Comparison of Diet and Cooking based on Chinese and Western

Culture

Baoding Li

Henan Polytechnic, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China

Keywords: Chinese and Western culture, Diet culture, Cooking, Balanced diet.

Abstract: There is an objective difference of diet and cooking culture between China and the West. So it is of great

significance to strengthen the comparative study of Chinese and Western diet culture. Diet culture,

developed from people’s practice, has gradually become diversified with the development of culture.

Chinese diet culture tends to pursuit delicacy and taste, paying much attention to the use of crops, while

Western diet prefer the light taste and balanced diet to traditional high-calorie diet. Therefore, comparison

of Chinese and Western diet culture has positive significance and important value for healthy diet habit.

1 INTRODUCTION

Due to the different development conditions,

different nations have different dietetic cultures.

Therefore, an effective way to learn the cultural

features of a nation is to understand its dietetic

culture. China, with a long history of more than five

thousand years, has become a great power with

multiple nations through years of war and peace

(Bian Haoyu, Gao Yongchen, 2004). Therefore,

there are various diet cultures in China, and the diet

cultures in Chinese Nation are quite different from

that of Western.

2 SUMMARY OF DIET AND

COOKING CULTURES

Diet and cooking are common words in dairy life. In

fact, they are just the centralized summarization of

eating and drinking. However, there is rich cultural

connotation behind dietary behaviors rather than just

maintaining the life of people. With the development

of human beings, food culture itself has many

different forms. In different regions and nations,

each food culture has underlying value playing a

unique role in different aspects of society. The

cultures of diet and cooking are all generated and

developed from people’s labor process. From

initially simple eating to diet cultures, people have

devoted deep considerations and creative ideas to

diet. Therefore, the cultures of diet and cooking are

all rich and unique. From the raw material to final

artistic food, food materials have presented more

functions and art values during diet and cooking

(Guo Lijiu, 2003). The cultures of diet and cooking

include the cooking technology as well as related

etiquettes and customs behind dietary behaviors.

Besides, there are also cuisine conceptions in diet, so

it is an integrated cultural system with its own

structure.

3 COMPARISON OF THE

ORIGINS BETWEEN CHINESE,

WESTERN DIET AND

COOKING CULTURES

3.1 Origins of Western diet and

cooking cultures

The culture of Western diet originated from its

precious spiritual culture, with the features of region

and history. So it has obvious regional

characteristics. In terms of physical geography

condition, most Western countries are located in the

zone of temperate maritime climate. So most

Western countries and areas are not suitable for

crops cultivation, but for the development of animal

husbandry. Therefore, they pay much attention to the

meat with high-calorie for its function of cold

resistance. For instance, in east Europe, like Russia

209

Li B.

Comparison of Diet and Cooking based on Chinese and Western Culture.

DOI: 10.5220/0006447302090212

In ISME 2016 - Information Science and Management Engineering IV (ISME 2016), pages 209-212

ISBN: 978-989-758-208-0

209

and Ukraine, people prefer to the high-calorie food

and hard liquor (Lin Yan, Xuan Meishun, 2014).

On one hand, achievements of industrial

revolution in Western countries have promoted the

development of Western society. Meantime,

Western political and economic patterns have been

concentrating on the big powers like United

Kingdom and United States. Due to the increase of

working hours and production efficiency, Western

countries with relatively developed industry tend to

choose simple and fast cooking and diet. On the

aspect of materials selection, they pay much

attention to materials which can be easily cooked.

But for some countries showing preference for

literature and art, such as France, the skills of

cooking are more important. And they also lay more

attention on the richness of food materials than other

Western countries. On the other hand, the religious

culture also has a great influence upon Western diets

and cooking culture. In Christian civilization, lamb-

kid and milk cannot be simultaneously cooked as

mentioned in the Old Testament. Besides, drinking

the blood of animal was forbidden, which affects

Jewish dietary habits. Other examples can also be

given as taboos of Islam for Muslim diet. Therefore,

the culture of Western diet and cooking has been

deeply affected by above factors.

