(完整word版)-论中西饮食文化差异[1]

1、I. Differences in ConceptsFirst, the Chinese and western diet have the differences that cannot be ignored in concepts. Nobody will deny that the Western diet is a rational concept, regardless of the color of food, incense, flavor and shape, but nutrition must be assured. It cares about the intake of

2、 calories, vitamins, protein and so on during a day. 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 because of the nutrition. And then they put it bluntly, just like refueling machine.The concept of we

3、stern diet is compatible with the whole western philosophy. Metaphysics is themain feature of western philosophy. Such kind of philosophy brings vitality to western culture, sothe natural sciences, psychology and methodology achieve a rapid development. In some otheraspects, such philosophy proposit

4、ion is a significantly obstacle, such as the dietary culture, whichis the inevitable thing to drop behind, and just the metaphysics of methodology marks everywhere.In celebration, it stresses tableware, stresses the staple, stresses the servings, and stresses the color and shape mix of raw materials

5、. But no matter how luxurious the grade is; from Los Angeles to New York, only one taste of steak, it is no art to speak of. And as dishes, the chicken is chicken; steak is steak, even in groups, which are also conducted in a shallow dish. In a dish of French Muttonchops, one side is potato mud, and

6、 muttonchops sits next to it, another side is allocation of cooking beans, and plus a few tablets of tomato. Color is on clear, but the tastes of the various materials are separated, not to reconcile, and the entire flavor is also simple and clear.Chinese diet is a sense of beauty diet. When people

7、sample dishes, they often say this dish is delicious, and that dish is not delicious. But if you ask what is meant by delicious, why tasty and what are the aspects of delicious, I am afraid that it will be difficult to answer. Thisshows that which Chinese people hanker on a diet is just the “ mood”

8、that is difficult for one to sa anything. Even using the color, flavor, shape and implement which people often said to make the realm reification, I am afraid it is still difficult to crown all.The beauty pursuit of Chinese cuisine is clearly overriding the rational pursuit. This concept ofdiet is a

9、lso coinciding with the traditional Chinese philosophy. Chinese philosophy as a representative of oriental philosophy, its distinguishing features is the macro, visual, vague and evasive. Chinese cooking method is to reconcile, and the ultimate goal is to reconcile out of a beautiful taste. The main

10、 stress is measure and the overall co-ordination. It contains a wealth of dialectics of Chinese philosophy, and all these depend on the degree of the wonderful flavor and harmony of dish. The ever-changing within degrees decides the changeable of Chinese food, and it also decides the characteristics

11、 of Chinese food as well as the characteristics on each of the chefs.II. Differences in targetsAll diet cannot be done without vegetables. The word dish is for the sound in China, and it always has something to do with the plants. According to a survey of western plants scholar, there are 600 variet

12、ies of vegetables, six times more than in the west. In fact, the Chinese dishes, vegetable dish is usual food. Meat dish entered the normal diet only on holidays or higher living standards, so since ancient times, and there was a saying of fresh vegetables. Chu ? Mandarin language: Common people eat

13、 fresh vegetables, fish only offered in the worship. It is said that fresh vegetables are mainly to the civilian in general, only being able to eat meat only in worship. Vegetarian diet takes the dominant position in the normal structure.Chinese people consider the vegetables as the main dish; it ha

14、s inextricablylinkedwith theadvocacy of Buddhists. They deem animals as people and plants have no soul. So, they advocate vegetarianism.Westerners do not seem to have such a good habit. They uphold a cultural origin of nomadic, seafaring nation. Living mainly by fishing and hunting, collection and p

15、lanting are just the complement. There are more meat dishes in their lives. Feeding, clothing, and using are taken from the animals, and even Western medicine is derived from animals. When the westerners introduce the diet characteristics of their countries, they always feel that their diet is more

16、reasonable on the mix of nutrition than China. The food industry is more developed, such as cans, fast food, although the taste is monotonous, but it saves time, and it also has good nutrition. Therefore, in their countries: people are generally healthier and taller than Chinese, and the people have

17、 strong shoulders and developed muscles; but Chinese people look short, their shoulders narrow and legs thin, their skin yellow and their body weak. The differences between Chinese and western food for Westerners to judge the merits of the two diet is not justified. Mr. Sun Yat-sen had profound stud

18、y of the culture of food and incisive exposition. In his composing The Schemefor National Reconstruction, detailing the differences between Chinese and Western diet phenomenon, he concludes: Chinese ordinary people drink green tea, and eat simple food such asvegetables and tofu for meal. Such kinds

