1、【标题】浅谈中西方饮食文化的差异 【作者】杜吉瑞 【关键词】中西方；饮食文化；差异；跨文化交际 【指导老师】王 露 陈 慧 【专业】英语 【正文】I. Introduction With the development of the society, science and technology, the intercultural contact becomes more frequent. It seems the world is becoming smaller, but people from different cultural backgrounds often feel tha
2、t habits and customs keep them apart in the communication. There may be some conflicts and misunderstandings because of the different cultures in intercultural communication. Culture, in a broad sense, includes beliefs, customs, habits, institutions, techniques, and languages. In a narrow sense, it
3、may refer to local beliefs or customs that are related to our daily life, which can be found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture etc. It is so inclusive that it permeates every aspect of human life and affects peoples behavior.Food is one of the most important parts in folk culture.
4、It is the first necessity in mens life, also is one of the fundamental form in social existent. But different backgrounds have different food perspectives and habits, and then take shape of different food culture1. It involves what to eat, how to eat, why to eat etc. The habit of diet in each nation
5、 is one of the most important parts in their cultures. Because of the impact of different cultures, such as belief, custom, value and religion, there are different perspectives towards food and eating, contents and eating manners between China and the west, which shows their own food culture. Every
6、nation has its own food culture as everyone has his own interest. There is a proverb that “ones bear paw is ones arsenic” in Chinese; and there is also a proverb that “one mans meat is another mans poison”2 in English. The Chinese use chopsticks while western people use knife and fork when eating, C
7、hinese eat rice and vegetables while westerners eat meat and bread in their daily life. They all reflect the differences between Chinese and western food cultures. This paper tends to study the differences between Chinese and western food cultures from the perspective towards food, the contents of f
8、ood and eating manners, and also to explore the cultural aspects causing these differences to help us develop cultural awareness and improve intercultural communication competence.II. The Different Perspective towards FoodFirstly, the difference between Chinese and western food culture is the differ
9、ent perspective towards food. It forms in the process of preparing and eating food. It involves some problems, such as: why to eat, how to eat, and how to treat eating? Because of being influenced by different philosophical thoughts, value and thinking patterns, the perspective towards food between
10、China and the west differs a lot.A. The Chineses Aesthetic Perspective towards FoodAs the saying goes “Food is the essentials to people” and “Man is iron and food is steel”, we can see that food is very important for our Chinese people. Except for avoiding hunger, the purpose for Chinese people is t
11、o seek for the delicious food. And in Chinese cooking, color, aroma and flavor share equal importance in the preparation of every dish. Chinese food is full of aesthetic feeling, and thus every dish on the Chinese meal table looks like a piece of art, good looking and delicious. These are the crucia
12、l points for good Chinese cooking, the smell of the cooked food must conform to the expectant level of tenderness, crispness or even chewiness. Of these characteristics, taste is the first importance to most Chinese people. “Flavors”, are the enchantment of Chinese food. They advocate“民以食为天(people r
13、egard food as of fundamental importance),食以味为先”3(taste is preferred), and endeavor to make delicious food. As long as the taste is agreeable to people, a kind of food may be cooked variously according to diverse geography, climate and so on. This leads to the evolution of what is called eight cuisin
14、es, which reflect local preferences and also have own special style of cooking. The seek for aesthetic of Chinese diet obviously overwhelm the rational ones, and it is in line with the traditional philosophical thought. Chinese food reflect the dialectic thought of it: light in summer and autumn, st
15、rong in spring and winter. When people taste one dish, they always say this dish is delicious or not. It is clear that people regard the taste of food as first importance. But if you want to know where and why the dish is delicious, Im afraid its very difficult to say clearly. It is proved that the
16、pursing of delicious taste is the artistic mood that cant express by words. This conforms to the visual, ambiguous features of Chinese philosophical thought and thinking pattern. Chinese people are more subjective in thinking and tend to value intuition a lot, through which they get an insight into
17、things around us. This thinking pattern lies in perceiving directly through the sense, not in the logic analysis, and is also difficult to express by words exactly. Chinese people especially pursue the taste of food, but pay less attention to the nutrition. I take fish as an example. In China, peopl
