What are the differences between Chinese and western cooking methods?

Similarities and differences between Chinese and western food cultures; A Study of Chinese and Western Table Etiquette

Understand Chinese and western dining styles and tableware.

Understand the decoration of Chinese and western dining tables

Understand the order of serving Chinese and western food.

Understanding Chinese and Western Dining Etiquette When dining in China, no matter what kind of banquet, everyone sits around and enjoys a seat. Food is placed in the middle of the table, which is not only the object enjoyed by a table, but also the medium for everyone to exchange feelings. At the dinner table, China people like to toast each other, take food and raise glasses, which is very harmonious and interesting. In the west, things are different. When they get together to eat or entertain guests, they are not as enthusiastic as China people, and their guests and hosts are not so polite. Westerners pay more attention to individual independence, eat their own food, and have no interest in chatting and having fun in China. Chinese food is rich and varied, usually 8 or 10 or 12 dishes. There are many varieties, from main course to soup, to dessert, to fruit, and the order is also very particular. Westerners feed on cattle, sheep and pork chops.

Tableware: Tableware, the difference is very obvious. As we all know, people in China, including some yellow countries in Asia, eat with chopsticks, spoons and bowls. Chopsticks, spoons, food trays, seasoning trays, soup bowls, tea cups and wine glasses are placed in front of everyone's seat. Sometimes there are utensils or napkins for placing bones. Chopsticks are mostly long cylindrical chopsticks. In the past, chopsticks made of ivory and coral were used as status symbols, but today, plastic chopsticks with imitation teeth are quite common. The reason for using long chopsticks is that it is convenient to clip vegetables. Spoons are mostly made of ceramics. Sometimes, a spoon holder for putting spoons is provided. The dish is a medium-sized dish with a slightly higher edge. Sometimes prepare two. A soup bowl with a deep opening. Westerners, on the other hand, put food on a plate and eat it immediately with a knife and fork, while drinking soup with a special spoon. In addition, we found an anecdote in the data: Westerners began to dine in Spock in the Byzantine Empire in the tenth century, more than a thousand years later than the Warring States period in China. The fork in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was about12-20cm long, of which the teeth were about 4-5cm long, which was slightly shorter than the modern fork. Strangely enough, forks originated in China earlier than in the west, but failed to become the traditional tableware in China. Why? It is probably related to the change of cooking style and eating style, and the reason is unknown at present. However, the western fork has been used to this day. We believe that this is closely related to the different development processes of Chinese and western food cultures. The sorting method of Chinese food has changed since ancient times. Because of the evolution of dining table furniture, the sorting method of seats has also changed. Generally speaking, the order of seating is to respect the east and the gate. The person in charge of the family banquet is the elder with the highest seniority, and the last seat is the lowest.

During the wine tour, I respect the first order. If it is a round table, the host and guest facing the gate are 2, 4, 6 on the left hand side and 3, 5, 7 on the right hand side until they meet.

If it is a square table, if there is a seat facing the gate, the seat on the right side of the gate is the host and guest. If it is not facing the gate, the right seat on the east side is the chief. Then the Sheikh sat on his left, 2, 4, 6 and 8, and on his right, 3, 5 and 7.

If it is a big banquet, the arrangement between tables should pay attention to the chief, with 2, 4 and 6 seats on the left and 3, 5 and 7 seats on the right. According to the identity and status of the host and guests, relatives and friends should sit separately. The ranking of western food is very different from that of Chinese food. Chinese food usually uses round tables, while western food generally uses long tables. If both men and women go to the restaurant together, the man should ask the woman to sit on his right, and be careful not to let her sit in the aisle where people come and go. If there is only one seat by the wall, please ask the lady to sit down, and the man will sit opposite her. If two couples are having dinner, the ladies should sit by the wall and the husbands should sit opposite their wives. If two men accompany a woman to dinner, the woman should sit between the two men. If two people of the same sex eat, the position near the wall should be given to the elderly among them. There is also a rule in western food, that is, everyone should enter and exit the seat from the left side of the seat. When holding a formal banquet, the seating arrangement is in accordance with international practice: the level of the table is based on the distance from the main table, the right side is high and the left side is low, and the table card should be placed when the table is long. The seat at the same table also depends on the distance from the host's seat. The western custom is that men and women cross, and so do couples.

