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Different Food Cultures between
China and France
Have you ever tried exotic food? People nowadays can get various kind of food. For example, people in China can buy French food even if they are not in Europe. However, most of the time, food is not just food, but it represents its original culture. Thus, knowing the profound culture behind the food is important when enjoying the refreshing flavor, because it helps people to get more familiar with things in their mouth, and try not to violate taboos in certain culture when having meals. Although Chinese foods and French foods are derived from old civilizations, they differ in several surprising ways.
First of all, ingredient choice is the main difference between Chinese food and French food, and it also influences how it provide nutrition to people. For example, Chinese food abound with starch because it always bases on rise, a cereal grain which is cultivated in East and Southeast Asia. As for French food, its sources of starch are usually oatmeal and bread. When it comes to protein, traditional Chinese food usually contains pork and chicken, however, since eating beef is a taboo in China because cow is the animal that helps farming, there is generally no beef in Chinese cuisine in the past time. In French, they view beef as a nutritious ingredient, and like Chinese food, has its own feature food of pork and chicken, such as Boudin Noir and oq au vin. Besides, French food also specialize in venison and duck meat, ingredient that is uncommon in Chinese food. Thus, ingredients choice is a crucial difference between French food and Chinese food.
Additionally, the sequence of food serving forms a strong contrast between Chinese food and French food. It is a critical matter for French food to have a meal in a certain order, starting from the appetizers, entree, fish, main dish, salad, and end in cheese and dessert. Such sequence is delicately design of fully served the consumer. Nonetheless, in Chinese food culture, though there is the main dish and the other dish as side dishes, Chinese food does not put emphasis on the order of which kind of food is served first. In Chinese culture, the whole set of cuisine is entirely prepared on the dining table, and people are not used to start dining as long as the first dish is served. Only when all of the food is done will people get to the dining table. Therefore, the sequence of food serving matters in French food culture, in contrast with Chinese food culture which does not considerate it important.
Finally, the table manner of Chinese food and French food are not the same. It is important to use the tableware in a proper way when having French food because it equals to the good manner. In French culture, if there are more than one utensils on the table, the proper way to use it is picking up the farthest from the plate first. While Chinese food culture has no rule about manners of using the utensils, people could use any of the utensils as long as it is suitable for the dish when eating Chinese food. Another example of table manner difference lies in the sequence that people sit in front of the dining table.French food culture does not take the sequence as serious as
Chinese culture does.
By contrast, Chinese table etiquette features that who go first on the dining table represents respect to the elder. Children should go after the elder is on the table, and if the elder has not eaten yet, the younger should not eat either. Hence, Chinese culture and French culture differ significantly in their
unique table manner.
All in all, there are big differences between Chinese food culture and French food culture. They come from the concern aspect of etiquette, however, derived from different ideas and traditional concept. Paying attention to their differences allows people to enjoy the cuisine of these two cultures to a greater extent.
Sources
法國飲食文化
Derived from:
https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E6%B3%95%E5%9C%8B%E9%A3%B2%E9%A3%9F%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96
中西方飲食文化差異以及餐桌禮儀的對比
Derived from:
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