The Differences and Assimilation of Chinese and American Diet

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The Differences and Assimilation of Chinese and American Diet |

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Yuan |

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Food plays an extremely important part in people's lives and it is considered the most critical element in Chinese culture. China has billions of people and the most abundant and various nature landscapes. There are plateaus, forests, lakes and coasts. The mixture of China’s geography and climate help natural products to grow and preserve. None of the other countries has this many potential primary ingredients. In now days, Chinese food is famous all around the world. American diet differs significantly from the traditional Chinese diet in both nutrition and taste. In the options of dishes, Chinese people pay more attention to the color, taste, smell and shape of Chinese food. There is an old saying in China “To conquer someone’s heart, you must conquer their stomach first”. It can clearly show the importance of food in Chinese culture. There are many differences in diet habit between China and America. These differences exist regarding cooking styles, ingredients, and desserts.

There are many cooking styles in Chinese food, and it may be confusing to foreigners such as steam, boil, mix, roast, quick fry, deep fry, smock, grill, back and stew and so on, especially for someone new to Chinese food. Boiling is the most common form of Chinese cooking; Chinese boiling is to put ingredients and other food in chicken soup or water using high flame until the water is boiling and turn the fire into low to cook slowly until the flavor is soft and rich. Frying is divided into deep frying, light frying, one side frying and slippery frying, and a few types of stir-frying; this method mainly deals with vegetables. One cooking method that American dishes seldom use is steaming. It is a kind of slow process and time consuming. Chinese cooking uses two methods of steaming, which are basic steaming and pot steaming which is placing a smaller pot inside of a bigger...