论中西饮食文化之差异英语4000字

编号（No.）SFLC2013 200905210230 宁夏师范学院外国语学院 学士学位论文

An Analysis of Different Food Cultures between China and Western Countries 作者姓名曹俊峰 论文方向英美文化 指导教师马生仓

答辩时间

2013年5月25日

Abstract Food is the basic need for human survival and development, but also is one of the basic forms of social life.Different countries have different food cultures.This thesis analyzes the differences in food culture between China and western countries from several different aspects, including food perceptions, tastes and nutritions, food targets, tablewares, and manners as well as pursuit.Certainly, these differences are obvious.As long as people have a good understanding about food culture, they will be polite in communications between Chinese and westerners.

Key Words food culture；differences；communications；China；western countries CONTENTS I.Introduction……………………………………………………………………….....1

II.Literature Review......................................................................................................1 III.Differences in Food Cultures between China and Western Countries……...…2 3.1 Food Perceptions, Tastes and Nutritions……………………………...…...…....2 3.2 Different Food Targets……………………………………………………….....4

3.3The Styles of Having Dinner and Using Tablewares…….……………………...5 3.4 Differences in Pursuit…………...………………………………………..…….8 IV.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...….....9 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….10

Acknowledgments........................................................................................................11 I.Introduction Food is the basic need for human survival and development; also it is one of the basic forms of social life.In different historical backgrounds, however, there are different food perceptions, different food needs and the way of using food.In the 21st century, cro-cultural communication has been integrated into all aspects of life.Chinese and western cultures had been the two major types of world cultures.And the food culture is very important both in Chinese and western cultures.Chinese food culture has a long history.It has experienced several years of historical development and become an important component of China’s traditional culture.In the long proce of development, Chinese people gradually form their own unique food culture.Meanwhile, Chinese food becomes a bright pearl of food and cultural treasures in the world.On the contrary, western food culture keeps always a kind of rational perception.Western people pay more attention to lightly flavored and dietary equilibrium.People no longer exceively pursue taste because they choose food’s nutrition.People try to research the difference of the nutrition.This thesis focuses on the different food cultures in China and western countries.Knowing about the differences between Chinese and western food cultures and their development, foreign language learners can not only increase the understanding of languages and cultures, but also enhance the efficiency of cro-cultural communication.At the same time, the contact between different countries becomes much tighter through the incorporation of a global economy. II.Literature Review Many scholars are interested in different food cultures between China and western countries.In Yin Li and Han Xiaoling’s book, writers mainly describe the relationship of idioms and folklore (Yin Li, Han Xiaoling.2007:39).And the writers also tell about food culture.Their opinion is that food manner is not just to satisfy people’s physical needs, what is more, food is a social behavior, and it has rich cultural connotations.Different regions, countries and peoples gradually form a distinctive food culture, because it is affected by natural environment, product, geography, climate, economy, politics, religion, philosophy, history and so on.Food custom is a visualized reflection of food culture.Food custom belongs to the scope of a big culture.It is also an independent branch of folklore.

In Jiang Yan’s thesis, she refers to the differences of Chinese and western food cultures (Jiang Yan, 2007:50).First, people can accept actively western food culture by analyzing the differences of Chinese and western food cultures.At the same time, people should notice western etiquette through cro-cultural communication so that they can grasp the nation’s cultural characteristics on the basis of seeking common ground while accepting the existing differences.Second, this way can also train people’s adaptability.Finally, people can avoid effectively the misunderstandings which are caused by the differences of cultures, too.

Through analyzing those papers, the author proposes reasonable suggestion about food culture.Moreover, these papers explain the significance of learning the differences between Chinese and western food cultures.In addition, these papers only state that it is important to learn food culture for people, but authors don’t mention that people should respect food culture of every country.In other words, people shouldn’t discriminate every country’s food culture.Besides, people should notice how to choose nourished food.