3.2 Origin of Chinese diet and cooking

culture

Chinese diet and cooking cultures are the same as

that of Western, with a long history and rich cultural

background. The long-term processing and

consumption of food materials have left Chinese diet

and cooking culture a rich heritage. Therefore, the

rich diet and cooking cultures in China are in close

contact with its civilization of more than five

thousand years.

Chinese diet has undergone the process from

eating raw food to cooking. And with the inchoation

of civilization originated of ancient dynasties, more

skills and etiquette for food and cooking have been

produced. In terms of physical geography condition,

China lies in East Asia, with a long coastline,

affected by monsoon for long term. In this unique

physical geography condition, China pays more

attention to the plantation of corps like cereals and

rice. Traditionally, Chinese people attach great

importance to cooking and eating of meat. Even so,

the majority of Chinese still take the plantation of

crops very seriously. As China has a vast territory,

the people in coastal areas eat seafood more often;

while the inland people are good at cooking fungus

collected from mountains since ancient time. Such

cultures of diet and cooking have an obvious

regionalism, thus resulting in the diversity of diet

culture.

Chinese economic development also has a great

influence on its cultures of diet and cooking, which

can be seen from the development of Shanghai

cuisine. Since 19th century, Shanghai has been

divided into concessions and port on the basis of

economic development. Furthermore, Shanghai

cuisine has absorbed the various cultures from

different countries, forming a very unique taste.

With the influence of religion, there are also some

religious connotation in Chinese diet cultures. For

instance, there is a cooking tool called tripod in

China. It is a symbol of patriarchal clan system and

social status in Zhou Dynasty, also a symbol of

power monarch and father. In the Taoist that

developed and flourished in Han Dynasty, the meat

diet and irritable food are forbidden. What’s more,

they also proposed the food therapy theoretically,

with the wishes of body regulation. Buddhism, as a

foreign religion introduced from other countries, has

been spreading in China for more than two thousand

years. Affected by the Chinese diet cultures,

Buddhism proposed the thought of the combination

of Tea and Zen for diet.

4 COMPARISON OF CHINESE

AND WESTERN DIET

CULTURE AND

COMMUNICATION OF

COOKING SKILLS

4.1 Features of communication of

Chinese diet culture

China has always been communicating with the

world through different channels. Since Han

dynasty, the Silk Road leading to the Western

countries has been developed for silk trade. In the

middle ages, China opened up the ancient Tea-Horse

road in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces to export tea

to foreign countries. Besides, there was also "Sea

Silk Road" bringing Chinese porcelain and silk to

overseas. In addition to bringing Chinese products to

foreign countries, these channels had also taken

Chinese diet and cooking culture to other countries.

The profound influence of Chinese tea should be a

good example. In UK, the aristocrats in high society

quickly accepted the tea culture, taking tea drinking

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as the privilege of them. That was because it is not

easy to grow tea in the UK, so they had to rely on

China's export in the early stage. In modern times,

political pattern has greatly changed as the eruption

of world wars. From the late 19th to early 20th

century, there has been a large-scale immigration

wave. Influenced by this trend, Chinese diet and

cooking have been brought to different countries,

such as Southeast Asia countries like Malaya,

Singapore and Thailand, or Americas and Cuba. In

these countries and areas, you can find Chinese

gathering areas everywhere, called as "Chinatown".

Besides, there also are Chinese restaurants

widespread. With the spread of diet and cooking

culture, more overseas Chinese can get access to

their conventional foods, thus meeting their

homesick complex. Additionally, the integration of

Chinese diet and local cuisines results in the new

dishes with the diet cultures of both Chinese and

Western. As one of the overseas-Chinese diet

cultures, Guangdong dishes have had a very

profound influence on Chinese food within United

States. Furthermore, its sales volume is running neck

and neck with fast food in US.

4.2 Features of communication of

Western diet cultures

The influence of Western diet upon Chinese was

firstly shown by the introduction of corps, such as

Tomato, sweet potato, guava, walnuts and pepper.

