The Difference Between American And Chinese Eating Habits

Running head: EATING HABITS RESEARCH 1

The Difference Between American and Chinese Eating Habits

Student’s Name

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EATING HABITS RESEARCH 2

The Difference Between American and Chinese Eating Habits

Introduction

Culture defines the way of life, and it is different from one society to another. The way

people live is significant since it portrays their heritage and identity. Culture covers areas such as

food, clothing, worship, entertainment, festive seasons, and transition ceremonies such weddings

and circumcisions. Usually, culture is inherited through means such as experience shared, for

instance, mothers educating their daughters how to prepare meals or fathers guiding their sons on

how to build a kennel. Among all the types of culture, food is the primary concern of many

societies, and significant emphasis is placed on it. The reasons for such focus are because food is

a basic need and is taken more frequently; for example, in most communities, there have at least

three meals a day. The eating habits become part and parcel of a person and when in foreign

country, one tends to look for foods that are close to that at their homes. For instance, it is

common to find Chinese food restaurant in most parts of America. To preserve such traditions

and cultures societies have established measures such as educative system, ethics, and

guidelines. However, due to modernization and culture, corruption associated with social

interaction throughout the world has led to some of the culture habits to fade away. Reviving

such culture is essential if the identity of people is to be maintained for the next generations. This

research paper focuses on the eating habits of the Chinese and the Americans. The study will

base its research on the type of food, how to prepare meals, mode of eating, and the cutlery used

in the stated countries.

Literature Review

The topic of eating habit has been of interest to many scholars and researcher for many

years. Herbert et al. (2012) did a study on motivating factors that make people change their diets.

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This research was vital since it showed how people find it hard to move from a cultural habit.

Barrera, Castro, Strycker, and Toobert (2013) added to the literature by researching how a

population perceives the term healthy diet, which shaded some light on culture-modified

interventions (2013). In addition, Liou and Bauer (2007) assert that the Chinese foods are more

robust and are associated with health benefits such as enhanced immune system and prolonged

lifespan. Another research done on China indicates the transition in the country and a change in

eating habit with more people consuming fats and sugar-based like dietary in western states

(Astrup, Dyerberg, Selleck, & Stender, 2008). Consequently, the transition to the unhealthy

westernized diet has resulted in overweight problems on the young adults and a risk of engaging

in other food habits is taking its shape for those who wish to cut weight (Neumark-Sztainer,

Wall, Larson, Eisenberg, & Loth, 2011). A study done on university student by Vella-Zarb and

Elgar (2009) indicates that most of the students face a nutrition problem, and the statistics

suggests that the matter is a primary concern and professional assistance on health is vital. In

particular, college students in their first year gain an average of 2kg. This statistics, according to

their study, can be attributed to the poor choice of eating habits and due to lack of sufficient

physical exercise.

Factors that influence the eating habits have also been of interest to many researchers and

can be categorized into social, geographical or cultural context. The term “ideal diet” has varied

meaning across the continent. According to Torsch and Ma (2000), comparison of eating habit in

cross-culture reveals information that is important in understanding how diversity in culture may

promote cognizance. Lee and Shen (2008) did a study on the principles in Chinese population

eating style like Yin-Yang routine known as the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TSM).

Additionally, they compared the system to that of western that has a distinct belief system. Such

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study is essential in designing a nutritious education on health and diet for a particular

community.

Aims and Objectives

The primary objective of this study is to assess the eating habits of Chinese and

American, show whether there is any difference, and explain the possible reasons.

Hypotheses

The following points will be the main guidance in doing the research:

1. Societies in two countries have different eating habits

2. Societies between two countries have varying cooking method

3. Societies between two countries have varying ways to prepare and to pay the bills.

Method

To accomplish the obligation of our study, we will need to collect data from the Miami

student who will form the central participant in our research. The selection of Miami student is

because the population is composed of both subjects, the American and the Chinese. Another

aspect is the availability of the sources, and also the primary method of research used requires

the participants to be able to read and write since it will majorly use survey forms.

Procedure

The first stage of the study will be to collect information on the topic from different

sources; the foremost is the internet. After establishing the hypotheses and designing the

research, the participants (Miami students) will be invited to complete the survey forms. The

survey will contain questions that are simple and relevant to the topic, and each participant will

be required to answer in writing or to tick in case of multiple questions. After the collection of

data, the information will be filtered, and the most sensible answers will be sampled to be

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analyzed. Various methods of analysis such as the qualitative analysis will be applied to test the

hypotheses, and the results discussed. Finally, a conclusion will be deduced inferring if all the

predictions have been proved correct or false.

Results

The answers to the first question which investigated why people from different countries

have different eating habits, 45% thought it was because of culture and 30% based their

argument on the geographical reasons while the rest was due to history or personal preference.

The main difference between the Chinese and America eating habits from a majority of the

respondents was due to distinct nature of Chinese food like the hot pot. Additionally, the mode of

cooking was another differentiating feature of the two cultures, i.e., the American like steaming

and boiling while the Chinese prefer stew and fry foods. Among the Chinese food, the spiced

beef was one of the favorites, and 65% of the participants selected it to be a choice of the listed

foods. Another question that had varied reaction is why the Chinese use chopstick instead of the

fork while taking their meals. Some thought it is because in the ancient time China did not have

the technology to make the forks, hence had to improvise, and ended up using chopsticks. Others

preferred to use chopstick since to them it was easy. Consequently, 75% preferred to use the fork

and knifes, 20% to use the chopstick and a few preferred to eat by hand. On the type of food,

30% of the respondent picked rice to be the staple food in China, 40% selected noodles while the

rest chose either the bread or the dumpling or bun.