In terms of etiquette, there are more differences in dining etiquette between China and the West. In ancient China, in the process of dining, there was a set of red tape. Book of rites? "Qu Ji" contains: * * * * don't eat enough, * * * don't choose your hands when eating, … don't take things, don't raise food, … if you eat, the guests kneel down from the front, and the rice will be sprinkled together to take a photo for you, and the host will sit down after leaving the guests. The general idea of this passage is: when eating together, you can't just eat alone. If you eat with others, you must check your hands. Don't put the extra rice back into the pot, don't monopolize the food, and don't fan the hot rice. After eating, the guests should get up and clean up the dishes on the table and give them to the host. The host will get up and tell the guests not to work, and then the guests will sit down. Some of these manners are also necessary in modern times. In western-style banquets, the host usually serves only one dish to the guests, and the rest is eaten by the guests themselves. If the guests don't want it, it's not convenient to force others to eat it, and don't give them frequent toasts and dishes according to the habits of China people. Don't make any noise when eating, but guests should pay attention to the food prepared by the host. If you talk to people, you can only talk to your neighbors, not to people far away. The order of Chinese food is usually a big platter composed of four cold dishes. Sometimes as many as ten kinds. The most representative are cold jellyfish skin and preserved eggs. After the cold dishes, four hot dishes followed. Common ones are fried shrimp and fried chicken. But the hot plate is mostly omitted.

The main course is immediately after the appetizer, also called the big dish, which is more than the proper table. If there are eight courses on the menu, * * * has eight main courses. The number of main courses is usually an even number of four, six and eight, because people in China think even numbers are auspicious numbers. A luxurious dinner sometimes has as many as sixteen or thirty-two main courses, but it is usually six to twelve courses. These dishes are made of different materials, with four flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty, and there are many cooking methods such as frying, steaming, boiling, frying, roasting and frying. The order of dishes is mostly light and rich, or dry-cooked soup. It usually ends with soup.

Dim sum refers to the dessert served after the main course, such as pie, cake, steamed stuffed bun, almond tofu and so on. Finally, the fruit.

The order of western food.

Potage in French refers to all kinds of soups. But in China, potage means thick soup, and clear soup is clear soup. Clear soup for dinner will inevitably make people feel that the weight is too small. So thick soup is still suitable. The sensory component is too small.

First course meat: the literal translation of this word means to tease your mouth, that is, to enter the main course. Now it has become the main course, offering steak and the like, which can be paired with the second kind of meat (barbecue).

Frozen food: frozen sherbet in English. If the main course is greasy, this dish can refresh your mind. Some frozen foods are made of foreign wine, among which champagne has the highest grade.

Second course meat: Barbecue in English refers to cooked meat, generally turkey, duck, chicken, pheasant and so on.

Salad: This is lettuce with sauce, which is different from lettuce with meat.

Dessert: sweet in English, that is, dessert. Supply more ice cream, pudding and frozen food in China.

Fruit: English is Fruits, which provides several kinds of seasonal fruits or assorted fruit bowls.

Coffee: Usually the whole meal ends with coffee, and the cup used is a small coffee cup (small coffee cup). Sometimes black tea is served, according to everyone's preferences. (Western menu attached)

Western menu

Bread/bread

Toast block/cube

An appetizer/appetizer

Roasted garlic and cheese mushrooms/roasted mushrooms

Oyster Mornay/ Cheese Oyster

Salad/salad

Lettuce salad/lettuce salad

Fruit salad/fruit salad

Ham and potato salad/ham and potato salad

Caesar salad/Caesar salad

Soup/soup

Seafood soup/Italian seafood soup

Beef broth/beef soup

Vegetable macaroni soup/mixed vegetable soup

Main course/dinner

Sirloin steak/sirloin steak

Roast lamb's knee/roast lamb's knee

Fried ice fish/Antarctic ice fish

Salt and pepper roast chicken/French chicken cutlet

Dessert/dessert

Cream vanilla/vanilla cream filling

Milk Pie/Champs Elysé es Cheese

Blueberry muffin/blueberry muffin

Chocolate Mu Si/Chocolate Mu Si

Drink/drink

Black tea/black tea

Earl grey/earl grey

Fruit tea

Latte coffee/latte

Cappuccino/cappuccino

Orange juice/orange juice

Lemon smoothie/lemon smoothie

Apply the correct method to eat western food.

The seven-course western food seems complicated, but there is generally only one kind of each dish. It is still strange for many people to order western food. The following is the order of serving western food for your reference.

First, appetizers appetizers are also called appetizers or appetizers, which are generally divided into cold dishes and hot appetizers, such as caviar, foie gras, smoked salmon and so on.

