The Differences between China and the West in Food Culture中西方饮食文化差异毕业论文.docx

The Differences between China and the West in Food Culture中西方饮食文化差异毕业论文.docx

《The Differences between China and the West in Food Culture中西方饮食文化差异毕业论文.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《The Differences between China and the West in Food Culture中西方饮食文化差异毕业论文.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

TheDifferencesbetweenChinaandtheWestinFoodCulture中西方饮食文化差异毕业论文

毕业论文

TheDifferencesbetweenChinaandtheWestinFoodCulture

中西方饮食文化差异

Introduction

Inourdailylife,foodplaysanessentialrole,whichisanysubstancethatprovidesnutrientsnecessarytomaintainourlifeandgrowthwhenwehave.Withthedevelopmentofoursocietyandintheprogressofcivilization,foodisbecomingmoreandmoreimportant,nomatterinancienttimeorinmoderntime,orindifferentareas,suchasintheEastandintheWest.

Chinaisacountrythathasalonghistoryandavarietyofcuisineswithdifferentfeatures.

Westerncountriesalsohavetheirowndistinctfeaturesandspecialtiesintheirfoodcultureaswell.SinceChinahascarriedouttheopen-uppolicy,andhasenteredWTO,theinternationalcommunicationisbecomingmoreandmorefrequent.Intheprocessofcommunication,wewillfindthattherearesomanydisparitiesbetweendifferentcultures,thesedisparitiesmayreflectinvariousfieldsofactivities,suchasinpeople’sdailylife.Food,asanecessarysubstance,canpartiallyembodythesedifferences.JustastheoldEnglishsaying“Oneman’smeatisanotherman’spoison”,whichmeansnoallhumanbeingsdevelopthesamefoodhabits.So,wemustrememberthatalthoughwehumanbeingshavethesamebasicneedsanddesires,likefood,ourwaysofsatisfyingthemaredifferent.“Whatheeatsisofcourselimitedbyavailability,butisalsopartlyregulatedbyculture.Itisabiologicalfactthatsometypesofberriesarepoisonous,itisaculturalfactthat,afewgenerationsago,mostAmericansconsideredtomatoestobepoisonousandrefusedtoeatthem”（KluckhohncitedinHuWenzhong,1990:

39）.ClydeKluckhohn,aworldfamousanthropologist,statesinhispaperWhatisculture.Therefore,onlyineachindividualculture,canfoodandfoodhabitsbebestunderstood.

Newandhighlydevelopedtechnologymakestheworldgettingsmallerandsmaller,theformoftransportationandcommunicationsystemshasencouragedandacceleratedtheprocessofglobalization.Theglobalizationnotonlybringsopportunities,butalsobringsaseriesofcross-culturalcommunicationproblems.Sincepeoplewouldliketounderstandtheunfamiliarthingsintheirfamiliarways,moreandmoremisunderstandingsandproblemsarearising.Therefore,itisnecessarytoincreasepeople’scross-culturalawarenesssothatfewmisunderstandingsarisewhenpeopleinteractwithotherswhofromanothercultures.

Therefore,thispapertriestoanalyzeandcompareChineseandwesternfoodcultureintheperspectivesofconcept,contentsandcuisine.Withthedevelopmentofcross-culturalcommunication,morefactorsandnewvariableswillariseinfoodculture;thispaperisonlyacomparativestudyforcross-culturallearning.

1.TheoreticalFoundations

BeforewemakeacomparisonbetweenChineseandwesternfoodculture,weneedtounderstandwhatcultureisandtheclassificationsofculture,etc.Thesequestionswillbediscussedandexplaininthefollowingparagraphs.

1.1DefinitionsofCulture

Today,cultureisawordthatweoftenhear,readandusuallytalkof,suchasChineseculture,foodculture,teacultureandsoon.Butwhenwewanttoclearlydefinethemeaningofculture,wemaydoubt:

whatisculture?

Onthisquestion,differentpeoplehavedifferentanswers.Thedefinitionofcultureissoextensive.Infact,ourlifebothintellectualandmaterialtakesplaceinacertainculturalcircumstances．Cultureiseverywhere．Cultureisasocialphenomenon．Butitisdifficultforustogiveascientificandcompletedefinitiontoculture．Asearlyas1952,KroeberandKluckhohnlisted164definitionsofculturethattheyfoundintheanthropologyliteratureandmanynewdefinitionshaveappeared.Definitionsofculturesrangfromthosethingsthatmeaneverythingtothosethatarenarrow.Manyscholarshaveofferedvarieddefinitionsaboutculture.Basedonthesedefinitions,Samovar,aleadingfigureincross-culturalcommunication,proposeshisowndefinitionthatisperhapsmoresuitedtothecommunicationbetweencultures:

“wedefinecultureasthedepositofknowledge,experience,beliefs,values,actions,attitudes,meanings,hierarchies,religion,notionsoftime,roles,spatialrelations,conceptsoftheuniverse,andartifactsacquiredbyagroupofpeopleinthecourseofgenerationsthroughindividualandgroupstriving”（Samovar2000:

36）.Edward.T.Hall,oneofthemostfamousanthropologistsandfoundersofcross-culturalcommunication,describedculture:

“Thereisnotoneaspectofhumanlifethatisnottouchedandalteredbyculture”（Hall1989:

16）.So,cultureiseverythingandeverywhere.