18、e usually cook braised fish with many pepper and other seasonings, which suits most Chinese peoples taste. While in the west, people usually cook steaming fish, which can keep the fish fresh. And in the process of cooking steaming fish, the nutrition of fish may retain maximally. Additionally, even
19、if sometimes Chinese people are over full, they would continue eating because they cant bear attraction of delicious taste. So one Chinese poet said:“肠满诚好事，余者皆奢侈。”4 But to westerners, it is wasteful and harmful for health.B. The Westerners Rational and Scientific Perspective towards FoodChinese peop
20、le in general are not concerned about nutrition as westerners. The western cultures interpretation of food is the rational and scientific perspective. Western people accustom to labeling food as “good” or “bad” based on the supposed healthy quality. They once pointed out all the functions of food ar
21、e to remove hunger, enhance strength, make people beautiful, benefit to the development of intelligence and promote the enjoyment of one special senseeach one should improve health, then to keep permanent health. It is evident that the main function of food is to improve health, then to satisfy the
22、taste. In order to reduce the loss of nutrition, most westerners would like to eat half-cooked even raw food. For example, salad is a popular food in the west, which consists of some kinds of fruit and vegetables. When making salad, you only need wash fruit and vegetables, then cut them into pieces,
23、 last add salad juice. This method retains most of nutrients. Additionally, half-cooked beef is preferred to most westerners. But Chinese people usually think that the raw or half-cooked food is hard to swallow and is far from the taste that people expect, also it isnt good for our health.From the a
24、bove, we can know western people concern more about nutrition of food than Chinese. They value objectivity, specificity, and precision, which is their thinking pattern. This fosters their analysis of food ingredients in their diet to decide nutrients that they need. This breakdown of food as labels
25、such as fat, carbohydrates and proteins becomes a popular method of describing food ingredients. Most westerners decide the need of fat and nutrients according to The Supply of Nutrients in Daily Diet, and then compute the need of food on the basis of food ingredients in the daily life to arrange fo
26、od exactly. In the west most families have private dietitians to arrange food for their diet. They usually choose an egg, a cup of milk and some pieces of bread as their breakfast, fast food as their lunch, beef, cheese or fried chicken as supper, which contain enough nutrients, and this is why west
27、erners become fatter and fatter. Because of being affected by their thinking pattern, in the western cooking,“ you are told exactly how much water, how many grams of salt, sugar and other ingredients are needed for a certain dish, how many minutes, how strong the heat, the food takes to be cooked.”5
28、 Just as the seeking for the nutrition, the cooking methods are hardly different in the west. From Los Angeles to New York, the taste of beefsteak is almost the same.III. The Different Contents of Food The content of food involves what to eat, especially in our daily life. Food is closed to a nation
29、s environment and tradition, peoples dining life is related to the changes in the system of food culture. Because of the different cultural background, the contents of food between China and the west are different. In a word, the choices of the contents of food are influenced by the differences of t
30、he geographical surrounding and climate gigantically.A. The Vegetal Contents of Food in ChinaThe traditional food culture of the main race in China, from the content, is mainly based on the vegetal food. As is well known, China is an agricultural center in the world. The broad territory, the diversi
31、fied geographical surrounding, the abundant climate terms and the plenty categories of the food, all of these conditions provide the sturdy material base of Chinese food6. The ancient medical classic Suwen recommends“five grains for nutrition, five fruits, five meats for benefit, five plants for ful
32、lness”.7 A meal in China is typically seen as consisting of two general components: Zhushi( main food), typically rice, noodles, and accompanying dishes of vegetables, fish meat, known as Cai( vegetable) in the Chinese language. So rice and wheaten food dominate in the Chinese traditional food cultu
33、re. Meat hardly appears on the table in the Chinese traditional food. Common people eat vegetables and rice in their daily lives, and meat is only offered to the rich, the guests and God. All of these are called vegetarian advocated by Buddhism, because in Buddhist culture, killing lives is a cruel
