中西饮食文化对比A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Dietetic CultureContentsAbstract.1Key Words.1I. Introduction.2II. Understanding Culture.31. Defining culture.32. Confining food culture3III. Differences on Etiquette in Chinese and Western Food Cultures.41. Chopsticks in Chinese food culture.42. Fork and knife in western food cultures.5IV. Different Seating Arrangements.51. Space speaks.52. South and north vs. right and .left.6V. Differences on Contents in Chinese and Western Food Culture.71. Taste in Chinese food.72. Nutrition and balance in western food.7VI. Dietetic Culture Influence our Language Teaching. .8VII. Conclusion.9References.9A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Dietetic CultureA Comparative Study of Chinese andWestern Dietetic CultureAbstract: Food, an essential prerequisite for existence, plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and in the process of human beings, whether in ancient times or in modern times, and whether in east or in west. However, there is an old English saying “one mans meat is another mans poison”, which means not all human beings have the same food or develop the same food habits. Clyde kluckhohn, a world-famous anthropologist, states in his paper what is culture, “what he eats is of course varies with nations. Based on the theory of “the deep structure of culture” and “cultural relativism”, this thesis endeavors to analyze the cultural differences and their rooted causes in Chinese and western food cultures from the perspectives of concept, etiquette and content, and points out that with the development of cross-cultural communication, more factors and new variables in food cultures will arise through communication, interaction and imitation.Key words: Chinese and western food culture; differences; cross-cultural communication摘 要: 无论是在古代还是在现代，无论是在东方还是在西方，饮食，作为作为人类生存的必要前提, 在人类社会发展和文明进步中起着无可替代的作用。然而，人类的饮食或饮食习惯各不相同。正如英语谚语所说，“某人之佳肴即他人之毒药”。美国著名人类学家克拉孔在其什么是文化一文中指出，“一个人的饮食当然要受到其获得食物种类的限制，但同时也受到文化的制约”。由此可见，饮食与文化密不可分. 不同的民族缔造了不同的饮食文化。本人以“文化深层结构”和“文化相对论”为理论基础，着重探讨、分析中国与英美等西方国家在饮食观念、宴会礼仪、饮食内容等方面的跨文化差异，揭示导致饮食文化差异的深层次原因，从而阐明随着跨文化焦急的不断发展，中西饮食文化的交流，互补和兼容的因素也会日益增多。关键字: 中西饮食文化；差异；跨文化交际I. Introduction There are many culture differences between Chinese and English. Food , an essential prerequisite for existence, plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and in the process of human beings, whether in ancient times or in modern times, and whether in east or in west. However, there is an old English saying “one mans meat is another mans poison”, which means not all human beings have the same food or develop the same food habits. Clyde kluckhohn, a world-famous anthropologist, states in his paper what is culture, “what he eats is of course limited by availability, but is also partly regulated by culture.” Therefore, food and food habits can be best understood, only within the context of each individual culture.” Globalization is an important factor stimulating and accelerating the process of exchange between cultures, which should deserve our enough attention. It is well known that globalization has been becoming an inevitable trend around the world, and an inexorable force to influence peoples life in almost every aspect. In other words the wheel of human history has moved us inexorably forward from isolation to integration. There are great disparities between China and western countries in ideas, attitudes, contents and functions of food cultures. Based on the theory of “the deep structure of culture” and “cultural relativism”, this thesis endeavors to analyze the cultural differences and their rooted causes in Chinese and western food cultures from the perspectives of concept, etiquette and content, and points out that with the development of cross-cultural communication, more factors and new variables in food cultures will arise through communication, interaction and imitation.This paper makes the comparative analysis between Chinese and western dietetic culture, and also compares the Chinese dietetic customs with western countries dietetic custom. Chinese dietetic culture is part of Chinese valuable culture heritage. Chinese diet culture is an important part of Chinese historical culture, which is famous for its variety and abundance. Today, more and more foreign tourists would like to visit China and they enjoy Chinese food a lot. At the same time, foreign tourists also want to know the meaning of names of the Chinese dishes. So the accurate translation of Chinese