发布时间 : 星期六 文章中西方饮食文化对比研究(英语专业论文)本科毕业论文更新完毕开始阅读
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
3. Food
China is known for vast fields and various geographical environments with a long history and an abundant production as well as species of plants and animals, which offer the sufficient resources of products to the formation of Chinese dietary culture. Chinese staple food is based on rice and wheat. On the side, millet, corn, buckwheat, potato and sweet potato are also the main food people usual eat so they take a tiny place in the dietary culture. Except for the rice noodles, there are still kinds of food can be supplied for people to make their life more colorful, including the other kinds of pasta, steamed bun, deep-fired dough sticks, various porridge, cookie and ever-changing snacks. In the Chinese long history, the distribution of “south rice and north wheat” has formed this situation that the main raw materials are rice and wheat in Chinese staple food. Most Chinese people prefer to take vegetarian diet as the principle thing. According to a study of western botanist, there are more than 600 species of vegetables in China. It is six times more than the west. In fact, in the Chinese dishes, vegetarian dishes are considered as the common food, and only in holidays or at the higher living standards, the meat can be a part of the usual diet.
The western dietary culture mainly originates from rear livestock culture, which decides the western dietary structure that takes meat and dairy products as the principal things and vegetarian dishes as the auxiliary thing. According to the weather, it is not suitable for western countries to plant the crop so that they give priority to animal husbandry and give second place to agriculture. In addition, another factor to give first place to animal is that the technology is quite high in the animal cultivation. As a result, there are a lot of kinds of animals and a huge production of meat in western countries. The main agriculture products are wheat, corn, and grape and so on. In the western dietary structure, the meat also takes up the excessive place in the dishes. They are mainly beef, chicken, pork, mutton as well as fish. It is obvious that what they usually eat is provided with a “three-high” characteristic that is high protein, high fat and high calorie. Therefore, meat has occupied and will always occupy the remarkable high proportion in western dietary. Although the proportion of planting has increased in recent years, the proportion of meat in dietary structure is always higher in the western than in Chinese. Therefore, when westerners prepare the diet, you can see most dishes are meat and a few are vegetables. What’s more, bread and meat are the principle food; coffee, wine and milk are the main drinking in their life.
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A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
3.1. Condiment
The condiment is also different between the Chinese and westerners in cooking dishes. In China, the taste plays a part as the soul in the dish so that there are seven main kinds of taste in the Chinese diet, including sour, sweet, bitter, salt, peppery, fresh and obscure. The purpose of condiment is to exert a positive effect on reaching the excellent fusion from some seasoning, which has the ability to add aroma without weird smell as well as the smell from fresh meat or fish. What’s more, it can ameliorate the color of the dishes which can draw their attention to have a try. They usually choose the ginger, scallion, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and monosodium glutamate to be their condiments in common use. But sometimes, they will use grain wine to season.
The western-style food is almost the meat, which is always processed into a piece of massive one. Thus there is a big problem in the condiment that it is difficult to saturate the massive piece with condiment used in China. In order to solve this problem, they make up with two methods that they adopt to cook sauce without anything and they have the entree with sauce. Since then, they have formed a special way in condiment in western-style dish. Based on the five used foundation of sweet, sour, bitter, salt and peppery in the west, they prefer to such effect that can make them feel a deep delicious with appetite. They usually choose the cream, butter, sauce, lemon, onion, celery and bay leaves to be their condiments in common use. In addition, spice and wine are the two important factors in cooking. Because both vanilla and spice have the special smell, they exert an indispensable effect on the aroma of their dishes. For instance, when they cook the vegetable soup、spaghetti and sauce、stuffed、salad, they always used a kind of mixed spice, which are used to mix together with the marjoram and oregano. In addition, thyme is also the main spice for them to add into the soup, venison and barbecue while sage is mainly used in the dishes made with pork in their daily life.