III.Differences in Food Cultures between China and Western Countries Receiving the influence of respective cultural tradition, the Chinese and western food cultures have different characteristics.The differences in perceptions, tastes and nutrition; food targets; the styles of having dinner and tablewares; and interest have reflected the different food cultures in the different state characteristic; such characteristic has enriched the research value of food culture.Studying these cultural differences, we can find out a joint enhancing the communication between China and the west through a comprehensive study of the subject.It may be a great help to the communication of the Chinese and western cultures. 3.1 Food Perceptions, Tastes and Nutritions Christianity has deep influence on Western food perception.Christianity strees that human beings must absolutely obey the order of the God; they must respect soul; they propose people’s reason; they control people’s desire; they ignore people’s value of life and significance; they pay more attention to the happine of heaven.Christianity thinks that the ancestor of the human being was expelled from the Garden of Eden by God because they ate forbidden fruit.So people have original sin.In their life, they gain purification and pleasure of soul with believing in God and taking part in religious ceremony.So human being controls food.The Bible says that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Perter Bromhead said that western countries have a rational food perception and they pay more attention to scientific food perception (Perter, Bromhead,1978:3).Western countries stre natural value of food.They attach importance to protein, fat, quantity of heat and vitamins in food.However, they are particular about whether nutrient ingredient in food is reasonable collocation；whether the supply of calories is just right; whether these nutrition constituents are fully absorbed by people.In addition, they try to keep normal juice and natural nutrition of food, rather than pursue food’s color, scent, design, as well as its variety.Even if the taste is same or insipid, people will eat it.Because western people pay more attention to food’s nutrition constituent.They don’t connect food with spiritual enjoyment.Even food will reflect a strong practical and utilitarian purpose.Western people think that food is just existent means, but it uses a more scientific, normative and reasonable manner (Keith,Sinclair,1980).For example, school leaders will arrange a nutritionist for students in middle school in order to ensure teenagers to have enough and balanced nutrition.But western food also has big shortcomings.For example, they don’t eat animal’s viscera.In other words, they don’t pay more attention to food without nutritional value.Meanwhile, the cooking skill of western people often reflects mechanical and rigid.All kinds of vegetables will never mix together and taint by other odor.And they can’t change another pattern.

Chinese people pay more attention to eating.In China, there is a proverb that bread is the staff of life.The proverb explains that people regards food as heaven.For thousands of years, the nation was in a low productivity level, people didn’t have enough food to eat.Chinese people think that eating is the most important thing over others.If a kind of culture treats eating as the first thing, then there will be two phenomena: On one hand, people will make eating’s function to acme.Its function can maintain existence and health.On the other hand, too much attention to eating will make people respect the pursuit of delicious food.In Chinese cooking technique, Chinese people pursue delicious food to acme, and they make a living by developing restaurant industry in overseas.

Chinese food strees artistry and sensibility, and pursues feeling of taste on food.Chinese people like appraising the pros and cons of food from color, scent, design, as well as its variety and so on (Li Mingying,1997).They pursue a kind of mood without expreing in language.Simply speaking, Chinese people pay more attention to taste.Certainly, taste is the charm of Chinese food.Taste not only satisfies people to be eager for delicious food, but also brings physical and mental pleasure.Chinese food exceively strees taste and mental enjoyment.Chinese food also has its disadvantages, it ignores nutrient ingredient in food.Chinese people regard delicious food as the first request.However, it is a pity when people regard delicious food as the first request.A large of traditional food need go through a long period of frying and strewing, so the nutrient ingredient in food is destroyed.Chinese people often ignore the nutrition’s analysis and reasonable nutrition’s collocation.

