First, the difference in diet concept Diet is the most basic activity of human beings, but if the problem is raised to the level of why and how to eat, it will be reflected as a kind of consciousness or concept. There are obvious differences in dietary concepts between China and the West. The west is a rational and scientific concept of diet. They emphasize the nutritional value of diet and pay attention to the amount of protein, fat, calories and vitamins contained in food. Instead of pursuing the perfection of color, fragrance, taste and shape of food, even if the taste is the same, they will follow the rational warning and eat because they are nutritious. Westerners eat nutrition. They rarely or hardly associate diet with spiritual enjoyment. Diet embodies a strong practical and utilitarian purpose. Diet is just a means of survival to satisfy their hunger. However, it adopts a more scientific, standardized and reasonable way. Influenced by the receptive way of thinking, the western diet is more scientific, especially after the emergence of modern nutritional analysis science, which encourages them to have an inherent tendency of rational analysis in their diet, and makes them pay more attention to the combination of nutritional components in their diet, and allocate their diet quantitatively according to people's physical conditions. For example, their primary and secondary schools are equipped with nutritionists. This scientific and reasonable diet concept is worth learning from Chinese food, but at the same time, western food is greatly limited in materials. For example, westerners don't eat animal offal, and everything they think has no nutritional value. At the same time, it is mechanical and inflexible in cooking skills. Steak is steak, chicken is chicken, and all kinds of vegetables will never be mixed, and there will be no many tricks. It depends on the collocation of tableware, environment and the collocation of raw materials in shape and color. This mechanical nature of western food is something we must overcome. In short, western diet regulates people's behavior with absolute rationality, and it can bring people pleasant and delicious food with "science" and "nutrition" exclusion. Although it can meet the physiological needs, it can't make people get spiritual pleasure from it, which is a fly in the ointment. On the other hand, Chinese food is just the opposite. China people's diet emphasizes sensibility and artistry, pursues the taste feeling of food, and ignores the nutritional components of food. They evaluate the quality of food from the aspects of "color, fragrance, taste, shape and utensils" and pursue an indescribable artistic conception. Simply put, people in China eat taste. Taste is the charm of China's diet. People in China eat. Bring physical and mental pleasure. China cooking often mixes all kinds of raw materials together, so that they almost lose their true colors, but they produce a new and complete delicacy. For example, Fujian famous dish "Buddha jumps over the wall" contains chicken, duck, pig's feet, scallops, abalone, sea cucumber, pork belly, shark's fin and other main ingredients, as well as several auxiliary materials. Since this dish, the original flavor of every dish has been lost. But the whole is brilliant, which is similar to the golden mean that China people belittle individuality, emphasize average and emphasize harmony. The sensibility of China's diet makes him full of imagination and creativity, and tends to be artistic. This is a realm of freedom beyond necessity, and its greatest feature is randomness. The same dish is treated differently due to different regions, seasons, objects and grades. In the use of raw materials, you can turn decay into magic, but chicken feet can turn decay into magic. Fish head can be made into "casserole stewed fish head" and so on. In terms of cooking techniques, relaxation is a delicious dish. China's diet is only an empirical fuzzy grasp of nutrition science. For example, a banquet must have all kinds of meat and vegetables. The reason is very simple, meat is easy to get greasy, and it must be neutralized with light and refreshing dishes. There is no rational analysis and logical judgment here. Just an experience, a custom. This is also the deficiency of China's diet. China's diet overemphasizes the taste and spiritual enjoyment of meals, ignoring the reasonable combination of nutritional analysis and nutrition, which is one-sided. The western diet pays attention to scientific analysis and nutrition. Although it is mechanical, it is fundamentally positive for maintaining the healthy development of the human body. Therefore, Chinese food should learn from the "scientific" concept of western food in its development. Make it perfect. Compared with China's "taste" diet, the West is a rational concept of diet. No matter what color, fragrance, taste and shape the food is, the nutrition must be guaranteed, and how many calories, vitamins, protein and so on should be taken in a day. Even if it tastes the same, you must eat it-because it is nutritious. This concept of diet is compatible with the whole western philosophy system. Metaphysics is the main feature of western philosophy. The object of western philosophy is the principle of things, and the principle of things is often metaphysical, and the two are interrelated, thus forming a 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 philosophy has greatly hindered, such as food culture. At the banquet, we can pay attention to the collocation of tableware, materials, services and raw materials in shape and color. But no matter how luxurious and upscale, 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, lamb chops on one side, boiled green beans on the other side, and some tomatoes. The color is bright, but the ingredients are irrelevant in taste. 