Chinese Food and American Food - Essay Example

? Chinese Food and American Food Culture is an expression of one’s heritage, traditional values and norms. Culture plays an equally important role indefining the cuisines of a specific region. Culture is represented by different elements such as food, clothes, lifestyles and many others. Food is the basic element of culture which represents the ethnic dishes of one culture. Different countries have different cooking styles, food dishes and flavors. Chinese culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world with America being the newest as it is around 250 years old. However, comparing and contrasting the lifestyles, attitudes of people, foods, clothes and other societal components, we would find a huge difference between the two of them. One culture dominates the Asian region while other dominates the Western side. America is not a particular dominance of any culture. Since early settlers were from European regions therefore, different regions of United States of America are dominated by different kinds of American cuisines. For example, South cuisines are more spicy and fried as compared to food in northern region where the food is comprised of boiled vegetables, fatty meat and beans. Similarly, West-American cuisines are more of a combination of Mediterrian and Hispanic food when compared to Eastern-American region in which the diversity of food types is purely based on the tremendous variety of different ethnic origins by people from different ethnic backgrounds. American cuisine is not a name of a particular food type instead; the variety of the food types, recipes and cultures gave American food a unique status in the world. The variety is so vast that person from any background can find the food of choice in most of the regions of the United States of America. As we see, Northern states of the United States of America are pre-dominantly by French, Dutch, Germans and British. Due to above reasons somewhat modified form of cuisine and culture food emerged in the Northern parts of the United States. When compared to other parts of the world, the dominance of one culture gave rise to particular kind of cuisines in the region such as China, Japan and Korea are among many of other countries. American foods are richer in their contents and provide a huge number of calories through protein, fats and carbohydrates. The unique combination of high protein and high fiber based foods, mostly vegetables, give a unique taste and cultural environment as well as the basic nutrients required by the body. Technology plays an excellent role in the American cuisine field. Modern culture and technology have provided a wide range of selected food materials to control the caloric requirement of an individual. For example, animal based protein such as beef and meat are supplied from high fats to low fat variety to meet the requirements of the consumer. Similarly, the sea-food and the poultry meat are supplied in similar varieties. In other words, the consumers’ needs and specific demands according to their health are met with this technology. Chinese food is served with the chopsticks which is a wood based product and lack the hygiene and cleaning when it comes to wash utensils. Many people in China keep their own personal set of utensils such as chopsticks to avoid any kind of health issues when it is used by others.. any absorbent material whether it is wood or ceramic are a substantial source of spreading the germs and also they are the source of transforming diseases to others. When compared to American utensils which are solely made of metal, it becomes easier to clean and wash them. Hence, maintain the hygiene and preventing any substantial health communication to others. The fast food chains in America play a very important role in the daily food activities of an average American, where every individual has a huge variety of selection which ranges from high caloric food to low caloric food as well as high fiber food to low fiber food and also, from fresh to frozen varieties to meets the demands of each consumer segment. Whereas, Chinese fast food is mostly fatty and comprised of a particular type choices for the consumer. One of the very most important differences in American and Chinese foods is the control and check on the food processing companies by FDA and a strict check on food manufacturing large or small businesses. As we know in China, many chemicals and unknown products are used in the foods to enhance the flavor such as the use of MSG (Mono-sodium glutamate) (Health Guide). This explains the lack of governmental policies and checks to ensure the health of a consumer. When we see the similar issues in the United States, we acknowledge that strict control from food manufacturing to serving the food to the consumer is strictly controlled by the governmental authorities who benefit solely the consumers and their health. Even the food that is imported from China for the United States is required to comply with the strict guidelines issued by FDA and similar institutions. For this reason, most of the food-related sickness in China goes unchecked that fails to provide any statistics on the food-related sicknesses of a particular day and time. When the same issue is compared with the United States food market, any food related issues and sicknesses are collected on daily basis and statistics are made to narrow down the source or culprit for the awareness of general public. As a result, the product is pulled