CULTURE AND CUISINE
The French author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Put more simply this means “You are what you eat.” Most people today relate this saying to healthy eating. However, Brillat-Savarin was actually referring to our personality, character, and culture.
Certainly in many ways this seems to be true. Chinese cuisine is a case in point. Prior to coming to China, my only experience with Chinese Cooking was in America, with Chinese food that had been changed to suit American tastes. For example, America’s most popular Chinese dish is General Tso’s chicken, which consists of fried chicken covered in a Sweetsauce, flavoured with hot red peppers. This is probably not an authentic Chinese recipe, however, so it can not tell us much about the Chinese. On the other hand, it does tell us a lot about Americans. It tells us, for example, that Americans love bold, simple flavors. And, since the dish was also invented recently, it tells us that Americans are not afraid to try new foods.
Later, I had a chance to experience authentic Chinese food by coming to China. When my family And I had just arrived in China, we went looking for a good place to eat in Beijing. A Sichuan restaurant had been recommended to us by a friend, and finally we found it. Tired, hungry, and not knowing a word of Chinese, we had no idea how to order, so the chef just began filling our table. With the best food we had eaten. With this, we had the pleasure of experiencing an entirely new taste: Sichuan peppercorns. The food was wonderful and different, but what was even more important was the friendship offered us.
We soon moved to Shandong Province in the eastern part of North China. My favourite dish there was boiled dumplings served with vinegar. I observed that family is important to people there. I have become a favourite traditional dish of the people in North China, where making dumplings has always been a family affair with everyone from the youngest to the oldest joining in to help. Later, I learnt that the most famous food in Shandong is pancake rolls stuffed with sliced Chinese green onions.
Then we moved to northern Xinjiang. Some of our friends were Kazak and Inner Mongolian.These groups traditionally wandered the open range on horses. As a result, their traditional foods are what you can cook over an open fire usually boiled or roasted meat, such as lamb kebab.
Our travels then took us to South China, and then onto central China. In each place we went, we experienced wonderful local dishes from Gungdong’s elegant dim sum -small servings of food in bamboo steamers to the exceptional stewed noodles in Henan. Everywhere, The food was as varied as the people. However, one thing is always true: Through food, Chinese people everywhere show friendship and kindness.
At a minimum, the kinds of food local people consume tell us what they grow in their region, what kinds of lives they lead, and what they like and do not like. Could we also say, for example, that those who like bold flavors are bold themselves? Or, that those who like spicy food tend to have a hot temper? Maybe. Maybe not. What we can say, however, is that culture and cuisine go hand in hand, and if you do not experience one, you can never really know the other.
1. 快速阅读文章，分析文章结构，总结文章大意| Part 1 (Para | ||
| Part 2 (Para | My different experiences with Chinese cuisines. | Experience of Chinese dishes in |
| Experience of | ||
| Famous food in | ||
| Famous food in | ||
| Food in | ||
| Part 3 (Para | ||
2. 精读文章，根据所提供的信息，完成下面表格
| Place | Kind of Chinese food | Typical dish |
| America | ||
| Beijing | ||
| Shandong | ||
| Northwest China | ||
| South China | ||
| Central China |
3. 根据文章填写下面导图，介绍不同地区的食物以及文化
Conclusion:
Now halfway through her exchange year, Xie Lei feels much more at home in the UK.
