中西饮食差异英文论文.doc

学号_ 密级_ 本科毕业论文 中西饮食习惯差异院（系）名 称： 专 业 名 称 ： 学 生 姓 名 ： 指 导 教 师 ： 二一一年二月BACHELOR'S DEGREE THESIS OF WUHAN UNIVERSITYDifferences between Chinese and Western Eating Habits College： Subject： Name ： Directed by ： February 2011郑 重 申 明本人呈交的学位论文，是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的成果，所有数据、图片资料真实可靠。尽我所知，除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本学位论文的研究成果不包含他人享有著作权的内容。对本论文所涉及的研究工作做出贡献的其他个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式标明。本学位论文的知识产权归属于培养单位。本人签名： 日期： 摘 要饮食是人类生存与发展的必需，与每个人的生活密切相关。但由于中西方传统文化的差异，导致了中西方在饮食习惯上出现差异。本文从饮食观念、饮食方式、对象三方面出发，研究中西饮食习惯的差异。关键词：饮食观念；方式；对象；ABSTRACT Diet is the necessity in the life and also the development of human beings. Because of the differences between Chinese and western cultural traditions, the Chinese and the western are different in eating habits. The paper studies the differences through the concept of two different diets, different dietary patterns，and different objects. Key words: Dietary concept; dietary patterns; objectsContentsAbstract(Chinese)IAbstract(English)IIChapter One:Introduction1Chapter Two:2.1. The Concept of Two Different Diets22.2. Two Different Dietary Patterns32.3: Different in Objects4Chapter Three:Conclusion7Works Cited8Chapter One: IntroductionThere is a saying that “To the people foodstuff is all-important”, so food is the basis for the survival and development of human race. To the development of dietary culture, China and the western countries have made a significant contribution. Both of them have formed their own unique eating culture system. As one of the four world ancient nations, China has a long dietary history almost as long as Chinese civilization. The remote Chinese have paid much attention to eating. And now the Chinese are pursuing beauty of diet. But this difference is more rational concept of the Western diet. Therefore, it is no wonder that there are many differences between Chinese and western in eating habits, because of the different concepts, dietary patterns, objects. But both of them have the advantages and disadvantages. So we can combine the good Chinese eating habits with the wests to create the best eating habits. Also, we can make a further communication with each other though studying these cultural differences.Chapter Two2.1. The Concept of Two Different DietsMany dieting habit differences are mainly about raw, tastes and cook methods. They are affected by regional characteristics, climate environment and customs. Different cultures influent the concepts of the diets in different countries. I will introduce you something about the China and western countries.Chinese diet is a sense of beauty. An old saying is that: “Food is eating well-deserved for human beings.” It is the basic theory of Chinese dieatry culture. for example, many Chinese festivals are linked to some special food. They always eat Zongzi during Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the patriot Qu Yuan. Another example, the custom of eating the festive specialty: cakes shaped like the moon is shared by all of the Chinese. Although our nation are enter into agriculture society in early times, low productivity for thousands of years and many disaters in history made Chinese pay much attention to eating. So the Chinese tried their best to solve the problem of hungry. They not only did this, but also began to pursuit the beauty of diet. It is acklnowledged that the Chiese diet is a kind of art. When they are cooking, they must take the flavor, color, materials and so on into consideration. Reconcile is the most important thing. It includes the good collocation of color, materials and the good control of the taste and temperature. They can cook according to imagination. In addition, the Chinese usually keep healthy though eating. Because they believe food is better than medicine. For example, eating tomatoes can protect against sunburn and it is not easily to have black eyes.Compared with Chinese diet, the western diet is a rational concept. On one hand, it always ignores the color, flavor and shape of the food. What it cares about is that the intake of calories, protein and vitamins in every day. In other word, what the most important is how much the nutrition they take in every day. Its on wonder that the westerners are stronger than Chinese. But on the other hand, it becomes an obstacle to dietary culture. The ignorance of the collocation of color, materials and the good control of the flavor and temperature make the food tasted simple, also do the dietary culture. It can say it is no art to appreciate of the western diet even if it is so luxurious. For example, in a dish of “French Muttonchops”, one side is potato mud with muttonchops; another side is ripe beans plus a few tablets of tomatoes. Although