Charlotte McGarry: China – December 2016

中国饮食习惯

搬到中国之后我最先注意到的文化区别之一就是在饮食习惯方面。吃饭是日常生活中很重要的一部分所以我一定要好好注意!

我第一注意到的事情是中国便利店的广泛小吃选择。中国的便利店卖各种各样的在英国从来没看过的食品。比方说在711要买什么都能买, 从标准的小吃 (巧克力,薯片之类的)到中国比较特色的食品,包括煮豆腐 ,烤红薯,于片儿等。

提及小吃我发现中国人好喜欢吃小吃!北京到处都有小吃店。这种饭馆儿供应既便宜又有方便的家常便饭。我万没有想到中国普遍的菜包括这么多种类的菜! 幸亏大部分的菜单有照片给人
们看看。这是个天大的好处:中国地道菜都有很特别的名字,没有图片的话,我根本不知道每种菜到底是什么!

另外一个有幸的区别是在中国食物比英国便宜多了。比方说在北大餐厅,午餐花费多则20人民币少则8人民币(大概一到两英镑)。在剑桥,付两英镑连一杯咖啡也买不起。

在中国每天去饭店儿吃饭是司空见惯的事情。我在英国时只偶尔去饭店儿 (比方说,庆祝朋友生日什么的) 但在这儿几乎每天出去吃饭。其实我在中国的三个月之内,我只做了一顿饭!

但对我而言这并不是件坏事。在中国吃饭是个社会活动。 跟朋友们儿一起吃饭,享受美味的菜和彼此的陪伴是人生中最令人开心的事情之一。通过分享好吃的菜,人们能把他们之间的友谊拉更近。这不是菜真正的欢乐呢?

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ENGLISH:

Eating habits in China

One of the biggest differences I noticed since moving to China was the differences in people’s daily food and drink habits. Eating is a very important part of daily life, so I had to pay close attention to it.

The first difference I noticed the vast range of snacks in Chinese convenience shops. Chinese convenience shops sell all types of products that I’ve never seen before in England. For example, go into 711 and you can buy anything you could possibly want, from the standard snack items (chocolate, crisps etc) to China’s specialities, including boiled tofu, mantou, dried fish and the like

On the subject of snacks, I’ve discovered that Chinese people really like to snack! In Beijing, there are little restaurants (xiaochidian) everywhere you look. This type of restaurant serves both cheap and convenient common fare. I could never have guessed what a wide range of dishes is included in China’s ‘common fare’! Luckily most of the restaurants put pictures next to the dishes. This is a huge help – Chinese local dishes all have very confusing names, and without pictures I would have no idea what they are!

Another very fortunate difference is that food China is much cheaper than in the UK. For example. At our uni canteen, lunch costs between 20RMB and 8RMB, roughly between £1 and £3! In Cambridge, you couldn’t even buy a coffee for that!

In China, eating out every day is a common occurrence. In England, I only eat out occasionally (for example, to celebrate a friend’s birthday etc) but here, we eat out almost every day. In fact, I’ve only cooked once in three months! But to me, this is not a bad thing. In China, food is a social pastime, and going out with friends to eat together is a very important way of sharing in each others company. Through sharing food together, it pulls friendships closer. That really is the joy of food

 

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