When Chinese people talk about eating, they don't just quench their thirst and hunger with three meals a day. It often implies that China people know and understand things. When the child is born, relatives and friends 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 celebrate in a staggered way. On the surface, this kind of "eating" is a kind of physiological satisfaction, but in fact, "the meaning of drunkenness is not 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 color, smell, taste and shape of nutrition is the progress of the times. It is also very gratifying to reform the practice of ten bowls and eight large plates. However, China's food culture should have a solid fulcrum in the collision with other countries' cultures 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 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, China's food culture can be summarized into four words in terms of its deep connotation: 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.
All right. It is a summary of the inherent quality of China's food culture. Confucius said, "I can never 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. An important reason 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 dietary 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 "the taste is not deep, and the cooking is not refined", and regarded the aesthetics of "taste" as the first essence of cooking. "Yanshi Chunqiu" said: "Harmony is like soup. Fire, water, acyl, sugar, salt and plum cook fish, and the wages are paid, and the husband and wife are harmonious, all delicious. " That's what I'm saying.
Beauty, as the basic connotation of food culture, is the charm of China's food, and runs through all aspects of food activities.
Love is a summary of the social and psychological functions of China's food culture. Eating, drinking and drinking can not be simply regarded as a medium of emotional communication between people, but a unique social activity. Chatting while eating can do business, exchange information and interview. When friends leave and say hello, people are used to expressing their farewell or welcome at the dinner table, and emotional turmoil is often calmed down through the dinner table. This is the regulating effect of dietary activities on social psychology. In the past, everyone could sit down to drink tea, listen to books, put on a dragon gate array or vent their dissatisfaction with the court. This was an excellent psychological massage.
The reason why China's diet has the function of "lyricism" is because of the philosophical thought of "drinking virtue, eating harmony, and all nations are happy together" and the resulting diet with national characteristics.
For the emotional culture in food activities, there is a problem of guiding and improving taste. We should advocate healthy, beautiful and enterprising cultural sentiments and pursue noble sentiments.
"Rite" 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, getting sick, welcoming, worshiping God and ancestors. In the Book of Rites, Li Yun said, "At the beginning of her husband's ceremony, he began to eat and drink." 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 norms. The direction 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 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 pay attention to the image and quality of diet, while affection and courtesy pay attention to 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.
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