the color of dish is clear, the tastes of the various materials are separated, so the entire flavor is simple.In the end, with the busy life in western country, many people have a little time to eat, so fast-food is becoming their trend .However, Chinese like to eat at home in a traditional way. They take the united idea as the happy thing, such as “spring festival”.2.2. Two Different Dietary PatternsThe Chinese dietary pattern is very different from the Westerns, and these differences may affect the national characteristics. The prominent difference is that in China, there only be one pattern sitting together and sharing one feast in a celebration, no matter what. Chinese always use round table while having a meal, which creates a unity and courtesy of form in some degree. Delicious dishes are put in the centre of the table, which are the objects for people to enjoy and taste, and also the intermediate of communication. People toast and talk with each other and share the dishes. It reflects the mutual respect between people and shows the virtues of comity in face of the good things. This pattern conforms of our national “unity” mentality, although it has the obvious shortcomings from the health point of view. So this pattern is very popular in China. For example, especially at New Years Eve, Chinese people always sit together and share a big dinner. They talk a lot and always take food to each other, which is also a way to facilitating the emotional exchanges.Compared to Chinese dietary patterns, western banquets are totally different in some points. The main difference is buffet dinner which gains popular in west. On the table, all the food is put. People can get the food they want who will not be fixed in their places. They can walk as they like. This form can facilitate personal emotional exchanges, which also reflects westerners are pusuiting of freedom and individuality. And it is also a healthy way to eat, for eating themselves. But it may lack of the atmosphere of harmony and unity like Chinese dinner pattern. Except the pattern said above, there is another difference. When having a meal, the Chinese always use chopsticks which called “Kuai Zi” in Chinese. It is used as the main tableware for more than 3000 years, which plays an important role in Chinese food culture. Under the culture guidance of Confucianism, chopsticks represent gentleness and benevolence, the main moral teachings of Confucianism. According to U.S. nutritionist, Professor Herman said, “When Chinese use chopsticks to eat, which needs to use dozens of muscles and joints mo. So it is no exaggeration to call it as Fitness activities.” While the tableware used in western countries cant achieve this function. To eat and taste Chinese food, using chopsticks might be the only and also the best way.Instead of the chopsticks used in China, knife and fork are used as the main tableware in western countries. At first, they only use knife. The knife in early times is made of stone and bone. Later, it developed to bronze knife and iron knife. One knife cant be called tableware in a serious sense like chopsticks. Because it has many uses, like slaughtering, dissecting and cutting the hunting food. Westerners must take the knife with them, for they dont have a fixed home in a large ranch or grassland. Until they move into cities, knives are welcomed in kitchen. And then it becomes the main tableware in the west. Westerners like to eat blocks of meat which arent always ripe and also breads. They often use knives to cut them into pieces or small one, and use forks to put them into mouth. Knife and fork are usually thought to represent a sort of authority, tyrannical and resemble cold weapons. 2.3: Different in ObjectsThere is a common phenomenon that the westerners generally look very strong, high, and have long legs, developed muscles. On the contrary, the Chinese look short, thin, and have narrow shoulders, yellow skin, and week body in the large. These differences are mainly caused by different dietaries.Talking to what the food the Chinese eat, we may use the word “Vegetarian” to describe them. In other word, in China, people generally eat vegetables. The agricultural structure of China is breeding. The staple food is rice and noodle, and non-staple food is vegetable with a little meat. The word “dish” is for the sound in China, which has some links with the plants. As a matter of fact, vegetable dish is the main food in Chineses daily life. While the meat dishes usually offered on holidays and in rich families. Why do Chinese eat vegetables? Dating back to the Han Dynasty, Buddhism is imported to China. Under the historical conditions of China that time, Buddhism began to take root in China society. It advocates vegetarian which affects the Chinese