from the market and the source is identified for the good of people. When it comes to spices, the number of spices is highly associated with gastro-intestinal health, infections and even, cancer. Benefits from the spices are still in gray area as defined by the research workers, whereas; some of the spices are clearly related with the health issues. Spices related health issues are not present in the American food, since the typical Chinese spices are not used typically when it comes to American cooking. America is the fifth most hardworking nation among the list of the most hardworking nations whereas, China ranks at tenth hardworking nation. To meet the demands of the hardworking nations, fast food plays an important role. As it is already described that the full range of fast food types are offered to the consumers from balanced, healthy and nutritious foods to high nutritional foods are offered. In China, everyone has to select from the same traditional food regardless of one’s need or health issues. This promotes a similar health issues in Chinese population and provide no comparisons in their own communities. Chinese population at large stays and serves food at home in a selected environment and number of people mostly comprised of family members. This promotes the lack of interest towards social gatherings and socially food festivals as well as intermingling of different groups. However, in America social food festivals give people an opportunity to know each other’s delicacies and provide chance of innovation in food with social interaction, interests and tolerance. This is the reason that Chinese are the most isolated, even those who are living in America are maintaining their own inter-community activities and they avoid social gatherings and interaction with people of other communities unless and until, it is absolutely necessary such as in case of employment and business. Certain Chinese delicacies are highly unacceptable in many cultures such as food-based on reptiles and insects. Although, those insects and reptiles are farmed raised for business purposes but they lack governmental control for quality and health as other foods (Ruben Marley). This issue can substantially put the non-Chinese communities in grave health situation, if not disclosed and consented prior to serve. However, the disclosure of nutritional contents and source is the legal obligation in the United States of America for any food product. This ensures the care, health and awareness for the American consumers. In all Chinese restaurants in China, the chefs are hired without the prior health checkup, however; things are different in America. American culture emphasizes a lot on the quality, care and well-being of the living beings. Traditional Chinese restaurants like ‘Star Kitchen’ have failed to attract the America customers when compared with ‘Panda express’ which is a modern American styled Chinese food outlet (Nancy Tracy). The reasons behind the failure of traditional Chinese restaurants in America are the maintenance of hygiene and late cooking and preparation of foods. Chinese foods take a lot of time to cook. It is not wise to spend a greater amount of one’s time on cooking food the entire day. Chinese food culture is mostly dependent on the use of vegetables, fishes and rice. However, the use of meat is too low in their dishes. On the other hand, American people mostly have meat as the main source of their dishes. Their dishes are prepared from all kinds of meat such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, shrimp, lobster and turkey. Having this particular food style gives them an extra energy as compared to Chinese. American people are more muscular and stronger than the Chinese people. Due to American lifestyle which is fast, they spend little time on eating and dinning. For them eating from outside is easier than cooking at home that fits the best with their busy routines (Andrew Coe). There is a huge difference between the Chinese and American foods and their culture, respectively. Historical, social and cultural differences are the most important ones when it comes to food differentiation between the two countries. Culture is an important element that plays an effective role in an individual’s life. Food culture is also an important element of culture itself which explains the cooking styles and cuisines of different regions. All cultures have their own food cultures which enhances their individuality and uniqueness from one another. Both the cultures have their own pros and cons which cannot be evaluated on handful information but the variation in both the cultures have showed that how much both of these cultures are rich and unique in their existence. Works Cited Tracy, Nancy. “Panda Express: The Restaurant Franchise’s Top 5 Secrets to Success”. Aug 27, 2008. [Available Online] http://voices.yahoo.com/panda-express-restaurant-franchises-top-5-secrets-1830994.html?cat=3 accessed on 9th March 2013 Coe, Andrew. Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 Marley, Ruben. Insects, Dog Meat, MSG, Evil Tofu and other Chinese Food Fallacies. CNN Travel. [Available Online] http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/life/9-surprising-truths-about-chinese-food-870788 accessed on 9th March 2013 Health Guide. Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. The New York Times (2013). [Available Online] http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/chinese-restaurant-syndrome/ accessed on 9th March 2013 Read More