中西饮食文化差异.docx

中西饮食文化差异.docx

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中西饮食文化差异

武汉纺织大学高等教育自学考试

毕业论文

论文题目:

TheDifferencesBetweenChinese

andWesternFoodCultures

指导老师:

罗阳

专业:

外贸英语

准考证号：

017707200842

作者姓名:

熊姗姗

答辩时间：

2011年5月25日

2011年3月5日

Contents

1.Introduction1

2.MainDifferencesBetweenChineseandWesternFoodCultures2

2.1ConceptualDifferences2

2.2DifferentManners3

2.3DifferentCharacteristics6

2.3.1DifferentDinnerService7

2.3.2DifferentCookbooksandReasons7

3.TheUnityofFoodCulturesasTwoOpposites9

4.Conclusion11

5.Bibliography12

6.Acknowledgements13

学位论文作者声明

本人郑重声明：

所呈交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的研究成果。

除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。

本人完全了解有关保障、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保留并向有关学位论文管理机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，同意本论文被编入有关数据库进行检索和查阅。

本学位论文内容不涉及国家机密。

论文题目：

TheDifferencesBetweenChinese

andWesternFoodCultures

作者单位：

美的冰箱荆州事业部

作者签名：

2011年3月5日

AbstractFoodcultureisthekeypartofthehumanculture,whichisdirectlyrelatedtohumanbeings’physicalandmentalhealth.CulturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandwesterncountriescreatethedifferencesoffoodcultures,whichcomefromthedifferentculturalvalues,waysofthinkingandphilosophy.BycomparingthedifferentculturalvaluesbetweenChinaandwesterncountries,thepapermainlymakesaresearchonthedifferencesofWesternandChinesefoodculturesfromtheaspectsoffoodconception,structureandtablemanners.Italsostatesthefoodculturesoppositesinunitybetweenthesetwokindsofcountriesandinevitabilityoftheirblendingtogether.Understandingtheirdifferencesandrectifyingtheattitudestowardstheindividualculturewillenhanceourcommunicativeawarenessandcompetenceandavoidthecontradictionsandconflictsbroughtforthbydifferentfoodculturesandvalues,andthuspromotingcultureexchangeanddevelopment.

Keywords：

cross-culturalcommunication;culturalvalue;foodcultures;oppositesinunity

摘要饮食文化是人类文化的重要组成部分，它直接关系到人类的身心健康。

中西文化之间的差异导致了中西饮食文化的差异,而这种差异来自中西不同的价值观、思维方式和处世方式。

本文对饮食观念、饮食结构和餐桌礼仪三方面的饮食文化内涵进行了研究,并分析了中西饮食文化的对立统一性,以及二者相互融合的趋势。

了解中西饮食文化,可以提高我们的跨文化交际意识和能力，可以避免跨文化交际过程中由于不同的饮食文化和观念而产生的矛盾和冲突,增进双方的了解和沟通。

关键词：

跨文化交际；文化价值；饮食文化；对立统一

TheDifferencesBetweenChineseandWesternFoodCultures

1.Introduction

Culturehasalonghistory,anditstillisbeingstudiednowadays.Cultureissomethingthatoriginatedwiththeemergenceofman.SirEdward,theBritishanthropologist,saysthatcultureisthatcomplexwholethatincludesknowledge,belief,andmoral,law,customandanyothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbymanasamemberofsociety.（Harris,1987,2）Differentregions,differentracesanddifferentcountriesallformtheirownculture.Differentregionsanddifferentlivingenvironmentsmakethemhavedifferentbackgrounds.Differentbackgroundsaffectdifferentappearanceofcultures.Foodcultureisthebasiccultureforanation.Foodculturescanshowdifferencesandcharacteristicsofdifferentnationsorcountries.

Asanimportantaspectofculture，Foodculturecanbedefinedasthesumofmaterialandspiritualphenomenainthecateringactivities.Withtheemphasisonahealthyfood,manyChineseandforeignscholarsarestudyingthenutritionalfoodinordertofindamorereasonablefood.Differencesoffoodculturesindifferentcountriesareaphenomenonofcross-culturalcommunication.Studyingthesedifferencescantrainpeople’adaptabilityincross-culturalcommunication.Cross-culturalcommunicationinthesituationofglobalizationmakesthedifferentfoodculturescomplementaryandintegrated.

2.MainDifferencesBetweenChineseandWesternFoodCultures

2.1ConceptualDifferences

DifferencesbetweenAmericanandChinesefoodculturereflectstwodifferentfoodconceptsandvalues.Chinesepeoplearealwaysupholding“Peopleregardfoodastheirheave,tasteistheessenceoffood”.theeightmajorcuisinesofchinareflecttherichconnotationsofChinesefoodculture.Fromthis,wecanknowthatthefoodisinaveryimportantpositioninmindsofChinesepeople.Chinesefoodcultureconcernsthemeaningofmaterialandhasatrendofachievingamentalneed.Chinesefoodculture’sgreatsentimentiswellestablished,soithastheveryhighprestigeintheworld.TheChinesepeoplethinkthatitisreasonabletoeatthreemealsaday.Eatingcanrelievethirstandappeasehunger,butithassomemeanings.Forexample,whenachildcomesintotheworld,therelativesofteneatthered-paintedeggs.Thesekindsofeggscontaintheirwishesandtheirexpectations.Lifecanbecontinuedandthegreatexpectationscanbepasseddownfromgenerationtogeneration.Whenachildisoneyearold,theirfamilywillholdapartytocelebrateitandtoeatmanykindsoffood.Whenpeoplewanttohaveamarriage,theyalsowanttohavealivelybanquettocelebrateit.Seenfromthesurface,thesekindsofeatingareonlysatisfyphysicalneeds.Infact,theyhaveulteriormotivations.Theywanttotakeadvantageofthiskindofformtoexpressonekindofpsychologicalconnotation.Eatinghasaveryprofoundandsignificantpositioninthesociety.