1.2ClassifyingCulture

AccordingtoEdward.T.HallcontributionsinTheSilentLanguage,heclassifiescultureintotwolevels:

overtculturewhichisvisibleandeasilydescribedandcovertculturewhichisnotvisibleandpresentsdifficultieseventothetrainedobserver.Kluckhohn（citedinHuWenzhong,1990:

34）proposesculturecanbedividedintotwokinds:

explicitcultureandimplicitculture.MiltonJ.Bennettstatesinhiswritinginterculturalcommunication:

Acurrentperspectiveclassifiescultureintotwotypes,“culturewritlarge”and“culturewritsmall”.Themoreacademictermsusedbymostwritersare“objectiveculture”thatreferstoart,classicmusic,etc.and“subjectiveculture”thatincludespsychologicalfeatures,values,etc.（Bennett,1998:

3）.

InChina,ProfessorHuWenzhong（1990）,inhisbookInterculturalCommunication—WhatItmeanstoChineseLearnersofEnglish,classifiescultureintothreekinds:

highculture,popularcultureanddeepculture.“Highculturereferstophilosophy,literature,finearts,musicandreligion.Thisiscultureunderstoodinitsnarrowersense.Initsbroadersense,culture（i.e.popularculture）includescustomsandhabits,ritesandrituals,waysoflivingandallinterpersonalbehavior.Deepculturereferstoconceptionandbeauty,definitionofsin,notionsofmodesty,orderingoftime,tempoofworkandsoforth.”（HuWenzhong1990:

5）Usually,peoplecompareculturetoanicebergwiththeassumptionthatonlysomepartofitisvisiblewhilemostpartofcultureisnot.Ifweonlylearnthevisiblepart,wearemissingthebiggerpartthatisbelowthesurface.Highculture,popularcultureanddeepculturearenotthreeseparatedwatertightcompartment.Onthecontrary,theyarecloselyrelated,thoughtherelationshipisnotalwayseasytospecify.

1.3DefinitionsofFoodCulture

Foodcultureisanimportantpartofhumanculture.Ithastwodefinitionsinbroadsenseandnarrowsense.Inthebroadsense,foodculturehassomethingincommonwithcookingculture,anditisconsideredasthecounterpartofthelatter.Generallyspeaking,cookingculturereferstothetotalamountofmaterialandspirittreasurewhichiscreatedandaccumulatedduringthelongperiodoffoodproductionandprocessionbythehumanbeing.Itisaboutwhatfoodhumanmakes,andhowtomake.Itincludesthefoodingredient,cookingtool,cookingskillandsoon.Inthenarrowsense,foodculturereferstothesum-upofmaterialandspirittreasurecreatedandpasseddowninthelongperiodofhumaneatingthefoodproduct.Itisaboutwhathumaneat,andhowtoeatandwhyeatsuchfood,etc.Itincludesthevarietyoffood,thetoolusesineating,thecustomsofeating,andtheserviceofeatingact.Inaword,cookingculturecometobirthinthecourseoffoodproductionandprocession.Itisaproductionculture,whilefoodcultureinthenarrowsenseisakindofconsumingculture,whichcomestobirthinthecourseoffoodconsuming.Theproductionandtheconsumingistightlyconnectedtoeachother.Ifthereisnocookingculture,theywillbenofoodculture.Thefirstoneisthepremiseofthelatter.Thelatterisderivedfromthefirstone.Thus,weusuallydefinefoodcultureinbroadsensethatisthesum-upofcookingcultureandeatingculture.

1.4ConfiningFoodCulture

Becausethefoodculturecontainsmanyaspectsanddistinctindifferentareas,forcommunicationpurpose,wefocusoncomparingthefoodculturedifferencesbetweenthedominantfoodculturepatterns:

ChinesefoodcultureandAmericanfoodculture.

1.4.1ChineseFoodCulture

ChinesefoodculturemainlyreferstofoodcultureinHannationality.Chinahasalonghistoryof5000years,Chinesefoodcultureisawide-field,profound,multi-angle,regionalculture.Throughmorethanonemillionofpracticalexperienceoflife,Chinesepeoplecreateandaccumulatenumerousmaterialwealthandspiritualvaluesontheaspectoffoodculture,whichalsoaffectneighboringcountries’culture.

1.4.2WesternFoodCulture

Westernfoodculture,whichwillbediscussedinthispaper,ismainlyreferredtoAmericanandBritishfoodculture.AmericaandBritainhavedominatedrolesintheworld,nomatterintheeconomyorinthescienceandtechnology,andtheirculturalpatternsinfluencemanycountries.

2.DifferencesofConceptsbetweenChineseandWesternFoodCultures

Differentconceptsinfoodculturesaffectpeople’sattitudetowardsfood.Itisnecessarytoanalyzewhatconceptsexistinchinaandwesterncountriesandhowtheseconceptinfluencepeople’sopinionstowardsfood.Therearetwopointsdiscussedinthefollowingparagraphs:

differentmajorconcernsanddifferentculturalfeatures.

2.1DifferencesofMajorConcernsonFood

2.1.1ExquisitenessandTasteinChineseFood

ItisknownthatChinaisanagriculturalcountrywithalargepopulationintheruralareas．Influencedbyagriculturalculture,theChinesepeopleregardfoodastheirprimarywant,whichisreflectedintheirconcernsonfood,astheoldsaying:

“Tothepeopl