ELI 084 Academic Writing

Chen Guoren 

ELI 084

Survey Essay Final Draft

07-07-07

Differences between China and America in the area of Eating Culture

     The old China was developed in a farming society, the people from that time began to form and develop the eating habit based on the culture and social background. With thousand years’ history, Chinese people inherit the eating culture generation by generation. In contrast, the United States is a country attracting a large population of immigrants from all over the world, so its eating habit is diverse. Since the original immigrants of Americans came from Europe, American eating habit is more or less similar to the European countries, such as Britain, Italy and France; in addition, Mexico style is also popular and mixed in the American eating habits due to its neighborhood with the United States. During a few months I am studying in the U.S.A, I have experienced the variety of habits between two countries in person; moreover, I am very interested to find the difference of the culture through comparing the eating habits between two countries. Therefore, I made a survey of students at Central Michigan University, and sixteen students took part in my survey. In this paper, I will discuss their difference and similarity in the aspects of the food selection, food preparation, shopping habit and attention to nutrition.

     The biggest one of differences was found in food selection, especially in the choice of meat. As we know, fried chicken and steak are well-known as the typical food in the United Stated. It is not only served in the fast food restaurant, but also in the formal restaurant which shows its popularity in the United Stated. Our result is matched with the popularity of these two kinds of meat in the United Stated that more than 80% of students chose chicken and beef while less than 10% preferred the pork (fig 1); however, it is the different situation in China where pork is consumed more than any other kind of meat. I think this variety is related to the different background of stock raising in the two countries. Pig is a super-efficient meat producer which feed on everything. Its less cost for growth and fast weighing match with the requirement of a large population in China; while the ancients of Americans, Europeans, would like to raise the cattle and chickens which need more cost but their meat are more healthy and have better taste because they need less consideration for the populations. Although standard of living changes, pork is still the main meat consumed in China and Chinese people have developed many kinds of cuisine for cooking pork. In the north of China, especially Xinjiang, due to the religion and climate, mutton takes place of the pork as the main meat in other regions. Nowadays the mutton also becomes popular in the whole China for its special taste and effect on conquering the cold weather.      

      Besides meat, starches play an important role in Chinese food, whereas in the United States, the Americans have different favorable starches from Chinese people. From the survey, it is obvious that bread and potato are the main source of starches, through which we know how important they are in the U.S.A (fig 2). We can find that the Americans have breakfast with bread while it is still served as sandwich for lunch or supper. Bread appears both in the formal and informal dinner; whereas China is a country which consumed abundant of the rice and wheat. In the south of China, the status of rice is as much important as bread in the USA and wheat which is made to the flour is the staple food in the north of China; moreover, in China, dishes and staple food is separated when having a meal; however, people in the USA do not usually make them clear, such as the potato which could be  considered to the main food as well as a kind of dish for the meal.

     The third difference in the food choice is the drink habit. American people could not live without coffee, soda, and ice water. In the survey, almost everyone drink coffee or soda at least one time one day, and they all prefer ice water to hot water; however, in China, people would like to drink tea and hot water other than beverages and ice water. The long history of tea is the main influence on the drinking habit of Chinese people because tea is believed to fresh your mind and help in the digestion of greasy foods to keep healthy. Coffee in the United Stated is just like tea in China because the U.S is closed to the southern American which is the original producer of coco. People like it and drink it for efficient working and studying. 

        The second difference between the eating habits in China and the United States is in the area of food preparation. According to my observation, American people would like to have fresh vegetables directly without any preparation, while Chinese only eat the vegetables after they are cooked. It was not unexpected that the result demonstrated that the 69 percent of students prefer fresh vegetables and only 12.5 percent chose both (fig 3). Chinese people think the uncooked vegetables contain the bacterial which can result in the severe diseases. How to eliminate the bacterial? Cooking functions as increasing the temperature in hot water or oil to kill the bacterial. Besides, Chinese think some nutrients in vegetables only can be easily absorbed by the body through fried with meat or oil in which the nutrients could combine the fat to be digested. In contrast, most Americans think that cooking can destroy the nutrient and flavor in the vegetable, while eating fresh is the best way to avoid the destroy.

        Even though the people in both countries cook the meat or vegetables, they use different condiments. The surveyed students listed the sauces they like using to cook, from which I have to revise my attitude to the American style of the flavor. Although it looks like that American condiments are kind of monotonous, actually it is various with a diverse flavor, such as garlic, Mexican, Italian dressing, lemon pepper. Compared to the American sauces, the commonest condiment used in China is soy sauce, although different province has different style of cooking, and most condiments evolve from traditional medicine or some ferine plants that have special flavor and help healthy.

       In addition to the food selection and preparation, the third difference is their shopping habit. The survey shows that high shopping rate among the students concentrate on the once a week and once two week which demonstrates that American people would like to store food enough for one even two weeks. That is totally different from Chinese habit. Since the supermarkets, open markets are closed to the building complex in China, people would like to buy vegetable, meat, seafood everyday after work. They think the food bought is fresh by this way.

     Although most of the eating habits of Chinese are totally different from those of Americans, I still find one similarity. In my survey, when the students were asked if paying more attention on nutrients in the food, the reply is that more than 50% of students said “no”, “ I only eat what I like,” a student announced. It is the same situation in China where people would like to pursue the good flavor and special food in different regions. Less people would consider if what they eat is good or bad for their health; for example, both Chinese and American love barbecue, which actually do increase the chance of some severe diseases; however, more and more people begin to realize this problem and in some fields they put their consideration in their recipe to balance their nutrients absorbed in the body and keep themselves healthy.    

    Since the survey was done limited to the students of the Central Michigan University and most of them came from the department of biology, there may be some bias on some questions. For example, it is possible that the students live in the hall and the meal is provided in the cafeteria, so they do not need to go to grocery often. Also, the students won’t consider the nutrients due to their young age. If I survey some old people, it may be the different answer.    

     In conclusion, the survey on the eating habit is helpful for us to understand the differences and similarities between China and the U.S.A. Based on their historic and cultural background, kind of favorable food, food preparation and shopping habit are obviously different, but they have the similarity that both regard the taste of food to be more important than the nutrients. Therefore, through this comparison, we could not only have the knowledge of the differences of eating habit between countries, it can also help us to explore the culture hidden behind the eating habits which will benefit for us to live and study in abroad.