Second, soup, soup can be roughly divided into clear soup, cream soup, vegetable soup and cold soup.

Third, side dishes, side dishes usually refer to aquatic dishes and eggs, bread, and Jiangsu dishes. Western food pays attention to the use of special sauces when eating fish dishes.

Four, the main course, meat, poultry dishes called the main course, usually with sauce. Among them, beef or steak is the most representative, and the raw materials of poultry dishes are taken from chickens, ducks and geese, among which chicken is the most.

Salads and vegetables can be arranged after meat dishes or served at the same time with meat dishes. Vegetables are called salads in western food and are usually made of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and asparagus. There is also a kind of fish, meat and eggs, which are generally not flavored.

Dessert, the dessert of western food is eaten after the main course, which can be regarded as the sixth course. It really includes all the food after the main course, such as pudding, ice cream, cheese, fruit and so on.

Seven, coffee, be careful not to use a spoon when drinking coffee, just sip it directly. In addition to the above seven main courses, it is also important to order wine. Don't pretend to be an expert when ordering wine. In high-end restaurants, bartenders who are good at tasting will bring wine lists. People who don't know much about wine, it's best to tell them their own color, budget and favorite wine taste, and ask the bartender to help them choose. If the main course is meat, it's best to go with red wine. Fish is paired with white. Have a glass of light wine like champagne before serving. After ordering, open the napkin before the appetizer is delivered, fold it inward by one third, and put the top two thirds flat on your legs to cover your legs above your knees. Sometimes you have to leave the table temporarily because of something. Don't put your napkin on the table, because it means that if you stop eating, the waiter will no longer serve you. You should put your napkin on the chair when you leave. Napkins can be used to wipe your mouth and hands, but not knives, forks and plates. Put it on the dining table when you leave after eating, and don't fold it. If you fold it and tie it, that means I'm not coming back from abroad. In the complete set of containers on the table, all the glass is placed on the upper right and the bread plate is placed on the left. You should use specific tableware for every western food. Tableware is placed from outside to inside in the order of serving. Some dishes will be taken away after use.

The tableware of western food is mainly inverted, fork and spoon. Let me talk about its usage first. Generally speaking, you can't change the knife and fork on the left unless you are left-handed. If there are three knives with different specifications at the same time when eating, the correct usage is generally the one with small serrated teeth for cutting meaty food. The medium-sized ones are used to cut large pieces of vegetables, and the small ones use a small knife with a round tip to cut small bread, and then use them to pick some jam and cream and spread it on the bread. The fork can be held freely according to the characteristics of cooking, which is convenient for eating. When using a fork, the back of the fork must face up. However, if you bite food, the fork should be used upward. On formal occasions, there are many kinds of spoons, the small ones are used for drinking coffee and eating dessert. Flat ones are used to spread butter and divide cakes, larger ones are used to drink soup or hold broken snacks, and the largest ones are used to divide soup, which is common in buffets. Pay attention to the following details when eating. Knives are used to chop up food, and you can't hold them in your mouth when eating. When putting a proper amount of food into your mouth, don't bite a fork with your teeth, and don't send food to your mouth with a knife and fork at the same time. Don't wipe your mouth with a knife and fork in one hand and a napkin in the other, and don't hold a glass and a fork in the other. Never put one section of the knife and fork on the plate and the other end on the table at any time. While eating, the knife and fork accidentally fell to the ground. Don't pick it up. You can signal the waiter to handle it and change your new tableware. In addition, the direction and position of knives and forks are particular. If you want to put down your knife and fork and have a rest in the middle of eating, you should put the knife and fork in the center of the plate in a figure of eight. If the knife and fork stick out of the plate, it is not safe and beautiful. It's impolite to wave a knife and fork when talking. After eating, put the knife and fork together on the plate The spoon is placed horizontally in the soup plate, with the center of the spoon facing upwards, indicating that the soup tableware can be taken away.

