A Collection of Cross Cultural Comparisons : In FOOD, we find DIVERSITY

Through the two-month on campus eating in the dinning hall, I came to notice several similarities and differences between Chinese and American food culture. Firstly, the food ideas are different. Chinese put great emphasis on the flavor of the food. Each dish has to meet the 5 aspects of “ color, fragrance, taste, shape and tray” to be counted as delicious. On the opposite, Americans have more rational appeals on nutrition. They count how many calories, vitamins and protein people have to absorb everyday, eating strictly as the rules. Secondly, there are also differences in food ingredients. Americans believe that food is to appease hunger, so they tend to eat pizza, big loaf of meat and a whole chicken, which can satisfy their stomach in a very short period of time. While Chinese cuisine is "taste", Chinese Chefs can make great dishes out of ingredients that are deprecated by foreign Chefs, such as animals' internal organs or chicken feet. Though it may take a while to cook, the flavor is so worth it. Still, there are similarities in eating habits. Both Chinese and Americans like to eat with groups of friends together, and they both like to have desserts or drinks at the end of a meal. The differences and similarities in food show the ones between perceptual and rational difference, which are getting blurred with the development of science. Nowadays, people tend to rush through their meal with fast-food like hotdogs, hamburgers and sandwiches, making the food culture much more similar between Chinese and American.