In a word, western food pays more attention to food’s nutrition from scientifically analyzing, while Chinese food strees artistry and sensibility, and pursues feeling of taste on food.Both sides should learn from each other and make food more perfect. 3.2 Different Food Targets Food target roots in the differences of ethnic cultural background.Western people eat more meat.They pay more attention to animal’s protein and fat in their food (Leslie,White,1949:06).Meat plays an important role in the food structure and mainly includes beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and fish.The cultural background connects with western nomads and maritime national culture.People regard sailing, fishing, hunting and nomadic as their own main activities.Planting is a complement to the activity.So animals are the main source of their food.In modern times, the proportion of planting industry is on the increase.But the proportion of meat is still higher than Chinese food.Although the proportion of meat is smaller than vegetables, people have another food—tofu which can make up nutrition for human being.Tofu is a traditional food.Its history dates back to the western Han Dynasty.Not only is the taste of tofu very delicious, but also it has much the nutrient ingredient in food.It is good for people’s health.People often say that the green vegetables and tofu can protect the human being.Tofu can be made different dishes and snacks.At times, it can be made delicious food with little tofu.People regard tofu as main ingredient and second ingredient.The life conditions of Chinese people are affected by the agricultural civilization.Staple food is wheat and beans.Certainly, vegetables dominate Chinese food.People often call vegetarians dishes（Paul,Anthony,1975:68）.Chinese people usually add to meat dishes in festival.This kind of food custom has deeply influenced on Buddhism.Buddhists believe that animals are “creature”, and “creature” can’t be killed.Even people can’t eat them.However, with the development of living standards and the popularity of nutritional perception, Chinese people are increasing the proportion of meat and dairy products on the table.Similarly, western people also add vegetables to their food.Chinese and western foods have been gradually moving towards integration(Lin Lirui,2009:11).Western people like eating cold dishes in salad or cold drink.But Chinese people prefer to hot dishes.Most of the main dishes are hot.Western people believe that dishes are a longing.So they only eat a large piece of meat and the whole chickens and even “hard food”.They want to pay more attention to taste from dishes.So the cooking techniques for Chinese cooking also show great randomne.Many western people think that something is garbage, but Chinese people believe that these are excellent raw materials.Foreign chefs don’t know how to handle these things, but in a Chinese chef hand, they can transform bad into good.It goes to prove that Chinese food is the wide randomne of materials.According to the survey of western plant scholars, Chinese people eat six hundred kinds of vegetables.It is six times more than in the west.In fact, vegetarian dishes are common food in the Chinese dishes.Chinese people can eat meat in holidays or at the higher living standards.Since ancient times, people have been saying of “vegetarian dishes”.Vegetarian dishes are the dominant statement in people’s usual food.Chinese people make plant as the main dishes, and kinds of dishes have a lot of connect with the advocacy of Buddhism.They regard animals as “people”.On the contrary, plants don’t work in the laws of nature.Therefore, Chinese people advocate the vegetarianism.When western people introduce food characteristic of their own country, they pay more attention to reasonable collocation of nutrition than in China.Even they have more developed food industry, Such as, canned food and fast food.Although the taste is same, saving time and nutrition is good.So western people are stronger than Chinese people: tall, long legs, broad shoulders, muscular development; but Chinese people are small and thin; their shoulders are narrow; their complexion are yellow.And consequently, Chinese people are known as plant character, western people are known as animal character(Wang Renxiang, Xiao Xiao 2007).To sum up, western people pay more attention to meat on food targets, they can absorb more fat and protein, so they are stronger than Chinese people.However Chinese people pay more attention to vegetables.They are more healthy than westerners.

3.3 The Style of Having Dinner and Using Tablewares The different food culture is also reflected in having dinner and using tablewares in China and western countries.3.3.1 Having Dinner

Whether it is family meals or formal feasts in China, Chinese people will sit around and share enjoyment each other (Lv Wenwen).They also toast each other or persuade others to eat delicious food.The scene has created harmonious and happy atmosphere.Especially in all kinds of festivals, Chinese people gain enjoyment from having dinner together.The style of having dinner is the most important tradition of Chinese food culture.The style is on the basis of patriarchal clan system’s perception.Having dinner together is popular with family or clan at first.Then it extends to outside the family.Chinese people usually educate and expre all kinds of proprieties by having dinner together.So these reflect the relationship of the old and the young, the noble and the humble, the intimate and the aloof.Because having dinner together pander to traditional family perception and objectively play an important part in maintaining family’s stability and promoting family members’ unity and harmony.Therefore, having dinner together has been handed down generation after generation.All family members gather together by sitting around and sharing one seat.This will be a family happine.

