Cultural-differences-between-China-and-America-difference-in-culture-of-food-中美飲食文化差異

1、Cultural differences between China and America-difference in culture of food Abstract food is the heaven to the human. Since human beings appeared on the earth millions years ago, we have had food everyday to satisfy the need of energy. Because of the influence of religion, climate, and region, diff

2、erent countries have different dietary cultures. China, which has a history longer than five thousand years, is one of the biggest countries in the world, and the United States is the super country that has a great influence to the whole world. We study these differences and then find out the points

3、 that can be digested, in order to facilitate the communication about cultures between China and the United States. By the analysis of the differences between Chinese and American dietary cultures, we can comprehend the respective cultural traditions of China and the west and we can also improve and

4、 create the new culture of China. In my paper, I would like to discuss the difference of food between the two countries. Keywords China America food Introduction Because of the long distance, the isolation of hundreds of years makes the United States and China be too much different in their cultures

5、. Although every country and society must evolve by food, food culture is not the same and the positions of food in different cultures are also diverse. China has been evolving more than five thousand years. It is the country with a large population, so it is an large agricultural country and has pl

6、enty of food resources to feed its people. So, in China, food has always being put at the highest position of the country. Differently, the United States was born and bred by polity and economy. It enjoys a excellent reputation of the high level of its polity and economy. The Americans did not pay t

7、heir whole attention to food. In the culture of America, food is just a small part of peoples daily life. The different degrees that people focus on food lead to different food cultures.Receiving the influence of respective cultural tradition, the Chinese and western dietary culture has had differen

8、t characteristics. The differences in concepts, patterns, attribution and nature reflect the different dietary cultures in the different state characteristics; such characteristics enriched the research value of food culture. Studying these cultural differences, we can find out a joint to enhance th

9、e communication between China and America . It may be a great help to the communication of the Chinese and western cultures. Body1. diet idea1.1 American diet ideaWestern people usually pay attention to the calories、vitamins、proteins and so on when they enjoy their meal. In their opinion, one should

10、 choose his food only according to his need as an independent individual and the balanced requirement of all kinds of nutrients for each part of his body. Comparing with the Chinese diet, western diet tastes stereotyped, as simple as chewing the candle, but the sense tells them: We must eat them all

11、 because of the nutrition. 1.2 Chinese diet ideaWhen the western people pay more attention to the balance of nutrition, What Chinese people care about is the deliciousness of food . Chinese often use these words such as color 、smell 、flavor and shape to describe the food. In China, Chinese people re

12、gard meal as a kind of art of their life. The quality and the quantity of food represent the social status of a family, so many people use colorful and tasty food to show off when they have a party.2. diet patterns2.1 diet pattern in ChinaIn China, a celebration, no matter what, there will be only o

13、ne form, as sitting together, sharing one feast. Banquet uses round table, which has created a unity of form, which is courtesy, comity atmosphere. Dishes are in the center of the table. They are the objects for people to appreciate and taste, and they are also an intermediate of communication. Peop

14、le drink together and share the vegetables, which reflect the mutual respect among them. It can also show the virtues of comity and harmony. Although in the healthy respect, this approach has several deficiencies, it is our national happy mentality. It reflects the classical Chinese philosophy calle

15、d harmony and it is helpful for Chinese people to facilitate the collective emotional exchanges.2.2 Diet pattern in America The more obvious difference between Chinese and American dietary patterns is buffet dinner which is popular in America. This method is to display all food, and everybody picks

16、not fixed in his or her places to eat. They walk freely. This approach can provide the emotional interaction between individuals; they never need to put every word on the table. This also shows a western personality and self-respect. However, all the eating without jamming lacks the real affective t

17、one like the Chinese people. Some people want to put the buffet in the Chinese food, but I think it is not feasible. The Chinese people drink and eat around the table to show harmony and unity, but the buffet has broken such pattern. It raises the personal independence and self-mentioned at the firs

18、t place. This is the opposite of the scale of the great unity of all Chinese traditional culture.3. Diet AttributionAmerican diet tends to be scientific and rational, but the Chinese diet tends to be art and sentimental. During the underdeveloped era of diet, these two trends have only one aim to li

19、ve and never be hungry. And when the dietary culture is full developed, the tendency is shown in this different purpose: the former is in the development of nutrition, the latter is expressed as the stress on the flavor.Therefore, the focus of American diet is only the extension of the original diet

20、 practicality. The emphasis on the flavor of Chinese cuisine caters the diet to the arts field. In China, eating is not meant to have enough. Sometimes we eat though we are full. We are overloaded with food. Why? Saying bluntly, it is to appreciate the art of cooking. Compared to the rational diet i

21、n the United States, it is not only waste, but also harmful to the humans body. 4. Diet tableware 4.1 the differences of the diet tablewareIn the space of diet tableware, the diet cultural differences are more obvious. As we know, Chinese people including some Asian countries, use chopsticks, spoon.

