Chinese and western food cultures, which come from different ways of thinking and philosophy of life. People in China pay attention to "harmony between man and nature", while westerners pay attention to "people-oriented". Here, we briefly talk about the differences between Chinese and western food cultures from the following three aspects. 1. Two different dietary concepts Compared with China's diet which pays attention to "taste", the west is a rational dietary concept. No matter the color, fragrance, taste, shape and nutrition of food, how many calories, vitamins, protein and so on should be taken in a day. Even if it tastes the same, you must eat it-it is nutritious. This concept of diet is compatible with the whole western philosophy system. Metaphysics is the main feature of western philosophy. The research object of western philosophy is the cause of things, and the cause of things is often metaphysical. The two are interrelated and form metaphysical philosophy. This philosophy has brought vitality to western culture and made it develop by leaps and bounds in natural science, psychology and methodology. But in other aspects, this philosophical proposition has great obstacles, such as food culture. At the banquet, you can pay attention to the collocation of tableware, materials, services and raw materials in shape and color. But no matter how luxurious and high-end, from L.A. to new york, steak has only one flavor, and there is no art at all. As a dish, chicken is chicken and steak is steak. Even if there is a match, it is done in the disk. A plate of "French lamb chops" with mashed potatoes, leaning against the lamb chops, and boiled green beans and some tomatoes on the other side. The colors are in sharp contrast, but the raw materials are irrelevant, the taste is harmonious, each has its own flavor and is simple and clear. China people attach great importance to "eating". The proverb "Food is the sky for the people" shows that we regard eating as important as the sky. Because our nation has been in a state of low productivity for thousands of years, people are always hungry, so we have a unique food-oriented diet culture. I think this is probably due to the need of survival. If a culture takes eating as the first thing, then there will be two phenomena: on the one hand, it will exert its functions to the extreme, not only to maintain survival, but also to preserve health, which is the cultural basis of "medicine is better than food"; On the other hand, excessive attention to food will make people admire the pursuit of food. In China's cooking, the pursuit of delicacy is almost to the extreme, so that China people make a living by opening restaurants overseas, which has become the foundation for us to settle down in the world! Unfortunately, when we regard the pursuit of delicacy as the first demand, we ignore the most fundamental nutritional value of food. Many of our traditional foods have to be fried in hot oil and cooked with low fire for a long time. As a result, the nutrients in the dishes are destroyed and many nutrients are lost during processing. So when it comes to nutrition, it actually touches the biggest weakness of China's food culture. There is a folk proverb: "Food is the first priority for the people, and taste is the first priority for food". It is this pursuit of food that makes us ignore the true meaning of eating. When people in China taste dishes, they often say that this dish is delicious and that dish is not. However, if you want to further ask what is "delicious", why "delicious" and where "delicious" is, I am afraid it is not easy to make it clear. This shows that China people's pursuit of delicious food is an indescribable "artistic conception", which is still difficult to cover with what people usually call "color, fragrance, taste, shape and utensils". The key to the unique charm of China's diet lies in its taste. The production of food lies in harmony, so that the original flavor of food, the cooked taste after heating, the taste of ingredients and auxiliary materials, and the harmonious taste of seasonings are intertwined and coordinated with each other, so that they complement each other, penetrate each other and blend with each other. You have me and I have you. The harmonious beauty of China's cooking is the essence of China's cooking art, and the variety of dishes is an external thing, while the taste is an internal thing. It is the most important embodiment of China's aesthetic diet view that he pays attention to the interior without deliberately modifying the appearance, and pays attention to the taste of dishes without revealing the shape and color of dishes excessively. In China, the pursuit of beauty in diet obviously overwhelms rationality, and this view of diet is also consistent with China's traditional philosophy. As a representative of oriental philosophy, China's philosophy is macroscopic, intuitive, fuzzy and unpredictable. The method of making Chinese food is to reconcile the tripod and finally reconcile a beautiful taste. This emphasizes the sense of proportion, that is, overall cooperation. It contains rich dialectics of China's philosophy. Everything is based on the beauty and harmony of food. The variety in the range determines the richness and diversity of Chinese food, determines the characteristics of Chinese food, and even determines the characteristics of every chef. Second, the difference between Chinese and western food objects Westerners think that dishes are for hunger, so they specialize in "hard dishes" such as large pieces of meat and whole chicken. China's food is "delicious", so China's cooking also shows great arbitrariness in the use of materials: what many westerners regard as discarded is an excellent raw material in China, and what foreign chefs can't handle can be turned into magic as soon as it reaches the hands of China chefs. It shows that China's diet has a wide range of randomness in materials. According to the survey of western botanists, people in China eat more than 600 kinds of vegetables, six times more than those in the west. In fact, in Chinese cuisine, vegetarian dishes are ordinary foods, and meat dishes only enter the ordinary diet structure when the living standard is high, so there has been a saying of "vegetable food" since ancient times, and vegetable food plays a dominant role in the ordinary diet structure. China people's plant cooking is closely related to the advocacy of Buddhists. They regard animals as "living things" and plants as "lifeless things", so they advocate vegetarianism. When introducing the dietary characteristics of their own countries, westerners think that they pay more attention to the reasonable collocation of nutrition than China. There are developed food industries, such as canned food and fast food, which are time-saving and nutritious, so people in their country are generally stronger than people in China: tall, with long legs, wide shoulders and muscular; China people, on the other hand, are thin, with narrow shoulders and short legs and light yellow color. According to the obvious differences between Chinese and western food objects, some people call China a plant word, while westerners call it an animal word. Third, there are great differences between China and the West in different ways of eating, and this difference also has an impact on national character. In China, any banquet, no matter for what purpose, will only have one form, that is, everyone will sit together and share a seat. Banquets should use round tables to create an atmosphere of unity, courtesy and common interest in form. Food is placed in the center of a table, which is not only the object of appreciation and tasting, but also the medium of emotional communication. People toast each other, take food and exhort each other, which embodies the virtue of mutual respect and courtesy between people in the face of beautiful things. Although from the perspective of hygiene, this kind of diet has obvious shortcomings, but it conforms to the universal mentality of "happy reunion" of our nation, embodies the influence of the category of "harmony" in China's classical philosophy on later generations' thoughts, and is conducive to collective emotional exchange, so it is difficult to reform so far. Although food and wine are very important at western-style banquets, they are actually used as foil. The core of the banquet is friendship, which is realized by talking to the guests next door. If the sociality of banquets is compared to dancing, it can be said that Chinese banquets are like group dances, while western banquets are like ballroom dancing for men and women. It can be seen that the purpose of friendship between Chinese banquet and western banquet is obvious, but Chinese banquet is more about the friendship of the whole banquet, while western banquet is more about the friendship between neighboring guests. The more obvious difference from China's diet is the buffet which is popular in the west. This method is: all the food is displayed one by one, and everyone needs what they want, so they can move freely without being fixed in their seats. This way facilitates the emotional communication between individuals, without putting all the words on the table, and also reflects the respect of westerners for individuality and self. But they eat their own food and don't interfere with each other, lacking the emotional appeal of some China people chatting and having fun together. So in the final analysis, it is the difference between sensibility and rationality. However, this difference seems to be blurred with the development of science. More and more people in China are not only concerned about the color, smell and taste of vegetables, but also about their hygiene and nutrition. Especially after SARS. Also, because people are getting busier and busier at work, they think Chinese food is too much trouble to cook, so it's better to have a hamburger or something. In this way, the difference in diet is not obvious.