Chinese Dietary Culture Vs American Culture

Introduction

Once there is a saying that “There are two basic desires in life: one is eating to survive; and another is the lust of men and women. These two basic desires can help the mankind to carry on the family line. My topic in this paper is focus on the former one. Food!

In this paper, I want to introduce my country’s dietary tradition. I think after reading my paper, you may get known how different between American dietary culture and Chinese dietary culture and some unique cooking methods that only in China. You may also know what the most Chinese featured food is.

One reason I choose this topic is because I saw so many differences between American and Chinese diet. From the food they eat to the table manners they follow. There are

Actually, the word "dish" has the same pronunciation with vegetables in Chinese. According to a survey of western plants scholar, there are 600 edible vegetables in China, which is six times more than western countries. [Diff. 2008] It is because the population pressure, Chinese has rice, wheat and vegetables as main food and less meat.

American people mostly have meat as their food resource. The most Common meat is beef, then Chicken, shrimp, turkey. The food style gives American people much more energy and they are stronger!

Third, In China, no matter what kind of celebration, there will be only one form, sitting together and sharing dishes. Round table is widely used in China, which can create a unity atmosphere. Dishes are in the center of the table. People toast and share the dishes, which reflect the mutual respect between people and also show the virtues of comity. However, from the healthy perspective, sharing dishes raises concerns, but it reflects the classical Chinese harmony philosophy.

Chinese cooking

It is red cooking. Red cooking is uniquely Chinese; the food is cooked in large quantities of soy sauce and water rather than in water alone. It is the soy sauce that makes the dish rich, tasty, and dark red color. It is usually made of pork, beef, fish, chicken or duck. When these are prepared without soy sauce, but by the same technique, the color will always be light. The technique is essentially that employed for making a general stew. The meat is browned and then the liquid is introduced and brought to a boil over high heat, which is progressively reduced until quite low. Red stewing is used primarily for cooking meats. Vegetables if included are added later just before serving or towards the end of cooking. Various seasonings, flavors and condiments are added to red-stewed dishes such as soy, sherry, ginger, scallions, and many