3.2. Side Dish
The side dish also plays a significant part in the Chinese dietary structure. The side dish indicates that they are the combination for raw material in one dish, including cold dish and hot dish, or the combination for all the dishes showed up on the table. The latter one develops based on the former one and there is no denying that the highest form is belonging to the latter one. Now we take side dish of hot dish as an example to make a compare. The side dish of hot dish is required with the quality of dish in China. It should coordinate appropriately with one or several
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A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
kinds of raw materials which have been processed to the shape they need. Then a complete dish comes into being. As a chef for side dish, he must not only be proficient in the skill of cutting up, but also be familiar with the shape of the finished product. Besides, it is awfully essential for the chef to be acquainted with the cooking method for the reason that the raw material will have some changes during the cooking. In addition, the fundamental rules of the collocation are very crucial in the dish, such as, the collocation of color, the collocation of shape, the collocation of aroma, the collocation of taste and the collocation of nutrition and so on. And all of these collocations prefer to concentrate on reflecting the collocation of meat and vegetables. In other words, it is the collocation of animal material and vegetarian material. The Chinese make plant as the main dish, and has a lot of contact with the advocacy of Buddhism. Their think the animal is \plants the laws of nature \
For the westerners, the side dish is also the indispensable part in hot dishes. As usual, after finishing the main food that they have already put on a dish, a small amount of vegetables, rice or noodles processed should be put on the edge of the dish or on another dish by side. Thus a complete piece of dish completes. It is said that the food have a collocation with the main food is called side dish. A case in point is that French fries and vegetarian salad are the side dish of fried chicken or other kinds of hamburger in the KFC or McDonald’s. Thus it can be seen that there is a certain difference between Chinese diet and western diet in the form of side dish. However, the effect they exert is the same. They both own the function to complement the nutrition, to balance the dietary, to enhance the beauty and to give the aroma. In addition, the fundamental rules of the collocation are very crucial in the dish. For example, all kinds of side dish are most made with different color vegetables. What is more, the side dish is asked for being processed to the definite shape under meticulous requirement, such as strip、olive shape、globular、chess shape、waist drum shape and so on. Most of the deep-frying meat and roasting meat are deserved with three side dishes which are potato and two different color vegetables. They are considered to be a set of side dish. There are a lot of cases we can illustrate. For example, it is a set of side dish that French fries is arranged with boiling pea and carrot in olive shape as well as roasting potato arranged with cauliflower with butter and tomato in piece. However, the characteristic dishes usually choose one kind of side dish made with potato to keep the special aroma, such as the fish. On the side, the dishes with much soup are used to provide with the rice or noodles. Whereas it is rare in Italian
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A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
dish, such as curry chicken with butter rice and Italian beef with macaroni.
4. Table Manners
Good manners mean good behavior in social communication. A person with good manners is always agreeable companion. Speaking of table manners, every country has its own characteristic. In China, table manners in people’s life occupy a very important position. People think that repast is not only for our basic physiological needs, but also for our social needs. And it do the same for the west.
4.1. Differences Between Chinese and Western Table Manners
The main difference on the Chinese dinner table is chopsticks instead of knife and fork, but that's only superficial. Besides, in decent restaurants, you can always ask for a pair of knife and fork, if you find the chopsticks not helpful enough.
The real difference is that in the West, you have your own plate of food, while in China the dishes are placed on the table and everyone shares. If you are being treated to a formal dinner and particularly if the host thinks you're in the country for the first time, he will do the best to give you a taste of many different types of dishes.
The meal usually begins with a set of at least four cold dishes, to be followed by the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes. Soup then will be served (unless in Guangdong style restaurants) to be followed by staple food ranging from rice, noodles to dumplings.
If you wish to have your rice to go with other dishes, you should say so in good time, for most of the Chinese choose to have the staple food at last or have none of them at all.
Perhaps one of the things that surprise a Western visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their guests. In formal dinners, there are always \chopsticks and spoons for this purpose, but some hosts may use their own chopsticks. This is a sign of genuine friendship and politeness. It is always polite to eat the food. If you do not eat it, just leave the food in the plate.
People in China tend to over-order food, for they will find it embarrassing if all the food is consumed. When you have had enough, just say so. Or you will always overeat!
4.2. Characteristics of Table Manners
The dining table is one of the most important places where good manners are displayed. Rese
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