19、of food are the most healthy and beneficial according to the research of hygienist. Therefore, the remote people in china, whose diet are far from meat and wine, always live a long life. Also China has a big population, and Chinese people have enormouspower to resist disease, but they never try the

20、non-diet.“ He added: The Chinese vegetarians alleat tofu. Tofu is expected as the real meat in plants, as it has the nutrition that meat has. It is themeat without toxic materials. So the Chinese are vegetarian used to be a custom withoutthepromotion of scholars. It is also a custom that the Europea

21、n and American drink thick Wine, eatmeat and fish. So there was science promotion before and a severe law later, such as the UnitedStates Prohibition. And the transfer will not carry out in a short time. Mr. Sun s wordsscientific benefits of Chinese diet and disadvantages of Western diet.According t

22、o the characteristics of the significant differences between Chinese and Western diettargets, the Chinese character is called the plant character, while theWesterners is animalcharacter. In response to the cultural behaviors, Westerners love adventure, exploration, conflict;but the Chinese people on

23、ly like to live banally. According to American expert on folklore Ruthopinions on the cultural pattern theory, Chinese cultureis quitesimilarto the classical worldApollo- type character and Westerners issimilarto the modernworld Faust-type. Indeed,theWesterners such as Americans in the development o

24、f the west, they put the whole family on thetruck, and go out of the city in amid rumbling with the supplies. The Chinese people are alwaysthinking about home and roots, despite the promotion that young people should take the worldas home. But after a few decades, the overseas Chinese will come back

25、to the mainland withcrutch to seek their roots. This concept of return and such human spirit that can only be said tocooperate with the accumulation in the diet. Then it brings cohesiveness to the Chinese nation andthen makes the human folk full of energy.III. Differences in Dietary PatternsThe Chin

26、ese and Western dietary patterns can be very different, and these differences affect the national character. In China, a celebration, no matter what, there will be only one form, as sitting together, sharing one feast. Banquet uses round table, which has created a unity of form, which is courtesy, c

27、omity atmosphere. Cate are in the center of the table. It is the objects for people toappreciate and taste, and it is also an intermediate of communication. People toast each other and share the vegetables, which reflect the mutual respect between people in the face of the goodthings, also show the

28、virtues of comity. Although from the health point of view, this approach has obvious deficiencies, but it is in our national happy mentality, it reflects the classical Chinese philosophy area of and impact for future generations. It is helpful to facilitate the collective emotional exchanges and con

29、sequently difficult to reform.The western-style banquets, although the food and wine are very important, but in fact they are just foil. The core of Banquet is friendship, by the conversation with the guests who sitting next to achieve the purpose of recreation. If making an analogous compare betwee

30、n the recreation of the banquets and dancing, it may be said that the Chinese banquet is like group dance, and the western banquet is like men and women dancing. This shows that communication purpose of Chinese banquet and western banquet are very obvious. Only the Chinese banquet is more popular in

31、 the communion, but western banquet shows guests reflected in the friendship between neighbors.The more obvious differences between Chinese and western dietary patterns is buffet dinner which is popular in the West. This method is to display all food, and everybody is picking not fixed in hisor her

32、places to eat. They walk freely. This approach would 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 tone like the Chinese p

33、eople. Some people want to put the buffet in the Chinese food, but I think it isnot feasible. Zhang Qijun in the Principles of Cooking tells us the main reason: First, buffet is not like drinking tea. Drinking tea is just the thing to you before you choose, and displayed in the cafeteria there is a

34、large number of food to eat, so when you want to have it, it is cold yet. Chinesecuisine will serve hot, if cold, nothing to eat. Secondly, buffet dishes only can do hard dishes and beneficial dishes. Then you can access for large plots. And those most representative of the Chinese culinary arts, su

35、ch as the tender and lighter dishes, are not in this show. Third, the buffet can do stewing pot; it means a big pot in terms of food. Any sophisticated cooking of a dish can only be cooked in a pot at two most, and it is not able to cook the dish for dozens of people. So it will not be delicious, ne

36、ver talking of the taste. Under such circumstances, it is clear that the useof buffet dinner willdeny Chinese culinary arts. The Chinese people are drinkingaround thetable to show harmony and unity, but the buffet has broken such pattern. It raises the personalindependence and self-mentioned at the

37、first place. This is the opposite of the scale of the greatunity of all Chinese traditional culture.IV. Differences in Diet AttributionThere are differences between Chinese and western diet attribution. Western diet tends to be scientific and rational, but the Chinese diet tends to be art and sentim

38、ental. During theunderdevelopment era of diet, these two trends have only one aim to live 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

