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I am sure many of you have dined in both Chinese, and Western restaurants. But, have you noticed the difference between the Chinese way of dining, and the Western way of dining?
The immediate difference one noticed is that Chinese eat with chopsticks and spoons, whereas Westerners eat with forks and knives.
This is because Chinese way of cooking is to cut everything into bite size pieces, so you don’t need knives to cut it. You simply pick up the food with chopsticks. Westerners cook food in big pieces. Therefore, meals are served with knives and forks for cutting the food.
Apart from the cutleries used, there are other differences which you may, or may not have noticed.
Let’s look at the basic table setting in a regular Chinese restaurant, and a regular Western restaurant. We will look at the middle of the road restaurants.
In a Chinese restaurant, besides the table spoon and chopsticks, you will see a bowl on top of a small plate, also known as a side plate. There will also be a small bottle of soya sauce, and a bottle of chilli sauce, or sometimes red cut chilli, or pickled green cut chillies. There will also be a tea cup.
In a Western restaurant, you will see a fork and a knife, and a butter knife on a side plate. There will also be a shaker for salt, and a shaker for pepper, and a goblet/glass for water. In the fine diners, there will be a wine glass on the table.
In the Chinese restaurant, you will see mostly round tables. This is because Chinese usually eat communally. They share their dishes with others. A round table is preferred, as it is more convenient to share dishes. If it is a big table, or a big group of people, a turntable is put at the center of the table. In this way, guests need only rotate the turntable to reach the food they wish to pick up. The turntable is usually made of glass, although there are plastic, or wooden ones.
The turntable has a name. It is called ‘Lazy Susan.’ I kid you not. You can read all about it HERE
The Western restaurants usually have square, or rectangle tables. Westerners usually eat individual servings. Square or rectangle tables give flexibility in setting up the dining room. They can easily join the tables together if there are many people in the group.
What about the food?
For the Chinese, rice is the main staple, followed by noodles. Chinese usually stir-fry their vegetables. When it comes to meat, Chinese usually don’t debone. They just chop the meat into pieces, with the bones. Chinese usually steamed their fishes, and serve them whole.
For the Westerners, bread, potatoes and pasta are the main staple. Westerners eat salad (raw vegetables), or they boiled their vegetables. Meat are served with or without bones depending what the dish is. And fish dishes are usually fillets of fish.
In the Chinese restaurant, food are served as and when they are cooked – unless it is a former dinner. Then, the dishes are served course by course. Of course, desserts are usually served after the meal.
In Western restaurant, food are served course by course – usually, there is a starter, and/or soup, and then the main course, followed by desert.
The above are some of the more common differences between Chinese and Western dining. If I left out anything, do feel free to add them in the comments section.
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