A Comparison Between Chinese and Western Food Culture

The contact between different countries becomes much tighter through the globalization. At the same time, the cultural communications become more important in the huge distance between these two cultures. The distinction between cultural communications becomes more and more evident. And the study of Chinese and Western food culture is an important part of it, so this thesis will analyze the different food cultures in Chinese and western countries. And I will compare them from the aspect of main food, drink, tableware, the position of dishes and its reason, and healthy conception.

      The first difference between Chinese and western food culture is about different main food.
Rice and cooked wheaten food are two main staple foods in the Han nationality. The southern and northern regions cultivate rice, and rice has become the main nourishment in these areas. The northeast and northwest regions cultivate wheat and give first place to cooked wheaten food. Also, other kinds of cereals like maize, Kaoliang, grain, tuber crop have become staple food, in different areas as well as coarse cereals. The Han nationality’s staple foods have colorful and various cooking methods and has hundreds of kinds of rice and wheat products. Nowadays, the northeast regions in China still give first place to cooked wheaten food.
Meat, milk and bread are the staple food in western countries. A common meal usually consists of soup, bread and butter. There are also various roasted foods besides the brown bread. Another staple food in Western countries is the potato. To westerners, potato is as important as rice to Chinese. You can often see that the British move packages of potatoes in shopping carts in the supermarket just like Chinese people buying rice.

Second, let us look at the difference between Chinese and western drinks.
Liquor and tea are two kinds of main drinks in Han nationality. It is known to all that China is the hometown of tea, and one of the countries which...