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 the sky. Because our nation has been at a low productivity level for thousands of years, people are always hungry, so there will be a unique diet culture that emphasizes food over food. I think this is probably out of a need for survival. If a culture regards eating as the first thing, it will appear. On the other hand, paying too much attention to food will make people admire the pursuit of delicious 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 stewed with low fire for a long time, which destroys the nutritional components of the dishes and loses a lot in the 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 most important thing for the people. It is this pursuit of delicious 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 ask what is delicious, why is it delicious, and where is it delicious, it may not be easy to make it clear. This shows that China people are pursuing an indescribable "artistic conception" of food, that is, it is still difficult to summarize this "realm" with what people usually call "color, fragrance, taste, shape and container". Harmony means that the original flavor of food, the cooked flavor after heating, the flavor of ingredients and accessories, and the harmonious flavor of spices are intertwined and coordinated, complementing each other, helping each other and blending well. You have me and I have you. The harmonious beauty of China's cooking is the essence of China's cooking art. The variety of dishes is external, but the taste is internal, and the essence is emphasized. Paying more attention to the taste of dishes without revealing the variety of dishes is the most important embodiment of China's aesthetic diet view. In China, the pursuit of beauty in diet obviously outweighs rationality, which is also in line with China's traditional philosophy. As a representative of oriental philosophy, China's philosophy is characterized by macroscopic, intuitive, fuzzy and unpredictable. The method of making Chinese food is to reconcile, and ultimately it is necessary to reconcile the beautiful taste. This emphasizes moderation. Is overall coordination. It contains rich dialectical thoughts of China's philosophy. Everything is based on the beauty and harmony of dishes. The diversity of the degree 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 diets is what to eat. The differences on this issue are rooted in the differences of cultural backgrounds of various ethnic groups. Westerners eat more meat. Pay more attention to the intake of animal protein and fat. In their diet, most of them are animal dishes, mainly beef, chicken, pork, mutton and fish. This is related to nomadic culture and marine culture in the west. Fishing, hunting and breeding are the main activities of the sea and nomadic people, supplemented by planting, which determines that the main source of their diet is animals. Not only diet, but also many other needs in life are taken from animals. China people are influenced by agricultural civilization. In their traditional diet structure, the staple food is grain, supplemented by vegetables and a small amount of meat, and plant dishes are dominant. We usually call it "vegetarian dishes", and usually only add meat dishes during the Spring Festival. This eating habit is deeply influenced by Buddhist culture, which is more obvious. Buddhism believes that animals are "creatures". I can't eat it. The idea of "forbidding killing and releasing" advocated by Buddhists is in the same strain as the Confucian view of "benevolence and righteousness". In addition, Taoism also avoids eating fish and meat, which promotes the development of vegetable planting and cooking technology in China, especially the development of bean products technology. However, with the improvement of living standards and the popularization of nutrition concepts, meat and milk foods have become more and more important in China. In the diet structure of westerners, vegetables have increased obviously, and the diet structure of China and the West has gradually merged. The difference between Chinese and western food content is also manifested in the fact that westerners like to eat cold food and cold dishes, and from cold dishes and salads to cold drinks, cold dishes are indispensable on the table. In China, people like spicy food. Except for a few side dishes before the main course, the main course is spicy. In China's view, hot dishes are cold. As the saying goes, "one hot and three fresh" means this. Westerners believe that dishes are to satisfy hunger, so they only eat "hard dishes" such as large pieces of meat and whole chickens. 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 is in the hands of chefs in China. You can turn decay into magic, which shows that China's diet is extensive 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, vegetarian dishes are ordinary foods in China, and meat dishes only enter the normal diet structure on holidays or when the living standard is high, so there has been a saying of "vegetarian dishes" since ancient times. Vegetarian food is dominant in the usual diet structure. Vegetarianism in China is closely related to the advocacy of Buddhists. They regard animals as "living things" and plants as "lifeless things", so they advocate vegetarianism. When westerners introduce their country's food characteristics, they feel that they pay more attention to the reasonable collocation of nutrition than China, and there are relatively developed food industries, such as canned food and fast food, although they taste the same. On the other hand, China people are thin, with narrow shoulders, short legs and yellow skin. 