Abstract

     Diet is definitely necessary in the life of humanbeings, and even in the existence and development. With the entrance of the 21st century, cross-cultural communications have become more and more frequent. Through those cross-cultural communications, dietary culture has been the most basic content. Accounting for the differences between Chinese and American cultural traditions, the Chinese and American dietary cultures are different in concept, pattern, nature, attribution and culture transmission. We learn these differences and then find out the points and keys that can be digested, in order to facilitate the communications about cultures between China and the America. The old saying,‘Eat, drink, man, woman who wishes greatly’, for such a standard fair, the America culture can be said to be male and female culture. However, the Chinese culture can be said to be a dietary culture. For the cultural traditions, the American lives tend to men and women, but because of the narrow gender relations, Chinese people are dumping guidance on life in the restaurants. So the diet is rich in culture. Food culture in the United States is not developed enough, but this underdevelopment itself is the result of the development of a kind of culture, so it is still important and significant to study the dietary cultures of Chinese and American diet. By the analysis of the differences between Chinese and American dietary cultures, we can comprehend the respective cultural traditions of China and the United States. And we can also improve and develop the culture of China.

Keywords: diet; cultural traditions; differences

摘要

    饮食是人类生活、生存与发展的必需，随着21世纪全球化进程，跨文化交际日益频繁，其中饮食文化成了东西方文化交流的最基本内容。但是由于中美文化传统的差异、长期以来形成的生活环境、风俗习惯、价值观念的不同，中美形成了各自不同的饮食文化。因此导致了中美饮食文化在观念、方式、归属与文化传播方面产生了差异，研究这些差异，找出可以融会贯通的地方，促进中西文化交流。古语说“饮食男女，人之大欲存焉”。就这样的标准而论，美国的近现代文化可说是男女文化，而中国可说是一种饮食文化。”由于文化传统的缘故，美国人的人生倾向男女关系，而中国人由于对男女关系的褊狭，把人生精力倾泄导向于饮食。由此赋予饮食以丰富的文化内涵，虽然饮食文化在西方不够发达，但这种不发达本身也是一种文化发展的结果，所以对中美饮食文化的比较仍有意义。通过对中美饮食文化差异的分析，我们可以了解中美方各自的文化传统；同时能对中国文化进行改善与创新。

关键词：饮食；文化传统；差异