摘要：民以食为天，饮食文化在世界文化中起着非常重要的作用。中国源远流长的饮食文化与西方灿烂丰富的饮食文明，都是因为不同的国家和民族由于各自不同的文化，生活方式，观念等方面的差异，形成了独特的饮食文化，都具有强烈的民族性和丰富性。本文注重分析中国和西方之间的饮食文化，通过不同的饮食方面我们可以看到中西之间的文化差异交流融合的过程，理解背后深厚的文化内涵，使中西文化得到更好的交流与促进.

关键词：饮食对比；餐桌文化；文化差异

Abstract：As is common knowledge, “Food is the paramount necessity of the people”. The food dietetic culture plays an important role in the world culture. The long history of food culture in China and the rich diet civilization in Western, because different countries and people formed special food cultures dues to the difference of cultures, life styles, climatic conditions and traditional concepts, and all has strong national character and richness. This paper focus on the analysis the differences between Chinese and western diet cultures, we can see the cultural differences between Chinese and western communication fusion process, understand behind the profound cultural connotation,so make better communication between Chinese and western culture and promote it.

Key words: food culture; table manner; cultural difference

Contents

摘 要 i

Abstract ii

I. Introduction 1

II. The Chinese and Western Food Culture 1

2.1 The Introduction of Chinese Diet Culture 1

2.2 The Introduction of Western Diet Culture 2

III. The Differences between Chinese and Western Food Culture 3

3.1 The Differences of Diet Concept 3

3.2 The Differences of Diet Content 5

3.3 The Differences on Diet Way 6

3.4 The Differences on Cooking Tools 7

3.5 The Differences on Dining Etiquette 9

IV. Social Extension of Differences between Chinese and Western Diet 10

4.1. Promoting the Development of Catering Industry 11

4.2. To Develop New Products 12

V. Conclusion 12

Bibliography 13

Acknowledgements 14

An Analysis of Cultural Differences between the East and the West in Food Cultures

I. Introduction

Diet culture has a history of five thousand years since ancient times in China. There are sayings like “ Food is the paramount necessity of the people.” and “Bread is the staff of life.” which show the importance of diet. There’s also a phrase in the west, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” which in Chinese means “tell me what you eat, I can tell you what is a man”. Although diet is an important factor to the survival and development of a man, there are great differences on Chinese and western diet tradition, which are reflected not only in the diet idea, diet content, cooking tools but also in table manners.

The paper aims to reflect the cultural differences through the analysis of these diet differences and then point out that with a further interchange between China and the West, there would be more cultural contacts which could also be reflected on the food traditions.

II. The Chinese and Western Food Culture

2.1 The Introduction of Chinese Diet Culture

There is an old saying in China “Food is the paramount necessity of the people” . From it we can see eating is the most important in any society and life. The diet concept not only shows a national quality, the folk custom, the culture of food but also reflects a national civilization and development.

   In China, the diet culture formation mainly has a certain connection with its geographical location,economical evolve,religious impact and political influence. For its location which is suitable for the growth of plants, Chinese live on grains since the pre-qin Dynasty, and they take less meat. Since plain rice is not delicious, there must be some assistant to help people enjoy eating it. Thus salt is widely used in the cooking. Economy also plays an important role in the diet culture formation. Take Shanghai Cuisine for example, since the opening of the city in 19th century, its style has become more and more international, taking in many foreign cooking techs and cooking traditions. The feature has been further enhanced since the Opening Policy in 1980th. During the long history, cooking and eating has to take religion into consideration. For example, the Hui people never take any pork and they take some special food in their Hari Raya. Political influence on food culture cannot be denied. It would be influenced by the conquerors’ like and dislike. While in Tang Dynasty, few people had a chance to take a food made in carp because in Chinese, the pronunciation of “li yu” is similar to the family name of the emperors of Tang Dynasty “li”. It was regarded as a tam boo.