39、flavor.Cooking is from diet; the origin of food is a life-sustaining nutrition. Therefore, the focus of western diet is only the extension of the original diet practicality. The emphasis on the flavor ofChinese cuisine caters the diet to the arts field. Mencius said: Flavor in the mouth has the same

40、 interests. Interests points out the key from nutrition to arts. Such interests are from the meaningof flavor. In China, eating is not meant to have enough. It is about nutrition. Sometimeswe eatthough we are full. We are overloaded with food. Why? Saying bluntly, it is to appreciate the art ofcooki

41、ng; and not saying it nicely, it is the temptation of deliciousfor the enjoyment of taste.Watching the rational diet in the west, it is not only waste, but also harmful to the men body. Infact, the herbalist doctors are also opposed to overeat, claiming dietary restraint. But the dialectics tell us

42、Chinese people, occasionally the overload and once we are comfortable, we can absorb and store. Qigong masters at the situation of non-eat and non-drink at home is still in good spirits, although their weight loses, but it is intact on the human body; and it is the consumption of such storage. Herba

43、list doctor also advocates winter nutrition. It is also in order to store for keeping energy in the coming year. Chinese peoples views are more dialectical than the western diet propositions opposing overloaded stubbornly. It is closer to the science truth, and has been checked up for thousands of C

44、hinese medicine practice. Psychologists Spinoza said: The desire ishuman nature than other.” The human desire for delicious is the nature of human beings which isfully reflected. In process of the taste enjoyment, it is imbued with the shares of lan vital. Life should not be a yoke, but also not be

45、a repressed desire. We can not use the absolute reason to regulate the behavior of all people. On the diet, it is not the purpose of science and nutritionand some delicious are excluded from the table outside. Only delicious things can satisfy peoplesappetite and then give the arrivalof physical and

46、 mental pleasure. Chinese diet shows thetransformation about sentimental form to rational form from the old days till now, and cause theChinese dietary culture brimmingwithimagination and creativity.The sensibilityof Chineseculinary culture is a sublime sensibility, infiltrating rational sense, also

47、 the realization of the natureof life. In addition, gustatory enjoyment is one of the main objectives pursued of the humanstruggle. The art of Chinese cuisine is compatible with the development of human history in theprocess, more scientific than the progress of the western diet. As Zhang Qijun in h

48、is work CookingPrinciples said: “ The United Statesecedentedisunpr least affluent society, but till today, in essence it is still food to eat stage. There are still some distances from entering the realm of art.The role of diet goes beyond the subsistence of existence, which is designed not only to

49、have the physical presence, but also to meet peoples spiritual needs for pleasure. It is positive to enrich peoples life performance, and fine arts, music, literature, etc. which have the same level of significance to the improvement of life.Chinese diet tends to artistry, the so-called art realm, i

50、n fact, that is a complete leap from the necessity to freedom. It is characterized by randomness. For example, similar dishes, because of the differences in area, season, target, function and grade, it has different treatments on operation. Set braised fish for example, in winter deep colors are adv

51、ised and tastes are advised strongly, but in summer it should be light color and flavor. And for the people in Zhejiang province, their dishes can be put up more sugar in the braised fish, and if facing Chuanxiang customers it should allocate spicy. It easy to see that if out of the arbitrary, there

52、 would be no cooking variety; we will lose the unique charm of Chinese cuisine. Whereas in the west, dishes in different areas and different seasons and facing different customers, is the same flavor, no changes. Although it is the most valuable banquet, which is just tableware known, conducted layo

53、ut, and the vegetables remain the same as before.Moreover, as for materials, westerners think the food is to eat, eating special hard vegetables such as large piece of meat, chicken block. Chinas cuisine is taste. The Chinese cooking in materials has shown tremendous arbitrariness: The things which

54、many, many westerners consider as disposable things in China are excellent raw materials. Foreign cooks are not able to deal with things, but in the hands of a Chinese chef, it can get a magic result. Chinese cuisine is evident inthe wide use of materials.Besides skills, an excellent cook, of course

55、, can do more complicated dishes. But facing the real simple materials and condiments, the cooks are often able to produce delicious flavors. It is the arbitrariness of skills. In the surface, the menu seems to be scientific. Westerners always use menu to buy ingredients to produce dishes, but in co

56、mparison, it is the machinery, and often powerless facing the complex specific situation. Of course, this mechanical science is still can be said asscience, but it is primitive science, and it is not the complete science. Chinese cooking talks aboutartistry, but it still fit the requirements among the ever-changing, it can be said such science is areal science. The charact