Food
in Chinese Culture
To
say that the consumption of food is a vital part of the chemical
process of life is to state the obvious, but sometimes we
fail to realize that food is more than just vital. The only
other activity that we engage in that is of comparable importance
to our lives and to the life of our species is sex. As Kao
Tzu, a Warring States-period philosopher and keen observer
of human nature, said, Appetite for food and sex is nature.
But these two activities are quite different. We are, I believe,
much closer to our animal base in our sexual endeavors than
we are in our eating habits. Too, the range of variations
is infinitely wider in food than in sex. In fact, the importance
of food in understanding human culture lies precisely in its
infinite variability -variability that is not essential for
species survival. For survival needs, all men everywhere could
eat the same food, to be measured only in calories, fats,
carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. But no, people of different
backgrounds eat very differently. The basic stuffs from which
food is prepared. The ways in which it is preserved, cut up,
cooked. if at all. the amount and variety at each meal. the
tastes that are liked and disliked. the customs of serving
food. the utensils. the beliefs about the food is properties
These all vary. The number of such food variables is great.
Adapted
from K.C. Chang, Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological
and Historical Perspectives, New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 1977.
Chopsticks
are the main table utensils in China. Chinese children
start with a spoon but will adapt to chopsticks as early as
when they turn one. As a gift, chopsticks symbolize straightforwardness
because of their shape. Chinese chopsticks don't have pointed
tips, unlike the Japanese style that is refined to pick out
the bones of their main diet, fish. Most Chinese chopsticks
are made of bamboo, though today, you see more and more wooden
and plastic ones.
Foreigners are not expected to use chopsticks proficiently,
but if they do, they will give a mighty impression. Therefore,
before you go to China, go to a local Chinese restaurant,
if not to find authentic Chinese food, at least you can practice
using chopsticks. Its all right if, in your first meal in
China, you can't use chopsticks. If you still can't handle
the two sticks to pick up a big shrimp in your tenth meal,
you show your incompetence in learning and the willingness
to learn.
|
