摘 要

饮食文化差异是中西方文化差异中的一个突出的表现，研究饮食文化是研究跨文化交际的重要内容之一。中国自古以来重视饮食，对此方面的研究也十分丰富。但大部分研究都站在中方的角度上，不够客观，从而忽视了西方饮食的优点。而西方对饮食文化的研究较少，大都只涉及营养学方面，对其起源与历史介绍的较少。本文从食器的角度出发，从地理环境，宗教和饮食观念三个方面对比分析了中西方饮食文化的差异。筷子与刀叉，这些简单的食器不仅代表了饮食文化的不同，也显示出了中西方两种文化体系的差异。饮食文化是一个民族文化的缩影，了解和学习饮食文化，能够帮助我们开阔眼界，吸收更多优秀的文化，适应时代的发展。

关键词：饮食文化；食器；环境；宗教；饮食观念

Abstract

The difference of diet culture is an important aspect in the cultural differences between China and western countries. The study of diet culture is part of the important contents of intercultural communication. So far, China has attached great importance to food and the researches on it are also very rich. But most of the studies are from the perspective of Chinese culture, which are not objective enough and ignore the advantages of western diets. However, there are few researches on diet culture in the west, and some are only related to nutrition. This paper, from the view of tableware, analyzes differences between Chinese and western diet culture in three aspects: geographical environment, religions and diet concepts. As for chopsticks, knives and forks, the simple tableware not only represents the different food culture, but also shows the differences between the two cultural systems in China and the west. Diet culture is an epitome of a national culture. Therefore, understanding and studying diet culture can help people broaden horizon, absorb more excellent culture and adapt to the development of the times.

Key Words: diet culture; tableware; geographical environment; religion; diet concept

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of studying diet culture 1

1.2 The purpose and significance of this paper 2

1.3 The layout of this paper 3

2 The Different Origins of Tableware due to Geographical Environment 5

2.1 The origins of Chinese tableware 5

2.2 The origins of western tableware 6

3 The Different Habits of Using Tableware because of Religions 9

3.1 The religious factors in China 9

3.2 The religious factors in the West 10

4 The Different Diet Concepts in China and the West 12

4.1 Chinese diet concepts 12

4.2 Western diet concepts 14

5 Conclusions 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 19

Analyzing the Different Diet Culture between China and the West from the Perspective of Tableware

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of studying diet culture

In the 21st century, mankind came into the age of information and technology. Globalization becomes an unavoidable trend with the communication among countries and regions increasingly deepening. More and more individuals can easily travel to other countries and gain a better understanding of various endemic cultures, especially the diet culture. China and the west, because of their different history and geography, have formed two distinct kinds of diet cultures. The collision, the exchange as well as the combination between Chinese and western food culture promotes the development of human civilization. Therefore, analyzing and comparing diverse diet culture between China and the west is one of the most important methods of studying cross-cultural communication.

Diet culture constitutes an indispensable part of a national culture. “It is a generic concept related to natural science, social science and philosophy” (Wang, 2006:2). There is a wide range of diet culture. The developments of food raw materials, food production processes and customs, traditions, thinking and philosophy on the basis of the diet all can be described as the contents of the diet culture. It is not formed overnight, but over time and passes through historical precipitation and eventually creates a kind of culture with national characteristics. Therefore, diet culture of a country or a region often can be regarded as the national and regional cultural epitome. “Collective dining system” in China, for example, indicates the Chinese collectivism, while the “individual dining system” in western countries is the embodiment of the western individualism. Diet culture is a small but the most familiar part of daily life. It can reflect the entire culture. Then, we can understand Chinese and western culture more easily and vividly by studying diet culture.

1.2 The purpose and significance of this paper

In the aspect of diet culture, domestic and overseas scholars have done some literature researches about it. In China, there are many works like Chinese and Foreign Diet Culture written by Kui（2010）. This book expounds almost all aspects of the Chinese diet culture, details the diet culture in many other countries in the world. The book called Chopsticks, Knife and Fork （Duamp; Sun, 2007）deeply analyzes Chinese and western food culture from the perspective of cross-cultural communication, and puts forward the development direction in the future of Chinese food industry. Pang and Wang's Food and Culture (2009)introduces Chinese cooking in detail, and describes the myths and legends, religious beliefs, cultural celebrities, and literature related to diet. Zhao’s Diet Culture in the World (2006) mainly talks about food culture and customs of various countries in the world. Much Depends on Dinner （2010）and The Rituals of Dinner（1991）written by Visser are the famous English essays about diet culture. The author tells the story of table manners in America. Davis’s Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit（2013）introduces knowledge about diet in a vivid and fluent language. It is a good guide to nutrition and science. She appeals us to attach importance to nutrients in order to maintain healthy and prevent disease. Her ideas in the book have deep influence on the concept of current scientific nutrition. Post (2004) introduces some table etiquette in her book and tells the procedure of inviting guests to readers.

These studies introduce the content of Chinese and western diet culture. There is a wide range of works about Chinese diet culture, including history, religion and mythology. However, compared to China, western works related to diet culture are less, and most of them involve western dietary situation, table manners or the food’s nutrition and science, but rarely discuss the history and form of the Western diet culture. There are lots of studies on the Chinese food culture, but few of them are compared with the western diet culture in details. These books mainly stand on Chinese point of view, which are not objective enough. Being different from the above studies, this paper will start from the characteristics of two kinds of tableware and analyze the reasons why China and the west form different tableware from three aspects: the geographical environment, religion and concept of diet, then discuss the difference between the two kinds of diet culture. Analyzing two different diet cultures can provide better understanding of the specific content of other cultures for Chinese and westerners and reduce conflicts in intercultural communication. It can also promote further exchange and fusion of Chinese and western cultures.

1.3 The layout of this paper

This paper systematically discusses the differences between Chinese and Western diet culture, and puts forward that the two diet cultures just have differences but cannot be defined as good or bad. It is an important part of culture, and can be regarded as a kind of cultural concentration. Chinese geographical environment and religious culture lead to the development of agricultural civilization. As a result, Chinese daily diet structure mainly consists of plant food. In the concept of diet, the Chinese are deeply influenced by Confucianism and create a gentle and implicative traditional culture which is a kind of introverted culture. Therefore, in China's long history, Chinese people have formed the habit of using chopsticks. Two wooden sticks are used together with each other, and also on behalf of the Chinese harmonious concept. This thought of the unity between nature and man is a comprehensive way of thinking. So the tendency of Chinese tableware with comprehensive functions presents to be simplified. Only using a pair of chopsticks, Chinese can complete almost all eating actions. By contrast, the developed animal husbandry results in radical culture of eating meat as staple in the west. Thus, the tough solid tableware, like knives and forks, is more suitable for the idea of conquering nature in the west. Knife and fork cut meat into small pieces, and vegetables and meats are separated in one dish. It shows the western analytical way of thinking that objects should be split into pieces for independent analysis. The development of western tableware can also reflect this point. It tends to be complicated, so each of the different food has its special tableware.