34、behavior and eating meat is not permitted.Chinese are fond of hot food. It always begins with a set of at least four cold dishes, to be followed by the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes. In Chineses mind, there must be lack of taste if hot food becomes cold, “one hot, three fresh”has the
35、 same meaning.B. The Meaty Contents of Food in the WestBut in the west, the barren of land, the lack of water are not good for the development of the agriculture, people cant plant rice but wheat and grass, and the west inherits a traditional seafaring and nomadic culture, so they depend on hunting,
36、 fishing and aquaculture to get food. It is determined they choose to eat more animal dish and dairy food. Contrast to Chinese meals, meat or animal protein is often considered the main dish, such as beef, ham and fried chicken. Also bread plays a very important role in their meals, just as rice in
37、China. The difference of contents between Chinese and western food culture also exhibit that westerners like cold food, such as: assorted cold dish, salad, anyway there cant do without cold food on the table. Westerners like to eat raw vegetable, not only tomato, cucumber, but also cabbage, onion.IV
38、. The Different Eating Manner in Chinese and Western Food CultureFrom the first two parts, we can see the differences in perspectives towards food and contents reflect the different thinking patterns of Chinese and western people. Meanwhile we need to know about those differences in social customs,
39、behaviors to understand people better in the west and their culture.We know both China and the west are particular about the etiquette of eating. As an important part in food culture, the rites of food is the order and conformity of the eating, also are the civilized refinement and the principle of
40、communication in the eating activity. All of the things incarnate “ceremony”, such as: the direction of seat, the arrangement of utensils. The form of etiquette is closely related to the traditional thought of culture, the religion conviction, the thinking pattern and the regional civilization. Each
41、 nation has its own standard etiquette during a long-term practice, which can be regarded as the principle of their behavior. In the intercultural communication, the etiquette means courtesy and also refers to a kind of communicative way. It is mostly close to our daily life, and it differs because
42、of different cultures. It reflects on the seating arrangement, table manners and hospitality.A. The Different Seating Arrangements and the Cause of the DifferenceSeating arrangement is one of the important ways to indicate the status of a person and interpersonal relationships according to space. Pe
43、oples concept towards space is not inborn, and it is influenced by different cultures. Chinese lay stress on the seating arrangement because it stands for innumerable meanings. Westerners also pay much attention to it, but the contents are different from China. It is very necessary for us to compreh
44、end the knowledge of seating in China and the west. 1. Chinese Seating CustomIt is well-known China is a nation of etiquette, which begins with eating. The Book of Rites wrote:“夫礼之初，始诸饮食。”8(Husbands etiquette begins with eating). So in China, there is a strict seating arrangement in the banquette. A
45、s a guest, you may be asked to sit prominently at the table in the so-called honor seat. Women hardly appear in the traditional banquette. Now women in the banquette always sit together. We know the core of the Chinese cultures is hierarchy, which has some relationship with the Confucianism. The eth
46、ic principle of Confucianism is the well-known five relationships: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother and friend-friend. This was explained as that “There should be affection between father and son, righteous sense of duty between ruler and minister, division of function
47、 between man and wife, stratification between old and young, and good faith between friends”9 . During the more than two thousand years of the feudal period, the ruling class arranges every thing by these relationships, and then formed a class society. The concept that “men are superior to women” af
48、fects the Chinese people all the time. Additionally, the young are supposed to show respect and obedience to old people who receive honor, privilege and satisfaction, since people believe that an old person is a wise man full of experience. The typical example is that the oldest person is the most r
49、espected not only in the family but also in the neighborhood. Just as Confucianism shows in Five Relations, the young should show filial love, obedience and duty to the old in the family, esp. in the relationship between parents and children.In China, collectivism is a major value. No matter in family dinner or formal banquette, people are all sitting around the table, toasting with each other to show respective, virtue of comity, and the atmosphere of peace and reunion, esp. in festivals, people always meet together by eating. This is an important tradition in Chinese