dietary a lot. The Buddhists regard animals as people and plants have no soul. Partly because of this, vegetarian diets dominate in the normal structure in China for thousands of years.Except this, it is really a serious problem that China cant afford enough food to people sometimes. China has a total area of 960 square kilometers whose agricultural structure is breeding, among these only an area of 18.26 million Mu are cultivated land. In other word, per capita land area is 1.3 acres, because of a large population of nearly 1.4 billion. The data indicate a fact that we must develop planting vigorously to offer enough food to satisfy peoples needs. Also, the price of breeding is much higher. So it is no wonder that the main food in China is rice and vegetables but not meat and milk.While the westerns take meat dishes as their main diet. The agricultural structure of the west is agriculture and animal husbandry mixed structure which the planting and animal husbandry are developing in balance. The food in west comes from planting, also the animal husbandry. So the westerners dietary food also including rice, fruits and vegetables. Besides, meat, milk and eggs take a large proportion. In history, the proportion of meat in western dietary is larger than Chinese dietary. This difference becomes much clear as the time past. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, high-yielding crops are imported into China to need food shortage, like corn, sweet potato and potato. At the same time, the proportion of meat is much larger than the proportion of cereals. Then the cereals are mainly used for feeding livestock to change into high quality food. So meat dish is the main food in western dietary. In addition, they always eat milk and bread. Today, the food industry in the west is much developed, like cans and fast food. Among these, KFC and McDonalds have gained great popularity all over the world.Except this, there is another reason like China about the problem of population. China internships one-child policy, while some western countries have encouraged fertility. Many western countries have a smaller population than China, and each person has enough per capita land. Also as the above said, agriculture and animal husbandry are the main agricultural structure of the west. The food produced by the west could satisfy their peoples needs. So we can make a conclusion that westerners consider meat as their main food.It is common that adding some seasonings while cooking. As for this, the Chinese and the westerners have different opinions in some aspects. Firstly: When Chinese cook meals, they love to put cong, jiang and suan into them. For example, when they cook meal, a cooking wine, pepper aniseed and so on may be put into the meat. Few westerners would use these things. They like to use black pepper, bay leaves, Lemmon or something; Second: Westerners usually use little salt which is half as the Chinese do. Because they think taking in too much salt may cause many diseases in old ages; thirdly: Westerners dont like use MSG when cooking, because it contains odium which is harmful to health if taking in a lot. On the contrary, the Chinese like it for better flavor; Forth: Vegetable oil is much popular used for cooking in China than animal oil witch has high cholesterol. The latter gains its popularity in the west. Besides, westerners often take in a lot of butter every day. Talking to the cooking methods, the cooking culture of China is considered as an art. The chefs can cook the dish according to their own imagination, cooking the same raw materials to different kinds of delicious dishes. These materials are cooked by steaming, stewing and frying according to different needs. Therefore, the same food may have different flavors, shapes, colors and feelings. While, westerners are prefer to steamed food which the nutrition in the food is less destroy. As the passage said above, the western diet is a rational concept. Their cooking methods are always the same. In addition, they prefer to raw food. For example, it is really common that some uncooked vegetables are eaten directly by them in order to keep nutrition; another example, when you come to a western restaurant to eat some steaks, the waiters may ask you: “Excuse me, what filet mignon steak would you like?” Maybe from this, we also can see the differences.Chapter Three: ConclusionChairman Mao once said: “The body is the revolutionary qualification”. While good dietary is the basis to keep a healthy body. So it is necessary to discuss the different eating habits for health. From the text, we can easily find there are many differences between the Chinese and western eating habits. As we know, dietary culture has an enduring and profound effect over Chinese cultu