But having dinner together also has disadvantages that people don’t pay more attention to food’s health and scientific using.Wasting food becomes more and more serious.Nowadays, people gradually realize this disadvantage and start to change.In entertainment of having dinner together, eating food is not the most important problem, but a face-saving is very important.The standard of price, the grade of dishes and rich dishes are often regarded as the master’s feeling carrier.When the host entertains guests, the host will prepare for a wonderful meal.This shows the host’s enthusiasm, because the standard of entertainment is a symbol of warm hospitality.Therefore, the hosts are afraid to end up with “penny pinching”, so they always prepare much more than the actual consumption.As people say, Chinese people get in touch with each other in order to make others owe debt of gratitude. People often pay more attention to face-feeling in culture of having dinner.In general, the entertainment of having dinner together adopt pattern of consumption of“Person who entertains guests should check out”.Chinese people often follow the principle of reciprocity.This kind of debt of gratitude is not equal and optional communication, but it is the human sentiment’s exchange of owing and repaying.People firstly emphasize interpersonal harmony in having dinner together, and then they pay more attention to food.Therefore, in the proce of having dinner together people often pay more attention to the coordination and distribution or interpersonal relationship, social roles and the debt of gratitude.

Western people are accustomed to individual serving when they are eating.Although western people eat food by sitting around in western banquet, everyone eats the dishes and food in their plates（Ji Qing,2008:42）.Western individual serving is a typical form and that is buffet.Diners take a set of tableware, and then get delicious food from plate.Certainly western people don’t have fixed seat, and they can freely pace back and forth.The style of having dinner not only can fully satisfy individual to be fond of food, but also can communicate each other and exchange individual feelings or information.So food is only a kind of means and foil in western feast rather than the whole purpose.The core of feast is friendship.The style of having dinner adequately embodies western people to respect individuality and self, and also strees individual independence.It is different from cultural patterns of the whole unification of China.Especially since Renaiance movement, western society has energetically advocated equality, freedom, human rights and liberation spirit.The Renaiance movement immensely publicizes the human personality and the sense of freedom, and also creates a cultural environment which strees individual’s free development.

So, the difference of Chinese and western food culture comes from emotional and rational.But the difference becomes fuzzy with the development of science.More and more people no longer pay more attention to food hygiene and nutrition. 3.3.2 Tablewares Generally speaking, Chinese people don’t use much tablewares when they have meals.Mainly they have bowls, dishes, chopsticks and spoons, and they don’t use very often.Chinese cooking is particular about tableware’s shape and size as well as food’s coordination.Even they stre “beautiful utensil”.Chinese people treat food as art activity.Not only can people surely feast guests’ mouths, but also get a kind of art enjoyment from Chinese food.

Western people use metal knives and forks which mainly contained stainle steel, fine silver and silvering and so on.Besides, as people know the emergence of a knife and fork is much later than chopsticks.It originated in lifestyle of the ancient nomadic of the European.They made a living by knives, and often cooked the meat, then cut off to eat.After people took up residence, the knives and forks appeared in the kitchen.All kinds of cup, plate or dish have its own function.This tableware can’t be mixed to use.For example, there are different kinds of names for glaes in English, such as wine gla, cherry gla, brandy gla, beer gla, snifter gla, champion flute and high bowl.In serving English meals, people use so much tableware with different kinds and sizes.