Another question that was in the survey forms was the frequency of going to a Chinese

restaurant. From the population, about 20% went to the Chinese restaurant at least once a week,

but the rest it was occasional like during a treat or a date. In addition, most of the participants,

first time for Chinese food was through friend invites, and most of them were in the age of 14-18

EATING HABITS RESEARCH 6

for their first treatment. The last question was on the type of dishes the participants liked. The

response was somewhat balanced among the listed styles. However, the Chinese food had more

likings with 35% followed by the western style with 32% and the Indian style had 28% while the

remaining group preferred other forms like eating methods in Africa.

Discussion

Many factors influence eating habits of a particular community. One of the main factors

from the results was a culture of people, which determines the type of meals to prepare at a

specific time and how such meals are to be prepared. According to research, occasions such as

ceremonies play a primary role in the eating habit applied in society. For instance, in America, it

is common to prepare a turkey for Thanksgiving while in China dumpling rice taken during the

Dragon Boat festivals (Zan, 2009). In addition, the geographical features of a place also play a

role in establishing eating habits of particular group. Those leaving in areas with large water

bodies such as lakes will tend to prepare meals from products from the waters like fish and

shrimps while those in areas with favorable conditions of farming will have most of their foods

made of grains, potatoes and such. Another area of concern was the difference between the

eating habits between the America and Chinese people. The main difference from the participant

was the distinct type of foods in the Chinese. This difference is supported by research that

showed that the Chinese had well-defined diets and they usually observe the time of taking meals

strictly (Liu, Harris, & Wang, 2010). The mode of cooking is yet another difference between the

two countries. The Americans are fond of using steaming and boiling like in vegetables while the

Chinese on the hand prefer to stew or eating fried food.

Another aspect is the type of food and the significance it possesses. Carbohydrate such as

rice is a typical food for Chinese and they eat small portions of meat and vegetables. By contrast,

EATING HABITS RESEARCH 7

Americans take a significant portion of meat and dairy products but use less carbohydrate (Ma,

2015). In addition, most Chinese people take three meals a day. During beak fast, usually, they

take "good things," and for lunch, they take a heavy meal reason being they require more energy

to do work during the day. Since during the night is resting time and little energy is required,

they take light food for dinner (Chang, Kivela, & Mak, 2010). In contrast, Americans take heavy

breakfast to sustain them throughout the day. During lunchtime, they eat light food since they are

in a hurry to return to work. In addition, most Americans will prefer to have a quiet dinner with

their families or in a diner where at times the manager is a force to tell noisy people to keep it

down for the sake of others (Ganasegeran et al., 2012).

Food plays an essential role in both communities since it is used for different purposes

such as welcoming new neighbors. Food can also be used to signify the status of individuals and

most often expensive foods are used to welcome distinguished guests. In America apart from

food, they also use expensive wines as a gesture of respect. Eating habits are also influenced by

occasions where the Americans use the turkey for Thanksgiving and in China dumpling during

the spring festivals to show their relationship with God (Herman, 2015). The results from the

respondent indicate that most people in Miami University like Chinese food because of the

health benefits than the America food, which is mostly composed of unhealthy food like

hamburgers. The most favorite food among the Chinese cuisines is the spiced beef, which they

described as delicious and nutritious.

Further research was on how often people visit the Chinese restaurant, their age when

they first tasted Chinese food and how payment is made. From the investigation, the Miami

students visited Chinese restaurant on special occasions such a date or get together with friend.

From research, 30% of American marriage proposals are done in a Chinese restaurant (Herman,

EATING HABITS RESEARCH 8

2015). Moreover, most the students visited the restaurant for the first time in the age bracket of

14-18. At this age, the parents from the western countries consider their children mature allow

them to have some freedom to party with friends (Savage, Fisher, & Birch, 2007). Consequently,

it can be attributed as to why most of them go to Chinese restaurant between this age brackets for

their first time.

The participants also preferred to use forks and knives while taking their meals since

most of them are from America and have been accustomed them. Some thought using the

chopsticks was difficult while others regarded it as fun. Additionally, the payment of the bill

from the two cultures was another topic of concern. In China, they like treating their friends and

paying the bill is a good gesture. This habit is different for the Americans who are known

explicitly for individualism and prefer to pay their bills or splitting if in a group.

Conclusion

The primary hypothesis of the study was to show the difference between the American

and Chinese eating habits. The objectives of the study were adequately addressed during the

research. Some of the findings showed how the two cultures are different, for instance, the mode

of cooking, the main dishes in the two countries, cutlery used when taking meals such as knives

for the Americans and chopsticks for the Chinese. However, there are some similarities on how

food is perceived and is used on special occasions such as treating distinguished guests or in

festive seasons. Such differences are significant to learn so that we develop an understanding of

diversities in culture and appreciate them.

EATING HABITS RESEARCH 9

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