Chinese Food V.S. Western Food 中西方飲食文化大比拼

范秋賢

First of all， the making method of Chinese food is different from western-style food. In western-style food cookbook， various ingredients1 such as the flour， sugar， butter etc. have been indicated2 several grams3， several spoons or several cups， even the size of the egg will all be explained. I think it is like a testing lab. So， making western-style food is easy， so long as you do it according to cookbook. But it is not the easy thing that you want to make fine Chinese food， even if you have bought the cookbook. Because the Chinese cookbook will not tell you several grams of ingredient， for example， salt， Chinese cookbook will just tell you appropriate4 amount of salt. Why？ The taste of people who live in different places is different in China. There is a folk adage5 in China， “south sweet， north salty， east hot and west sour”. So， a good cook depends on experience and skill when cooking in China.

首先，中西餐的烹調(diào)方法不同。西餐的烹調(diào)書中寫明了面粉需要幾克，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(diào)西餐就像在實驗室里做實驗一樣。所以只要參考著烹調(diào)書，西餐是很好做的。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。因為烹飪書里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。為什么呢？因為在中國，不同地域的人口味不同。俗話說：南甜，北咸，東辣，西酸。所以，一個好廚師靠的是豐富的經(jīng)驗和技巧。

Second， the atmosphere of Chinese food is different from western-style food while having a meal. The atmosphere of western-style food is particular about scenery. The good restaurant is generally built in the beautiful mountaintop， park or the dining-room of the city center high building. So western-style food is “eat the scenery” but not “eat taste”. The atmosphere of Chinese food is particular about taste and participation6. Chinese food conquers7 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， and everybody is eating the dish in the same plate. The hospitable8 host will also pick the dish into your bowl， which is so friendly. The friendship between person and person is deeper after a meal.

其次，中西方的就餐氛圍不同。在西方，人們看重就餐的環(huán)境。一家好的餐館一般會建在風(fēng)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(huán)境。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，主人還會熱情地為你夾菜來表示親近。一頓飯后，人們之間的情誼會加深。

Third， the way that Chinese and westerns praise food is different. Chinese praising food will say， “Your dish is cooked very delicious， and it has caught up with the level of the restaurant.” But westerns to praise food， will say， “It just likes what the home makes.”

第三，中西方贊美食物的方式不同。中國人贊美食物會說：“你的菜做的真好，都趕上飯店的水平了！”西方人卻會說：“你的菜和家里做的一樣好！”