In a word, western people emphasize the function of tablewares, while Chinese people stre the shape of dish and individual’s feeling.3.4 Differences in Pursuit In China, cooking is a kind of art, And it is similar to other arts.Chinese people stre that if you want to cook, you must like cooking.Chinese cooking has been regarded as great fun by people.A woman writer once said that she was fed with doing housework.But she was interested in cooking dishes.A slice of onion and a bit of meat can cook a delicious dainty.She appreciated this kind of art.The instant-boiled mutton and Sichuan hotpot become more and more popular so that many people are fond of them.On one hand, the dishes are fresh and tender.People can freely eat them.On the other hand, Chinese people can enjoy the interesting cooking on the proce of having dinner.The work can enrich people’s life because they have great fun for cooking.China has a large number of cooking skill: heat, stir-fry, and quick-fry, braise, steam, crisp, scrabble, blast, and wire drawing and so on.And Chinese cooking take cutting technique and heating control in baking seriously.Chinese cooking is similar to the music, the dance, the poetry and the drawing.Both of them can improve realm of life.Western cooking is easier than Chinese cooking.They only pursue the nutrition of food.It leads people to ignore enjoyment of food.Thus, western cooking is particular about scientific and standard perception.The fired chicken of KFC need to put up ingredients on the basis of food’s illustration, and the temperature of oil or time of the fired chicken should follow the standard in the menu.So the job of chef becomes very boring and mechanical.In the proce of cooking, western people usually represent more mechanical in designing dishes.Even they are absolutely in accordance with the recipes.Every now and then they use scale measuring pot and scale pan in order to achieve accuracy.It leads western cooking to be short of new idea at times.Their dishes are mainly frying, stir-frying and braising instead of food’s shape and color.Western people think that playing while working is dereliction, and working in playing is a losing deal.However, Chinese people believe the transformation of working and playing.IV.Conclusion We can easily find that the differences between Chinese and western food cultures are very obvious from this thesis.They have different food perceptions, tastes, nutrition, food targets and interests; they also have differences in the style of having dinner and using tableware.Both of them have their own special advantages.With the economic globalization and information exchange speeding up, along with the strengthening of communication between China and the west, Chinese and western food cultures continuously mix together and mutually complement (Zou Wenguang,1998).The exchange of food culture is in people’s daily life.

Chinese people can learn from the perception that western people strees food’s nutrition.And Chinese people should make Chinese food more outstanding.At present, Chinese people make more efforts to draw all the perfect achievements in the world.Chinese people should make use of a chance to absorb splendid cultures from other countries according to China’s reform and opening up policy which creates the conditions on international relations and cultural exchanges.It is eential for English learners to study food culture which is the important part between Chinese and Western cultures.In the proce of learning English, learners should pay attention to the difference of culture between Chinese and western, know more about countries regarded English as native speaking language, so as to cultivate good thinking model.Learning food culture is benefit for learners to promote the ability of cro-culture communication and stimulate the interest of learning English.As we all know, language is the supporter of culture, so learning language is not a proce of learning vocabulary and grammar.We should emphasize the cro-culture communication so as to achieve the real purpose of learning English.As long as people have a good understanding about food culture, they will be polite between Chinese and western exchanges. Bibliography

[1]Paul,Anthony.A Guide to the English-speaking Word[M].London:Longman Group Ltd, 1975.[2]Keith,Sinclair.A History of New Zealand[M].London:Penguin,1980.[3]Leslie,White.The Science of Culture[M].New York:Random,1949.[4]Perter,Bromhead.Life in Modern Ameican[M].London:Longman Group Ltd,1978.[5]蒋艳.中西饮食文化差异的原因分析及其研究意义[J].湖北:湖北教育学报,2007(50).[6]林丽瑞.中西方饮食文化之比较[J].上海:消费导刊,2009(11).[7]李明英.社会习俗与饮食文化[J].锦州:锦州师范学院学报,1997.[8]棘青.图说世界饮食文化[M].长春:吉林出版社,2008(42).[9]吕雯雯.中西传统节日饮食中的文化差异[J].陕西:陕西师范大学学报,2009.[10]王仁湘,肖潇.图说中国文化[M].长春:吉林人民出版社,2007.[11]殷莉,韩晓玲.英汉习语与民俗文化[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2007.[12]邹文广.人类文化的流变与整合[M].长春:吉林人民出版社,1998.Acknowledgments My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to profeor Ma Shengcang, my teacher for his constant encouragement and guidance.He has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis.Without his consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form.Second, I would like to expre my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers, who lead me into the world of English.They instructed and helped me a lot in the past four years.Last, my thanks would go to my friends and my fellow clamates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out any problems during the difficult course of thesis.

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