Table manners can also reflect a country's civilization. Table culture reflects the spiritual civilization and national quality of a country from another angle.
We will analyze the differences between Chinese and Western food cultures from the perspectives of dietary concepts, dietary structure, dietary patterns, cooking styles, and table manners. Chinese people usually "eat around the table" and eat a dish together. However, Westerners usually eat their food in small portions. Chinese chefs usually cut all the ingredients into bite-sized pieces, so that people don't need to use a knife to cut the food and can just pick it up with chopsticks and eat it. Westerners, on the other hand, tend to cook whole ingredients directly and cut them into smaller pieces with a knife when eating. Chinese people usually don't de-bone ingredients and cut them directly into pieces with the bones and meat. Chinese people will cook the whole fish directly. Westerners, on the other hand, usually only eat fish fillets and fish with big bones or no bones at all. When Chinese people make vegetarian dishes, whether they are fried or stir-fried, they put in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and other ingredients. Westerners, on the other hand, always make their vegetables into salads or just boil them in plain water, which is not very popular in Chinese cuisine.
Many ingredients in Chinese cuisine hardly ever appear in Western dishes, such as winter melon, yam, fungus, lotus root, frog and dog meat, as well as animal feet, tongues, ears and all internal organs. Chinese chefs like to add fresh and dried spices to their dishes, such as ginger, scallions, mint, pepper, garlic, chili peppers, and so on. Westerners, on the other hand, generally use processed seasonings such as pepper and ketchup. You won't usually find bottles of salt, pepper, ketchup, or mustard on the table of a Chinese restaurant. But if you eat breakfast at a dumpling or baozi restaurant, you can add soy sauce or vinegar to your dipping saucer if you like. Western food is usually followed by a dessert, while the Chinese eat fresh fruit or drink a cup of tea. Traditionally, Chinese people eat at round tables, especially at family gatherings, because it's easy to share a meal with others. The Chinese word "round" symbolizes "reunion". Westerners generally eat at square tables, which are more convenient for individual meals, or long tables when there is a large number of people eating. Westerners generally cook by boiling, deep-frying, grilling and baking, whereas Chinese people cook in a variety of ways, including steaming, stewing, braising and stir-frying. Chinese people generally use animal oil or peanut oil to cook, while Westerners use butter, sunflower oil and olive oil.