中西方饮食文化差异英语专业论文

中西方饮食文化差异英语专业 An Analysis to the Differences between Chinese and Western Food Culture by Li Genghe Class 1,Grade 09 Tutor: Foreign Languages College of Capital Normal University Sep 21,2009 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 I 页 共 18 页 摘要 本文旨在通过分析中西方饮食文化的差异以及在全球化的影响下 两种饮食文化的相互互补和兼容来了解饮食文化的方方面面以及通 过它来指导我们的餐饮实践活动，在提高认识的基础上扬长避短，改 善饮食结构，提高饮食质量。对跨文化交际中的饮食文化差异进行研 究也能增进中西方人民的相互了解，促进交流，享受不同的饮食带来 的不一样的感受。为了使研究得出科学的结论，具有更强的说服力， 本文作者主要用对比的对两种不同饮食文化的差异进行深入的 分析，包括烹调准则、文化特征、饮食对象、用餐方式和用餐五 个方面，总结出各自的特点、优缺点以及不同的历史渊源，最后倡导 中餐西用把两者结合起来。本文分为五个部分来介绍。 关键词:饮食文化;中西;差异 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 II 页 共 18 页 Abstract This paper aims to understand the complicated aspects of food culture and to guide the catering things in restaurants and so on. In order to achieve this goal, this paper makes an analysis in detail to the differences of food culture between the Chinese and Western as well as the mutual supplementation and compatibleness of the two food cultures under the globalization. In the basis of improving our ability of realization, we should enhance the strong points and avoids weaknesses, improving diet structure, advancing the diet quality and ensuring everyone to have healthy diet in their daily life. The study conducted of the differences of food culture in the macroscopic field of cross-cultural communication also can promote the mutual understanding between the people of the East and West. It could promote the exchange and make people enjoy the different feelings through the different diet. In order to make out a more scientific study conclusion which has a strong persuasive power, this paper makes a thorough analysis with the contrasting method to the differences of the two different food cultures. And this is carried out in the following five aspects: cooking criteria, cultural characteristics, food objects, eating habits and table manners. From this, I summarize their respective characteristics, the good and bad points and the different historical origins as well as finally initiate a dining approach to unify them together. This article is divided into five parts. Key Words: Food cultures; The Chinese and Western; Differences 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 III 页 共 18 页 Table of Contents 摘 要............................................................................................................................................ ....... I Abstract .............................................................................................................................. .............. II Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ III Outline................................................................................................................................ .............IV I. Introduction of Food Culture .................................................................................................... 1 A. Characteristics of Chinese Food Culture ........................................................................... 2 B. Characteristics of the Western Food Culture .................................................................... 3 II. Analysis of Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western Food .................................... 4 A. Different Cooking Criteria: ?Norms? and ?Casual? ........................................................... 4 1. Norm and Exactness in Western Cooking ................................................................. 4 2. Flavor and Liberty in Chinese Cooking .................................................................... 5 B Different Cultural Characteristics: ?Individuality? and ?Harmony? .................................... 6 1. Westerners? individuality .......................................................................................... 7 2. Chinese Harmony ...................................................................................................... 8 C. Different Food Objects ...................................................................................................... 9 D. Different Eating Habits ................................................................................................... 10 E. Different Table Manners ................................................................................................. 12 III. Underlying Causes .......................................................................................................... 13 IV. Significances to the Hotel Catering Departments Based on the Study............................ 14 V. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ .. 16 References .......................................................................................................................... ............. 18 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 IV 页 共 18 页 Outline Thesis Statement: The differences between Chinese and Western food culture are derived from the differences in their ways of thinking and philosophy of life, and ever since the ancient times, Chinese and Western food culture?s collision and exchange have largely promoted the progress and development of human society to some degree, making the food culture become an important part of world culture. I. Food Culture Introduction A. Characteristics of Chinese Food Culture B. Characteristics of the Western Food Culture II. Analysis to the Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western Food A. Different Cooking Criteria: ?Norms? and ?Casual? 1、 Norm and Exactness in Western Cooking 2、 Flavor and Liberty in Chinese Cooking B. Different Cultural Characteristics: ?Individuality? and ?Harmony? 1、 Westerners? Individuality 2、 Chinese Harmony C. Different Food Objects D. Different Eating Habits E. Different Table Manners III. Underlying Causes IV. Significances to the Hotel Catering Departments Based on the Study 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 V 页 共 18 页 V. Conclusion 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第1 页 共18 页 An Analysis to the Differences between Chinese and Western Food Culture The differences between Chinese and Western food culture are derived from the differences in their different ways of thinking and Philosophies of life: Chinese people pay attention to the harmony and unite between Heaven and Man; while Westerners focus on people-orientation; Chinese sitology uses food to express feeling and message and the meaning is too deep and hard to describe. However, the Western interpretation of food is that it has to be kickshaw, and has its own style. Ever since the ancient times, Chinese and Western food culture?s collision and exchange have largely promoted the progress and development of human society to some degree, making the food culture become an important part of world culture. I. Introduction of Food Culture Food culture refers to the technical, scientific and artistic