ThroughtheChineseandtheWesternassociation,ourfoodculturehasmergedintosomenewcharacteristics.Besidesthequality,fragranceandflavor,foodshouldconcernthenutrition.ThisisaprogressiveexpressionoftheChinesefood.ThebasicconnotationandinspectionoftheChinesefoodculturenotonlycanbehelpfultodeepenthefoodculturaltheory,butcanoccupytheworldmarket.ItcanmaketheChinesefoodculturehavetheprofoundandpositivesense.Itmayhasfourcharacteristics:

refinement,beauty,feeling,courtesy.Thefourcharactershavereflectedthefoodactivities,andhaveprocessedthefoodquality,theestheticexperience,theemotionalactivity,thesocialfunctionandsoon.Theyalsocontainuniqueculturalimplication.Theyreflectcloserelationbetweenthefoodcultureandtheoutstandingtraditionalculture.

Chinesefoodcultureattacksgreatimportancetothefood’sfinebeautyandmakingdevices.

First,“refinement”canbeusedtosummarizetheintrinsicquality.Confuciussaidthatthegoodfoodcanbeshownfromthebeautifulappearance,andweconsiderthemincedmeattobegoodbecauseofitsthin.Thisreflectsthattheancientshavebeguntoconcernhigh-qualityfood.Certainlythisispossiblylimitedtocertainaristocrat.Butthiskindofhigh-qualityfoodcanshowonekindofculturalspirit.Moreandmoreculturalspirithaspermeatedtheentirefoodactivity.Choosingthematerial,thecooking,andthefoodatmosphereallmanifestthischaracteristicofrefinement.

Second,“beauty”manifeststhefoodculture’sestheticalcharacteristic.OneimportantreasonwhyChinesefoodcanconquertheworldliesinitsbeauty.ThiskindofbeautyreferstotheChinesefoodcanunitetheformofactionandtheperfectcontent.Peoplecanenjoythiskindofhappyspirit.Thefirstreasonformakingpeopletotastethefoodisthebeautyofthefood,anthercriterionforjudgingfoodisthetechniqueofcookingwhichcanmakepeoplehaveanestheticalfeeling.

Third,“feeling”canbeusedtosummarizethefunctionofsatisfyingpsychologicalneedofChinesefoodculture.Eatinganddrinkingcannotsimplyreflectit.Infact,feelingisamediumthatcanmakepeopleexchangetheemotion.Itisonekindofentirelynewsocialactivity.Atthesametime,whileeatingameal,peoplealsocanchatwitheachother.Theymaydobusiness,exchangeinformationandhavetheinterview.Thefriends’meetingandpartingandseeingoffthedepartingpeoplearethesentimentaldisturbance.

Fourth,theChinesefoodcanshowthecourtesyofChinesepeople.The“refinement”,“beauty”,“feeling”and“courtesy”,canbeusedtosummarizethebasicconationsofChinesefoodculture.Intheotherwords,thesefouraspectsaretheorganicconstitutionofChinesefoodculture.Therefinementandbeautystressonthefoodimageandthequality.Thefeelingandcourtesycanlayemphasisontheviewoffood.Thesefourcharacteristicscanshowtheprevailingcustoms.TheyarethespecialcharacteristicsandcanmaketheChinesefoodculturebedifferentfromWesternfoodculture.

  WesternfoodcannothavethesecharacteristicslikeChinesefood.Itconcernsmorenutritionoffoodratherthanotheraspects.TheWesternpeoplehaveaveryscientificviewoffood,buttheymayhavelessattentiontotheflavoroffood.TheWesternpeoplejustconsiderthefoodasafuelofbodies.Theyjustwanttolivebyeatingthefood,andeatingthefoodistoliveandtokeephealthy.

2.2DifferentManners

First,therearedifferentarrangementsofseats.

Chineseandwesternallconcernthearrangementofseatsataformalbanquet.

InChina,etiquetteonfoodhasaverylonghistory.ItisrecordedthatinChouDynasty,hadformedasetofperfectsystems.Especially,sinceConfuciuspraisedtheetiquette,theetiquettehasbecomeanimportantpartforeverydynastytoshowitsmightiness,kindnessandcivilization.Asatraditionaletiquette,ithasitsprocess.Traditionally,Chinesepeopleoftenusetheoldfashionedsquaretableorroundtableforeightpeople.Thehostinvitespeopletohavethedinner.Whensomeguestscome,thehostoftenletthemhavearestinthedrawingroomanddrinksometea.Thehostcouldletallthegueststaketheirseatsinthediningroomwhenalltheguestsarrive.Theleftplaceistherespectfulandisconsideredthefirstplace.Thentheseatneartothefirstseatisthesecond.Theyusuallylettheguestwhoisinthehighranktaketheleftseatandthenarrangetheothers’seatsonebyone.Aftertheguestsalltooktheirseats,thehostshouldtoastandlettheguestseatmorefoods.InChina,itisagoodandpolitewayforthehost