中西飲食文化：你忽略掉的三個不同

關於飲食，新概念三第23課有句話說的好：蘿蔔芹菜，各有所愛（One man's meat is another man's posion）。說到中西方飲食文化差異，你第一個想到的是什麼？我們用筷子，老外用刀叉？我們吃“大鍋飯”，老外分餐制？嗯，這些都不錯！不過還不夠：

1. First of all, the making method of Chinese food is different from Western-style food.
首先，中西餐的烹調方法不同。

In Western-style food cookbook, various ingredients such as the flour, sugar, butter etc. have been indicated several grams, several spoons or several cups, even the size of the egg will all be explained. I think it is like a testing laboratory. So, Making Western-style food is easy, so long as you according to cookbook manual.
西餐的烹調書中寫明瞭麪粉需要幾克，糖需要幾湯匙，黃油需要幾杯等等，甚至連用到的雞蛋的大小也有說明。烹調西餐就像在實驗室裏做實驗一樣。所以只要參考着烹調書，西餐是很好做的。

But it is not the easy thing that you want to make fine Chinese food. Even if you have bought the cookbook, it is not so easy. Because the Chinese cookbook will not tell you several grams of ingredient, for example salt, Chinese cookbook just tell you appropriate amount of salt, don’t tell you several gram, several spoon or several cup. Why? The taste of people who live in different places is different in China. There is a folk adage in China “south sweet, north salty, east hot and west sour”. So, a good cook rely on experience and skill when cooks in China.
但是要做出美味的中餐，即使你有參考書也不是一件容易的事。因爲烹飪書裏不會告訴你原料的用量，比如鹽，只會告訴你“適量”，而不會精確到克。爲什麼呢？因爲在中國，不同地域的人們口味不同。俗話說：南甜，北鹹，東辣，西酸。所以，一個好廚師靠的是豐富的經驗和技巧。

2. Second, the atmosphere of Chinese food is different from Western-style food while having a meal.
其次，中西方的就餐氛圍不同。

The atmosphere of Western-style food is particular about scenery. The good restaurant is generally built in the beautiful mountaintop, park or the revolving dining-room of the city center high building. So Western-style food is “Eat the scenery” but not “Eat taste”.
在西方，人們看重就餐的環境。一家好的餐館最好建在風景如畫的山頂、公園或者城市中心的高樓上。所以西餐吃的不是味道，是環境。

The atmosphere of Chinese food is particular about taste and participation. Chinese food conquers the world with taste. There is a folk adage in China “If I want to conquer your heart, I will conquer your stomach first”. Everybody sits around table while eating Chinese food, everybody is eating the dish in the same plate, the hospitable host will also nip the dish into your bowl, it is so friendly. The friendship between person and person is deeper after a meal.
在中國，人們看重食物的味道與分享。中餐以美味征服世界。中國有句古話：欲征服人心，先征服人胃。進餐時，大家一起圍坐在餐桌旁，所有人共同分享一個盤子中的食物，主人還會熱情的爲你夾菜。一頓飯後，人們之間的情誼會加深。

3. Third, the way that Chinese and occidental praise food is different.
第三，中西方讚美食物的方式不同。

Chinese praise food, will generally say: “Your dish is cooked very excellently, has caught up with the level of the restaurant”; but occidental praise food, will say just like what the home make.
中國人讚美食物會說：“你的菜做的真好，都趕上飯店的水平了！”西方人卻會說：你的菜和家裏做的一樣好！