The specific way to eat western food is very different from Chinese food. Generally speaking, you can eat celery, olives, dry snacks, dried fruits, potato chips, old corn, chicken legs, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, tortillas and all kinds of bread or buns with your hands, but generally don't eat anything else with your hands. If you get your fingers dirty from eating ordinary dishes, you can ask the waiter to bring hand washing water. Finally, list other manners that need special attention when eating western food. First, don't put your elbows on the dining table. When the waiter serves the food for the guests in turn, it's your turn to take the food when you walk to your left. Third, when you take food, you can ask others to pass the food you can't get. Don't stand up. No matter what you eat, don't make any noise, which will be very challenging when eating spaghetti. The correct way is to roll it vertically with a fork. Don't talk while chewing food. Even if someone talks to you, don't answer until you swallow your food. 6. When someone pours you wine, you just need to pay attention to the glass, and a little shallower is enough. Seven, even if you don't drink when toasting, you should touch the cup mouth on your lips to show respect. Eight, you can ignore the crumbs that fall on the table. If you accidentally drop a little food, you can carefully pick it up with a napkin when the waiter removes the plate. 9. You don't have to worry about getting the white tablecloth dirty when eating, and you don't have to help the waiter fold the dishes or reach for takeout. That's unnecessary behavior. Ten, if you encounter food spoilage or foreign body entrance, you can cover your mouth with a napkin, spit on the napkin quickly, and ask the waiter to replace a new napkin. 11. Keep the desktop clean and tidy, so don't spit bones directly, catch them with a spoon or take them out directly by hand and put them on the edge of the plate. 12. Don't put the plates aside or pile them up. It's best not to touch any plates. A brief analysis of the differences between Chinese and western food cultures: food is the first need for human survival and development, and it is also one of the basic forms of social life. However, different cultural backgrounds have different dietary concepts and customs, which eventually form different dietary cultures.

China's food culture has a long history, broad and profound, far-reaching influence and is popular all over the world. After thousands of years of historical development, it has become an excellent cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and a bright pearl in the treasure house of world food culture. Some western countries used to be colonies of some countries, and immigrants from various countries gathered together. Therefore, these countries are deeply influenced by the food culture of various countries, eclectic and combined with their own eating habits, forming a mature and self-contained food civilization.

The differences between Chinese and western cultures have created the differences between Chinese and western food cultures, which come from different ways of thinking and philosophy of life.

Differences between Chinese and Western Dietary Concepts

The west is a rational and scientific concept of diet. They emphasize the nutritional value of diet, pay attention to the amount of protein, fat, calories and vitamins contained in food, and pay special attention to whether the nutritional components of food are appropriate, whether the calorie supply is just right, whether these nutritional components can be fully absorbed by consumers and whether there are other side effects. They try to keep the original flavor and natural nutrition of food, instead of pursuing the perfection of color, fragrance, taste and shape of food. Even if it tastes the same, even if it is like chewing wax, they will eat it. Westerners eat nutrition. They rarely or hardly associate diet with spiritual enjoyment. It embodies a strong practical and utilitarian purpose in diet. Westerners believe that diet is only a means of survival to satisfy hunger, but it adopts a more scientific, standardized and reasonable way. For example, their primary and secondary schools are equipped with nutritionists to ensure adequate and balanced nutrition for teenagers. This scientific and reasonable diet concept is worth learning from Chinese food. But at the same time, it also makes western food greatly limited in materials. For example, westerners don't eat animal offal, and everything they think has no nutritional value. At the same time, it is mechanical and inflexible in cooking skills. Steak is steak and chicken is chicken. All kinds of vegetables will never be mixed, and there will not be many tricks.

China people's diet emphasizes sensibility and artistry, pursues the taste and feeling of food, and ignores the nutritional components of food. They evaluate the quality of food from the aspects of funny color, aroma, taste and shape, and pursue an indescribable artistic conception. Simply put, what China people eat is taste, which is the charm of China's diet. The purpose of China people's diet is not only to satisfy their hunger, but also to satisfy their thirst for delicious food and bring them physical and mental pleasure.

The beauty of harmony is the essence of China cooking art, such as Fujian famous dishes, which contain chicken, duck, pork tendon, abalone, sea cucumber, pork belly, shark's fin and other main ingredients, as well as several auxiliary materials. In this way, the personality of the finished product is completely buried, but the whole product is radiant, similar to the China people's golden mean of belittling personality, emphasizing average and harmony.

