Dining in two cultures

随着国门的敞开，中国的饮食文化中融入了更多外来因素。而那些游弋于中西方两种不同饮食文化的老内、老外就更有谈不完的话题。本期邀请了一位日本女孩、一位美国人、一位中国女孩畅谈他们各自的饮食心得。

Light food
Tucker Harding， American， has stayed in Xiamen for almost a year.

I'm a light-sensitive person. Whatever the place, ambient（周围的） light drastically affects my mood. Direct sunlight, moonlight, or hazy（朦胧的） rainy day light—they all do me well. Indoors, I like directed beams, rather than spacious, overhead light. For example, I read better in a dark room with a single lamp glowing over my shoulder than in a bright room, even though doctors say it's not the best for your eyes. Doctors don't know everything. So, whereas I like lamps and track lighting, I utterly detest（憎恨） florescent（开花的） ceiling lights. Their whiteness（洁白） makes me want to hide. I don't know why this is, exactly. It could be that overhead lighting better shows my increasingly balding head. It also could have something to do with the fact that most offices use those florescent ceiling lights, and so, even if I am in, say, a restaurant, if those lights are present, I often find myself in uptight（紧张）, office-monkey mode, instead of being relaxed and ready to enjoy myself. Needless to say, I don't like offices, usually.
In China, this can cause a problem as many restaurants here use those bright ceiling lights. In the West, almost all restaurants are dark. You walk in and often have to let your eyes adjust for a minute before making your way to a table. I love this. I like sitting in dark corners. It's cozy and private and comfortable. This same reason of "customer comfort", no doubt, is why almost all bars and coffee shops are dark, even in China. So what's the deal with the ER-lit（灯光耀眼） restaurants?
Western food, although capable of being incredibly good and delicious, is often of muted color. Steak and potatoes, sandwiches, pizza and beer are all good things, but you have to admit that they look rather bland. Chinese food, on the other hand, in addition to being delicious and fun to eat, is also remarkably beautiful: many dishes are absolutely full of bright, dazzling colors. I think it's safe to say that most dishes here are very attractive. Those bright reds and greens and yellows and orange colors are awesome（可怕）. Now, put those dishes in a darkened room, and it would be like looking at a coral reef with a little desk lamp. In other words, you'd be missing out on a major part of the greatness of Chinese food.
The great colors of Chinese food outweigh the importance of hiding my oddly visible scalp（头皮）. It's just another thing that I've had to get used to here, and, as has often been the case, adjusting, rather than resisting, has left me full. And there’s always my hat for back-up.

Diversity of food
Lin Yanghuan， a girl who just graduated from Beijing Normal University and enjoys tasting delicious food.

Confucius once said: "Eating is the utmost important thing in life." Here we can see the place that food holds in our culture. By using complicated cooking methods and various spices, Chinese dishes often have harmonious combinations of flavors, color and texture, and are therefore regarded as some of the greatest cuisine in the world.
However, preparing this kind of delicious food is time-consuming. As urban citizens’ life accelerates, they can’t squeeze（挤） time to cook food themselves. Western fast food, with the slogan "fast and convenient", came just in time. McDonald's and Kentucky seemed to prevail in big cities of China over night. They not only appealed to working people's needs but also won the heart of youngsters who were quite influenced by western culture and the deep reason lies in Chinese people’s intention to imitate western life style. As a result, dining in formal western food restaurants became a symbol of high taste.
After the novelty of western food has drained away, people have now become more rational. After all, Chinese food is very affordable with its cheap price, and healthy with its nutritious-balanced cuisine, thus people are beginning to seek new ways to find balance between traditional dining culture and the fast-pace industrial society. The appearance of the Chinese fast food industry later proved to be the way out. Though much simpler than formal Chinese cuisine, Chinese fast food maintains the basic character of traditional cuisine and has gained much popularity.
Now Chinese food has happily coexisted with western food, each having its own keen lovers. After all, diversity is the characteristic of modern society.?

Profound Chinese food

Photos by Su Yuan
Picture by Zhu Lijun

Kako， from Fukushima （福岛）， Japan. After majoring in English in a Japanese university she studied business in a U.S. college. At the end of 2002 she came to Xiamen and married a Chinese gentleman. Now Kako is studying Chinese language in Shenzhen University.

I haven’t met a single soul who says, “I don’t like Chinese food.” It seems no other food is loved by everyone regardless of the nationality as Chinese food is. In Japan, you can eat Chinese anywhere you go. However, the food served there is cooked in a Japanese way with a hint of original Chinese factor. The Japanized Chinese food as well as the Americanized kind, look good and taste OK, but lack the most important Chinese essence: food philosophy（哲学）.
Coming to China and eating real Chinese food, I realized that each Chinese dish has its own philosophy. For example, rice gruel （稀饭）for breakfast is good for your just-awakened stomach. They usually cook fish or meat without getting rid of bones because bones are believed to have the best nutrition（营养）. They eat what Japanese people never eat such as chicken claws（鸡爪） and pig blood since each one of them is known to be good for one’s skin, stomach, and so on.
When I first came to China, one of the most perplexing（令人困惑的） things was the difference in entertaining guests with food. The people eating together with me constantly asked me to eat more, and as soon as my plate was empty, they swiftly filled it with food. I tried to eat up everything served in vain. In Japan, it’s generally thought to be rude to leave a part of the served meal. Empty plates show the guests’ satisfaction and appreciation. Moreover, diet is a big thing these days, so the hosts usually try not to force guests to eat more. On the other hand, in China, the more food the more welcoming, and the empty plates just embarrass the host, who feels they failed to prepare enough food…
It is said that eating is the center of Chinese life. Yet, the good tastes and nutrition alone cannot make the Chinese food “the center.” As my friends often say, “once we have dinner together, we become good friends!” In other words, the food is always “the center of people” in China. It seems that no relations can be formed without sharing the delicious food while sitting around the table talking and laughing together. That’s why the Chinese cuisine loses flavor when you eat it alone. When you eat real Chinese food in China, you will be amazed by its profoundness, which you can never know while eating the arranged Chinese food in your country.