Once these crops have entered China, they were

widely used in Chinese diet and cooking. With the

introduction of Western diet and cooking culture,

Western Christianity also spread gradually, thus

affecting Chinese culture. Especially in Ming and

Qing Dynasty, Western Catholic and Christian

missionaries with certain scale stepped into the

territory of China gradually, with their diet and

cooking culture. As ZHU-Ming and Manchus

Government resisted the spread of western religious

cultures, these diet and cooking cultures have not

taken root in China. The prosperous period of

Western diet culture in China started since the

Reform and Opening up in 1980s. At that time,

China was active in the communication and

cooperation with Western countries. Therefore,

various Western foods have been introduced into

China and found its place in various regions of

China, such as hamburger and steak. Then Chinese

people's living habits were deeply affected. For

instance, drinking coffee and coffee shops can be

seen everywhere, which is a common status in

China.

The reason why Western diet and cooking

cultures were boycotted lies in two aspects. On one

hand, part of Western diet and cooking cultures

contain rich religious thoughts. While for most

Chinese, their religious beliefs are Buddhist and

Taoism. So they dare not to taste Western foods at

first for their loyalty to religions. On the other hand,

all Chinese were affected by national complex at late

19th century to early 20th century. That is because at

that time, China was suffering the invasion from

Western countries and Japan. Most Chinese people

showed a strong hostility to Western diet and

cooking. Even today, many Chinese people will

rather choose Chinese foods if they have the options.

However, among the youth in China, this concept

becomes weaker than their elders.

5 COMPARISON OF THE

ESSENCE OF CHINESE,

WESTERN DIET AND

COOKING CULTURES

Essentially, the basic difference between Chinese

and Western diet and cooking cultures lies in their

different contents. Chinese diet primarily pursues the

delicacy and beauty of food, but the Western mainly

focus on the nutrition and balance of diet.

Obviously, there are various kinds of thoughts in

Chinese diet and cooking cultures. Due to the

influence of different regional cultures, there are

many kinds of dish styles in Chinese diet culture,

such as Zhejiang, Guangdong and Sichuan cuisine.

Although there are different cooking skills in

different dish styles, daintiness of food has always

been the concern of Chinese diet and cooking

culture. Here is an old saying, “there has no rice in

the finest quality, nor meat finely minced.”

Furthermore, Chinese people emphasize the

appearance of the food as well as color matching

during cooking. For instance, the feast full of good

dishes of Man and Han nationalities developed in

Qing dynasty mainly focus on the aggregation of

different dishes. Besides, different cooking skills

and materials’ tastes are also studied in this feast.

However, Western diet and cooking criticize the

food with high-calorie for the development of

medical technology. People in Western countries

proposed some ideas about balanced diet. In

Western diet and cooking, many people tend to

select light food, so Western diet is always very

simple. Gradually, such idea of weighing health and

refusing appetite are accepted by the majority of

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Chinese people. Nowadays, many Chinese people

begin to refuse substantial meals while cooking,

tending to light foods.

6 CONCLUSIONS

In a word, this work investigated the difference

between Chinese, Western diet and cooking cultures.

In particular, this work studied the concepts about

banquet and etiquette and the content of cooking. So

it is possible to analyze the difference between

Chinese and Western diet cultures. At present, it is

an era for world cross-cultural communication. After

China entering the global environment, Chinese diet

culture will have more chances to communicate with

other diet cultures in the world. Therefore, it seems

necessary to study the difference between Chinese

and Western cultures. That is because it can dig out

the profound connotation behind the difference,

especially for the exploration of the cultural details.

At last, it can also enhance the awareness for

cultural communication in the cross-cultural

environment.

REFERENCES

Bian Haoyu, Gao Yongchen, Differences between Chinese

and Western Dietetic Culture, Journal of Nanjing

Forestry University (Humanities and Social Sciences

Edition), 2004(02): 49-53

Guo Lijiu, Aesthetic Sublimation of Cooking Arts—an

Interview with Chinese Master Chef Peng Yutang,

Chinese Food, 2003 (04): 11-13

Lin Yan, Xuan Meishun, Differences between Chinese

and Western Dietary Cultures, Journal of Small

Writers Election, Teaching Communication,

2014(01):118

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