Due to the influence of regional characteristics, climate and environment, customs and habits, catering products will be different in raw materials, tastes, cooking methods, eating habits and so on. It is precisely because of these differences that catering products have strong regional characteristics. The differences between Chinese and western cultures have created the differences between Chinese and western food cultures, which come from different ways of thinking and philosophy of life. China people pay attention to poking fun at the harmony between man and nature, while westerners pay attention to poking fun at the people-oriented land. Here, the catering forum briefly discusses the differences between Chinese and western catering cultures from the following three aspects. I. Two Different Dietary Concepts The Catering Forum is a place for catering entrepreneurs to communicate (compared with China's diet which pays attention to amusement places, the West is a rational dietary concept. No matter the color, fragrance, taste, shape and nutrition of food, how many calories, vitamins, protein and so on should be taken in a day. Even if it tastes the same, you must eat it-it is nutritious. At the banquet, you can pay attention to the collocation of tableware, materials, services and raw materials in shape and color. But no matter how luxurious and high-end, from L.A. to new york, steak has only one flavor, and there is no art at all. As a dish, chicken is chicken and steak is steak. Even if there is a match, it is done on a plate. A plate of French lamb chops with mashed potatoes, with lamb chops, boiled green beans and some tomatoes beside it. The colors are in sharp contrast, but the raw materials are irrelevant, the taste is harmonious, each has its own flavor and is simple and clear. The catering forum is a place for catering entrepreneurs to communicate! China's diet has its unique charm, and the key lies in its taste. The production of food lies in harmony, so that the original flavor of food, the cooked taste after heating, the taste of ingredients and auxiliary materials, and the harmonious taste of seasonings are intertwined and coordinated with each other, so that they complement each other, penetrate each other and blend with each other. You have me and I have you. The harmonious beauty of China's cooking is the essence of China's cooking art, and the variety of dishes is an external thing, while the taste is an internal thing. It is the most important embodiment of China's aesthetic diet view that he pays attention to the interior without deliberately modifying the appearance, and pays attention to the taste of dishes without revealing the shape and color of dishes excessively. The catering forum is a place for catering entrepreneurs to communicate! Second, the difference between Chinese and western food objects Westerners believe that dishes are for hunger, so they specialize in eating large pieces of meat, whole chickens and other hard vegetable fields. China's dishes are amusing, so China's cooking also shows great randomness in the use of materials: what many westerners regard as discarded are excellent raw materials in China, and what foreign chefs can't handle can be turned into magic once it reaches the hands of chefs in China. When introducing the dietary characteristics of their own countries, westerners think that they pay more attention to the reasonable collocation of nutrition than China. There are developed food industries, such as canned food and fast food, which are time-saving and nutritious, so people in their country are generally stronger than people in China: tall, with long legs, wide shoulders and muscular; China people, on the other hand, are thin, with narrow shoulders and short legs and light yellow color. According to the obvious differences between Chinese and western food objects, some people call China a plant word, while westerners call it an animal word. Third, there are great differences between China and the West in different ways of eating, and this difference also has an impact on national character. In China, any banquet, no matter for what purpose, will only have one form, that is, everyone will sit together and enjoy a seat. Banquets should use round tables to create a United, polite and interesting atmosphere in form. Food is placed in the center of a table, which is not only the object of appreciation and tasting, but also the medium of emotional communication. People toast each other, take food and exhort each other, which embodies the virtue of mutual respect and courtesy between people in the face of beautiful things. Although this kind of diet has obvious shortcomings from the perspective of hygiene, it conforms to the universal mentality of our national reunion, embodies the influence of this category in China's classical philosophy on later generations, and facilitates the collective emotional exchange, so it is difficult to reform so far. The catering forum is a place for catering entrepreneurs to communicate! Although food and wine are very important at western-style banquets, they are actually used as foil. The core of the banquet is friendship, which is realized by talking to the guests next door. If the sociality of banquets is compared to dancing, it can be said that Chinese banquets are like group dances, while western banquets are like ballroom dancing for men and women. It can be seen that the purpose of friendship between Chinese banquet and western banquet is obvious, but Chinese banquet is more about the friendship of the whole banquet, while western banquet is more about the friendship between neighboring guests. The more obvious difference from China's diet is the buffet which is popular in the west. This method is: all the food is displayed one by one, and everyone needs what they want, so they can move freely without being fixed in their seats. This way facilitates the emotional communication between individuals, without putting all the words on the table, and also reflects the respect of westerners for individuality and self. But each eats his own food, does not interfere with each other, and lacks some China people's mood of chatting and having fun. So in the final analysis, it is the difference between sensibility and rationality. However, this difference seems to be blurred with the development of science. More and more people in China are not only concerned about the color, smell and taste of vegetables, but also about their hygiene and nutrition. Especially after SARS. Also, because people are getting busier and busier at work, they think Chinese food is too much trouble to cook, so it's better to have a hamburger or something. So the difference in diet is not clear.