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, the difference in diet is how to eat. At this point, there are obvious differences between China and the West. In China, whether it is a family dinner or a formal banquet, people sit together. People toasted each other. This reflects the virtues of mutual respect and comity between people and the atmosphere of harmonious reunion, especially in various festivals. This way of eating is an important tradition of China's food culture, which is based on the patriarchal concept. At first, eating was widespread in families and families, and later it expanded outside the family. People in China often use this way to educate and express various "rituals". It is necessary to reflect the relationship between young and old, the relationship between relatives and friends, and the exchange of feelings. Because this way of sitting around drinking caters to the traditional family concept and objectively plays a role in maintaining family stability and promoting family members' unity and harmony, it has been circulating for a long time. It's really a family pleasure to get together for New Year's Eve dinner. But at the same time, this kind of diet also has its disadvantages, mainly unscientific, unhygienic and wasteful. People have gradually realized this kind of disadvantages and started to reform. For example, the State Banquet in China has implemented the system of separate meals, but it still needs to be popularized in the whole society. Westerners are used to eating separately. At western banquets, although they also sit together, everyone's food is a separate dish. The most typical form of western dining system is buffet. Diners each take a set of tableware and take what they need from the prepared food, without fixing seats. You can walk freely. This way of eating can not only fully satisfy your personal preference for food, but also facilitate social interaction and emotional and information exchange between individuals, without making all activities public at the dinner table. Therefore, in western-style banquets, food is only a means and foil, not the whole purpose. The core of the banquet lies in friendship. This way of eating fully reflects the respect of westerners for individuality and self. It emphasizes individual independence, which is completely different from China's unified cultural model. Especially since the Renaissance, western society has vigorously advocated the spirit of equality, freedom, human rights and personality liberation, which has greatly promoted people's personality and freedom consciousness and produced a cultural environment that emphasizes the free development of personality. More importantly, this way of eating is civilized, hygienic and in line with the scientific spirit. Western diets are very different. This difference also affects the national character. In China, any banquet, no matter for what purpose, has only one form, that is, everyone sits together and enjoys a seat. The banquet will use a round table to formally create a United, polite and interesting atmosphere. Delicious food is placed in the center of a table, which is not only the object of appreciation and taste of a table, but also the enjoyment of a table. In the face of beautiful things, it embodies the virtues of mutual respect and mutual courtesy between people. Although this way of eating has obvious shortcomings from the health point of view, 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, and is conducive to collective emotional communication, so it is difficult to reform so far. Although food and wine are very important in western-style banquets, in fact, they are used as foil. The core of the banquet is friendship, and the purpose of friendship is achieved by talking to the guests next door. If we compare the friendship of banquets to dances, we can say that banquets in China are like group dances, while banquets in the West are like ballroom dances for men and women. Thus, the purpose of friendship between Chinese banquet and western banquet is obvious, but the Chinese banquet reflects the friendship of the whole banquet. Western-style banquets are mostly reflected in the friendship between neighboring guests. The difference with China's food style is more obvious in western-style buffets. This method is: all the food is displayed one by one, and everyone needs what they want, and they can move freely without being fixed in their seats. This way facilitates the emotional communication between individuals, and does not need to put everything on the table. It also reflects the respect of westerners for individuality and self. But everyone eats their own food and does not interfere with each other. Lack of China people to chat and have fun. 