22、 When they have a meal also use bowl. But how about Americans? They use plate, knife and fork to eat, there use specialized spoon to drink soup. Chopsticks and knife, fork are two kinds of representative tableware of the east and the west. They affected the different lifestyles of China and America,

23、 representing two kinds of different wisdom. 4.2 the development of fork and knifeAs we know, the emergence of knife and fork is much later than chopsticks, it was originally the ancient nomadic origin and the European lifestyle; they carry knives to live, and often cooked the meat, then cut off to

24、eat. After settle the city, the knives and forks into the family kitchen, at this time, people just do not have to carry them. Western people have been using knife and fork just for four or five hundred years of history. Compared with the simple chopsticks, knife and fork are much more sophisticated

25、. 4.3 the advantage of chopsticks Different people have different views, it is difficult to draw the conclusions that the relationship of thinking method between chopsticks and knife and fork. However, there is scientific basis of using chopsticks is better training your thinking ability. From a phy

26、siological point of view, when you eating with chopsticks, it affect the human body of thirty joints and fifty muscles. So, stimulating the activity of brain systems, it brings agility and quick thinking. There is no doubt that the chopsticks have the scientific principles.ConclusionBy the text from

27、 this thesis, we can easily find that there still existing various differences between Chinese and American dietary cultures. But with the development of cultural communication between China and the United States and along with the strengthening of communication between China and the United States,

28、China has imported various kinds of western food, such as the KFC DICOS, McDonald. These are new marks which represent western food culture exchanges and infiltration. The impact brought by economic globalization is stronger and deeper than the internationalization. Economic globalization is a doubl

29、e-edged sword. On one hand, it brings the vitality of economic growth, on the other hand, the dominant culture has been put into other countries through strong economic and infiltrated every corner of the globe. Therefore, the cultural communication focus on how to assimilate advantages of the other

30、 countries culture, abandon its shortcoming, and learn how to transform and make it localized. All countries need to study the issue. So in the face of the dietary cultural exchange problems between China and the America, we should find each ones advantages and draw the mutual advantages. When China

31、 can learn from the point that western diet stresses nutrition match, Chinese people make the Chinese cuisine more outstanding. China is the country of a long history with an ancient culture and various cultural traditions. She feeds the 1.4 billion Chinese people, and Chinese culture is very inclus

32、ive. In the course of development, it absorbed a lot of different cultures. Moreover, now China does more efforts to draw all the outstanding achievements in the World. Chinas reform and opening up policy created the conditions on international relations and cultural exchanges. We need to use such a

33、n opportunity to absorb the excellent cultures from other countries, to develop and create Chinas new culture. This work can make the world to know China better and let China go to the world.ReferencesBDD生命列車The Train Of Life不久以前，我讀了一本書。書中把人生比作一次旅行。人生一世，就好比是一次搭車旅行，要經(jīng)歷無數(shù)次上車、下車; 時常有事故發(fā)生; 有時是意外驚喜，有時卻是刻

34、骨銘心的悲傷 降生人世，我們就坐上了生命列車。我們以為我們最先見到的那兩個人-我們的父母，會在人生旅途中一直陪伴著我們。 很遺憾，事實并非如此。他們會在某個車站下車，留下我們，孤獨無助。他們的愛、他們的情、他們不可替代的陪伴，再也無從尋找。 盡管如此，還會有其他人上車。他們當(dāng)中的一些人將對我們有著特殊的意義。 他們之中有我們的兄弟姐妹, 有我們的親朋好友。我們還將會體驗千古不朽的愛情故事。坐同一班車的人當(dāng)中，有的輕松旅行。有的卻帶著深深的悲哀 還有的,在列車上四處奔忙，隨時準(zhǔn)備幫助有需要的人 很多人下車后，其他旅客對他們的回憶歷久彌新 但是，也有一些人，當(dāng)他們離開座位時，卻沒有人察覺。有時候，

35、對你來說情深義重的旅伴卻坐到了另一節(jié)車廂。你只得遠(yuǎn)離他，繼續(xù)你的旅程。當(dāng)然，在旅途中，你也可以搖搖晃晃地穿過自己的車廂，去別的車廂找他 可惜，你再也無法坐在他身旁，因為這個位置已經(jīng)讓別人給占了 .沒關(guān)系。旅途充滿挑戰(zhàn)、夢想、希望、離別 就是不能回頭。因此，盡量使旅途愉快吧！善待旅途上遇見的所有旅客，找出人們身上的閃光點。永遠(yuǎn)記住，在某一段旅程中，有人會猶豫彷徨，因為我們自己也會猶豫彷徨。我們要理解他人，因為我們需要他人的理解。生命之謎就是：我們在什么地方下車？坐在身旁的伴侶在什么地方下車？我們的朋友在什么地方下車？我們無從知曉 我時常這樣想：到我該下車的時候，我會留戀嗎？我想我還是會的。和我的

36、朋友分離，我會痛苦。讓我的孩子孤獨地前行，我會悲傷。 我執(zhí)著地希望在我們大家都要到達(dá)的那個終點站，我們還會相聚 我的孩子們上車時沒有什么行李，如果我能在他們的行囊中留下美好的回憶，我會感到幸福。我下車后，和我同行的旅客都還能記得我，想念我，我將感到快慰。獻(xiàn)給你, 我生命列車上的同行者, 祝您旅途愉快!Not long ago, I read a book, in which a mans life was compared to a journey.The life of a man is just like a hitchhiking，during which many times we g

37、o up and down. Now and then things will happen accidently, some of which are to be unexpected excitement，while some heart-breaking sorrows. When first embraced the world，we are already on the train of life. We take it for granted that the first two persons, our parents, whom we are encountered with,

38、 will accompany us all the way.Sadly，things do not go on as we thought.Our parents will get off the train at a certain station，leaving us, bereft and helpless.Their love and emotion to us and their irreplaceable company can be found in nowhere.However，there will be somebody else who will get on the

39、train. Some of them will have special meaning to us.Some of them may be our siblings , relatives and friends, and we will also expereince the imperishable love.Some of our travelling companions are quite light-hearted on the way.While some may bear immense sorrow.Still some ,back and forth, are read

40、y to hold out their hands for others who need help.Some people alight off the train, yet they are still kept in the mind of the other passengers for long;some, to the opposite, leave their seats without being noticed.Sometimes, the one,who is dear to your heart, has huddled into another carriage. Nothing but one you can do is just to keep on