The "cold" and "hot" of Eastern and Western food culture

 　　Ang Lee has a film called "Food Men and Women". Indeed, diet is closely related to men and women in the world. It can reflect the mode and state of interpersonal relationships, and it is also a form of expression of different cultures. If we use an abstract adjective to describe the difference between East and West, we can roughly say that the East is "hot" and the West is "cold".

　　In terms of water, the source of life, everyone is inseparable from drinking water every day. However, Asians like to drink hot water, while people in Europe and America like to drink cold and ice water. Whether it's summer or winter, making a pot of hot tea is the way of hospitality for the Orientals. Similarly, whether it is summer or winter, cold water, iced water, and lemonade are always the favorites of Westerners. The water you drink when you eat Western food is generally lemonade, which is cold. Most western countries have relatively good water quality. When you visit their home, you usually turn on the tap and pour the water into a cup. Of course, it is also cold. The most amazing thing for the oriental people is that they can still drink a glass of water filled with ice on a cold day. Does drinking water also reflect culture? Of course, oriental people always like to make human relations very warm, sitting together and drinking a cup of hot tea, like a family, while western people will always pay attention to personal privacy and the distance between people , we can talk, you can come as a guest, but you are you, I am me, we are not a family, and we don't have to be as intimate as a family, so it's better to drink some cold water, not too hot.

　　Then from the three meals to eat every day, the first is breakfast. Oriental characteristics, at least I know that Chinese-style breakfast includes porridge, steamed buns, fried dough sticks, xiaolongbao, flat cakes, and potstickers, all of which are hot. The breakfast stall in the morning is also a unique scenery here. Hot air, accompanied by shouting, a happy scene filled every corner of the block from the morning. The western breakfast is generally bread, orange juice, coffee, milk, of course, there are hot things, but there will be no steaming feeling, why? One is that there are not many hot things; the other is that they don’t have the habit of going to the street to buy breakfast at street stalls. Going out to eat breakfast means going to a small cafe to have breakfast while flipping through the newspapers alone. And such differences are not only based on traditions or habits, but also cultural differences permeating them. What we like is the feeling of "everyone", while what Westerners like is the elegant time enjoyed by one person alone .

　　Next, let’s talk about the most important and the most obvious difference between the dinners, the diet of the Orientals, and the emphasis is on cooking. Frying and deep-frying are only the simplest cooking methods that do not reflect the standard. There are also stewing, boiling, steaming, stir-frying, etc. The series shows the cooking method of skill, so the food is often very tasty, and there are thousands of different flavors. In the diet of Westerners, the most important thing is the ingredients, and the ingredients must be fresh, so they have lettuce salad, half-raw steak, and even whole-raw beef. What we eat is the taste, but what they eat is the fresh food. Westerners don't know what stir-frying is, because most of what they eat is raw and cold. The cooking will not taste delicious, but it definitely maintains the original taste of the food. They like to add all sorts of seasonings to food, like salad dressing in salads, herb cream sauce on salmon, black pepper sauce in steak, and we don't need it because the flavor is already in the food. The relationship between the "cold" in the West and the "hot" in the East is also obvious: you have seen the stir fry in our kitchen, and if you move this to a Westerner's home, I am afraid that the smoke alarm will be turned off. Ringing, this way, there is already a fire level there. As mentioned earlier, Easterners like "everyone", intimacy and warmth, so the food is also delicious. Seasoning and food have been fully integrated through exquisite cooking, while Westerners can communicate but not blend. The contact is not close, so pour the sauce, and it feels touch and nothing.

　　Finally, talking about the way of eating, the difference between the East and the West is also very obvious. We like to eat around a table. Traditionally, it is generally a round table, while in the West it is a square table. Are these round and square just simple shapes? In fact, it is not difficult to find that the feeling of being around is different from the feeling of sitting at a square table. This may be due to the difference in the way of eating. We put all the dishes on the table, which looks very lively. If we want to eat like this, of course, the round table will be more convenient, so that no one will leave a certain dish. Especially far and out of reach, because our chopsticks can reach this dish to that dish without any scruples. We are "hot", so we share the same table of dishes; we are "hot", so we put all the dishes on the table and create an atmosphere with the heat; It may be difficult to make a toast, to persuade to drink, and to make the atmosphere colder. However, when Westerners eat, they eat their own plate of Chinese food, which is the so-called "separation". Everyone has their own dish. Of course, it doesn't matter that a round table is necessary to facilitate eating. It is not as good as a boxy table. To be just right, eating together is not too intimate. Even if a dish like the turkey they ate on Thanksgiving is a big plate that needs to be shared, the host or waiter will definitely divide it first, walk to your side, and divide it into your plate, they will try to avoid it. The inconvenience of having to pick up shared food on the table. Another feature of Western food is that they don't put all the dishes on the table, but eat one dish and then the next one. Of course, this is not as lively as when oriental people eat. Compared with the hot oriental dining table, this is of course " cold.

　　There are hot and cold here, but there is no good or bad. Because of cultural differences, it gives us a colorful world, to understand different cultures, to tolerate different cultures, to respect different cultures. Cultural differences are called the world.