Comparing the vietnamese and American Food Cultures (Essay Sample)

Comparing the Vietnamese and Chinese Food Culture
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The dietary staple food in Vietnam is rice. Most Vietnamese will eat rice thrice a day. The common practice is to prepare many dishes that are then placed on a tray or table, which the people sharing a meal sit around. The individuals sharing a meal receive a small bowl with rice, which they can consume with other foods using a chopstick. The favorite accompaniments with the rice include leafy vegetables, pork, “tofu,” meat, fish, and “canh.” A common ingredient that never misses cooked dishes and dipping sauces of the Vietnamese is a salty fish sauce known as “nuoc mam” (Avieli, 2012).
The Vietnamese families love serving tea from small teapots for their guests. The country is divided into three economic blocks, North, Central, and South. Northern cuisine is famous for its subtle flavors. The central region of Vietnam, on the other hand, loves spicy food. Similarly, the southern Vietnamese appreciate cuisines that contain bean sprouts and sugar. The socioeconomic status of the families determines the diet that they consume. The poor in Vietnam will usually consume diets that are limited in proteins. Most poor families will stick with what they can afford, which is rice with a few leafy vegetables in most of the meals.
Outside dining for most Vietnamese is at street-side stalls that serve a popular dish, “pho” popularly referred to as the national dish. Other well-liked dishes at the roadside stalls and shops include wheat noodle soups, rice porridge, steamed glutinous rice, sweet desserts, common people’s food otherwise known as “com binh dan,” and selected household dishes. Besides the street-side eating shops and stalls, the major cities have restaurants that offer Vietnamese and a host of other international dishes.
Food taboos are not so established among the Vietnamese people. Certain foods such as snake and dog are classified as male foods and women will avoid them. Other minority groups classify some foods as sacred or impure, therefore, avoid eating them, or eat them on special occasions. Vietnamese people feast on special occasions such as weddings and funerals. The common feast dishes are pork, vegetables, chicken, and rice. Alcohol can be served liberally.
The Chinese culture places high value to courtesy such as proper table manners at the dinner table and respect to others in general. The culture demands that the best of fine cuisines be served to seniors first and then to other members. The Chinese just as the Vietnamese utilize chopsticks as tableware. The Chinese ancient people invented the use of chopsticks. The purpose of the chopsticks is to stir, pick, rip, and nip food. The use of chopsticks is inherent in Chinese culture that they are given during important ceremonies such as weddings as lucky gifts (Cardinal and Brown, 2007).
The Chinese love grains in most of their dishes. They usually consume the grains in the form of noodles, pancakes, dumplings, and many other ways. However, bread is not so much common in china. A tradition steamed bread can be found in Beijing and Northern China, which is also the case in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand (Avieli, 2012).
“Chop Suey” is a recipe many food historians believe originated in the United States in the 19th century. However, a closer review of Chinese literature revealed origination in Canton. The famous “Chinese-American” chop suey came out of th...