aspects in the process of the food production and food consumption, the development and utilization of food ingredients in specific social groups , as well as the diet-based customs, traditions, ideology and philosophy, in a word, the sum of all the food things of a combination of the way, process, function of food production and consumption(张亚红, 2009).The study on food culture is extremely rich in content. Generally, it can be chosen from two aspects: the first is, the whole analysis and research aiming at specific groups of food culture phenomenon and the second is the specific analysis and research on a 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 2 页 共 18 页 certain area of the food culture phenomenon. A. Characteristics of Chinese Food Culture The diet is actually the content of our daily life, but why do we say that it contains specific culture? This is because the diet has a special status in the Chinese culture. And it is also different between China and the West. Chinese people's diet starts as early as in the Qin Dynasty. At that time, the typical diet primarily consists of the miscellaneous grains, in addition to some supplementary food such as vegetables and meat. Certainly this kind of diet relates to our Chinese first religion Buddhism a lot which advocates vegetarian diet. And the rice is the staple food, but the vegetable is to get food down. The rice is not delicious, so people must eat the vegetable which is more delicious than rice to get the rice down. And this urges Chinese cooking to make the unsavory food to become the delicious food, which gradually becomes the most important goal of cooking. Moreover the technology of diet processing in Chinese cooking is first-class, thus manifesting the characteristics of Chinese culture. The Chinese cooking's diet process technology is first-class in the world, thus it has manifested the Chinese culture characteristic. All these enable the Chinese diet culture to have the following characteristics. First, the Chinese cooking technology has developed a lot and many things which do not look like eatable food in the Westerners? eyes can become the food rich in the appearance, the fragrance and the taste under the Chinese chef's careful cooking. Second, Chinese recipes are widespread, and everything that can be eaten will be full 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 3 页 共 18 页 used. and everything that can be eaten will be fully used. The West botanist, the Chinese eat more than six times types of vegetables than the Westerners. Third, For the Chinese people, the pursuit of eating is just to pursue best happiness of life, food becoming the first requirement. B. Characteristics of the Western Food Culture In the Western diet, meat always has a high proportion because the diet was initially base mainly on animal husbandry. In the modern times, although the proportion of crop cultivation has been increasing, the proportion of meat in the diet is still much higher than that of China. As the natural delicious taste of meat, for the Westerners there is no need of too much decoration for food, limiting the development of cooking. Europeans mostly use tools to show their affluence, for instance, the number of kinds and luxury become the content to care about. Moreover, they will not make the pursuit of eating which is easy to satisfy to be the pursuit of the best happiness. We take Europe and America as a representative for the West, for its culture similarly has a well-established and long history. To the middle ages, the European culture had grown up, and during that time the old West?s diet culture had already formed. Its main feature was: the bread flour was the staple food, raw material was also very rich, their manufacturing method was simpler than that of China, but they also paid great attention to the taste. 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 4 页 共 18 页 II. Analysis of Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western Food There are distinctive food cultures in different nations and countries, with strong national character and diversity of features. Food Product, due to the geographical features, the climate of the environment and the customs and so on, will appear great difference in the raw materials, taste, cooking methods and eating habits. The comparison of the differences between Chinese and Western food culture will be from the following five areas: different cooking criteria, different cultural characteristics, different food objects, different eating habits and different table manners. A. Different Cooking Criteria: „Norms? and „Casual? 1. Norm and Exactness in Western Cooking Westerners emphasize science and nutrition, so the whole process of cooking is in strict accordance with the scientific norm. The use of recipes is an excellent proof to this. In the Western recipes the measurement is calculated by grams and in the surface the recipe seems to be scientific. Westerners are always holding recipes to go to buy food and make dishes, but compared to Chinese cooking, it is a very mechanical thing, so in front of complex circumstances it is often powerless. And this consistency has led to a drawback of Western food-the lack of features. When people are in different places, when you want to taste the local cuisine, definitely no one would choose foods like Kentucky Fried Chicken, 首都师范大学 Capital Normal University 第 5 页 共 18 页 because Fried Chicken requires not only the ingredients according to recipes, but also the temperature of the oil, fried chicken, and the time. The process must be strict in accordance with specifications, so the world's KFC taste is the same. In addition, the standardized cooking requires preparing ingredients, adding the spices accurate to grams, cooking time accurate to seconds. As the production of standardized Western dishes, it makes cooking into a mechanical work. There is no creativity. Steak, fried chicken and salad are always taking the same kinds of forms, so cook?s work has become an extremely monotonous mechanical work, like an automated assembly-line worker, or even by a robot to act in his place. Moreover, a dish in different regions, different seasons and for different people has the same taste. There is no change. Even in high-leveled banquet, the diet has no more elegant table tools and more luxurious decoration, but the dish is still the same kind. 2. Flavor and Liberty in Chinese Cooking What the Westerners can not understand is that the Chinese cooking does not pursue the accurate standardization, but respect randomness. Looking carefully at China's recipes, you will find that the amount of raw materials to prepare and the amount of spices to add are just vague concepts, such as "a spoon", "bowl", "little bit" and so on, but how much is actually “a spoon, ?a bowl” and “a little”, there is no specific criteria. Chinese cooking, not only pays attention to the major cuisines having