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. In China, more and more people pay more attention to food hygiene and nutrition, not just color, smell and taste, especially after SARS. Moreover, because people are getting busier and busier at work, they find it too much trouble to cook Chinese food. It's better to have a hamburger, so the difference in diet is not obvious. Fourth, the difference of cooking methods In China, cooking is an art, which attracts China people who enjoy food with great interest and even a certain degree of banter. Cooking is just like China's music, dance, poetry and painting. It is of great significance to improve the realm of life. There are many cooking methods in China: sliding, stewing, roasting, stewing, steaming, frying, crisp, stewing, stewing, exploding, frying, casserole, drawing and so on. And the dishes are even more dazzling. The change of Chinese food technology is more complicated. Many dishes are time-consuming and decorated too much, and the plates are served. " "Seven division of materials" emphasizes the importance of chef's personal choice of raw materials and their use in different grades, that is, the standard of raw materials plays a decisive role in the production of dishes. Westerners emphasize science and nutrition in diet, and the whole process of cooking is carried out in strict accordance with scientific norms, so the cooking of dishes is standardized, so the work of chefs becomes extremely monotonous mechanical work. Moreover, the purpose of westerners' eating is to absorb nutrition first. As long as the nutrition reaches the standard, everything else can be tolerated. So today's potato steak and tomorrow's steak potatoes, the chefs repeat the mechanical work every day with the extremely tolerant attitude of the diners. Of course, I have no interest at all. Western cooking methods are not as complicated and changeable as those in China. Western food is three-dimensional and edible, and most of the food served on the plate can be eaten. Ornaments are the side dishes of the main course. The raw materials of western food are mostly fresh, pollution-free, natural and natural in operation technology, so as to give full play to its original flavor. Don't use too much dry goods. Milk is an indispensable raw material in western food. Suppliers have further standardized and standardized raw materials according to their characteristics, and chefs no longer judge and decide which raw materials to use simply based on their own experience. Fifth, the dining etiquette between China and the West is even more different. In the dining process in ancient China, there was a set of red tape. Qu Ji said, "* * * doesn't have enough food, and * * * doesn't have enough food. Don't scoop food, let it flow, eat, chew bones, fish, dog bones, collect rice. " When eating with others, don't just eat by yourself. If you eat with others, you must check whether your hands are clean. Don't put the extra rice back into the pot, don't monopolize the food, and don't fan the hot rice. After eating, the guests should get up and clean up the dishes on the table and give them to the host. The host will get up and ask the guests not to work. Then the guests sat down again. Some of them are also necessary etiquette in modern times. In western-style banquets, the host usually serves only one dish to the guests, and the rest is eaten by the guests themselves. If the guests don't want to eat, they won't persuade others to eat, and they won't toast or pick up food frequently according to the custom of China people. When eating, they don't make a sound, but guests should pay attention to the food prepared by their hosts. If they talk to others, they can only talk to their neighbors. Don't talk to people far away. The specific differences are as follows. In terms of clothing, in China, people can wear whatever they want in restaurants, even T-shirts and jeans, and only wear them ceremoniously at important banquets. But in the west, when going to high-end restaurants, men should wear neat tops and leather shoes; A lady should wear a suit and shoes with heels. If formal clothes are required, men must wear ties. Casual clothes are not allowed to eat in restaurants. Different from seating, in China, guests are usually seated only after they arrive, and the seats are seated in the order of seniority. The seating order is "respecting the east" and "facing the door". In the west, generally speaking, the seat facing the door farthest from the door belongs to the hostess. In contrast, it is the host's seat. The seat on the hostess's right is the first guest seat, usually a man, and the seat on the hostess's right is the second guest seat, usually a guest's wife. In western countries, ladies are given priority and gentlemanly manners are emphasized. In the order of serving, the first dish in China is soup, followed by rice and other staple foods, and then the last dish is wine to promote digestion. In western countries, the order of serving is usually vegetables and soup, fruit, table wine, staple food, and finally dessert and coffee. The food was put on the table differently. Chinese food was served at one time, and everyone enjoyed all the dishes. In western food, everyone has his own set of tableware, and the dishes are served as soon as they are finished. In terms of food requirements, China doesn't need guests to finish all the dishes, but in the west, eating your dishes is a courtesy and a respect for the host. Sixth, the difference of dining utensils. The tableware in China is mainly chopsticks, supplemented by spoons, and there are cups, plates, bowls and saucers of various shapes. China pays attention to the coordination of the shape, size and color of tableware and dishes, and pays attention to "beauty". It regards diet as an artistic activity, not only to eat a good meal, but also to get a kind of food from it. There are mainly stainless steel, silver-plated, sterling silver and other tableware, as well as various cups, plates, cups and saucers, each of which has its own function and cannot be mixed. However, western food does not emphasize artistic beauty as China people do, and the types of tableware and dishes are monotonous. In short, Westerners pay attention to the content of food, while China people emphasize the form of dishes and the feelings gained from them.