Assignment:
An Interview
There is always a close relationship between food pattern and cultural identity and this relationship is so deep that people often experience a feeling of alienation from their cultural identity whenever they experience a void in the indigenous food pattern with which they are familiar. Conducting an interview of Mr. Bao Chuang, a Chinese businessman who has eventually settled in the United States to gain financial prosperity, I have come to realize how societies like the Chinese society is infused with a unique food culture and how this culture embodies Chinese beliefs, Chinese philosophy, Chinese way of life, and how a person belonging to a different society with a different food culture can feel difficulties in coping with the food culture and social culture of the United States.
Mr. Bao is a Chinese who was brought up in the Henan province, a region which is renowned for its cuisine. When I asked about his homeland, Mr. Bao became somewhat nostalgic. From him I came to know that Henan is considered as one of the major birthplaces of Chinese civilization and that the region is the abode of epoch-making archaeological discoveries that include the Peiligang Culture Site, the Yanshao Culture Site, and the Dahe Culture Site, which are 7000 years, 6000 years, and 5000 years old respectively ("Henan 2005 - The Year in Review", n.d.). Moreover, in an enthusiastic manner, Mr. Bao wanted to inform me more about his birthplace's legacy and hence, he provided the information that Henan houses three of China's seven great ancient capitals including Anyang of the Shang Dynasty, Luoyang of nine dynasties, and Kaifeng of seven dynasties ("Henan 2005 - The Year in Review", n.d.). And all such information made me aware of the historical heritage which often made Mr. Bao proud of his homeland.
Interestingly while I questioned Mr. Bao about his experiences of a new cultural adaptation, he was keener on emphasizing on the food culture of China and the differences he has noticed between it and the American food culture and the American way of life. Mr. Bao stated that back in China food is considered as an integral part of the Chinese culture and the Chinese social norms. There is a close relationship between the Chinese food and the Chinese way of life and the philosophy that most of the people in China adhere to. He commented that in the Chinese society, unlike the American society, the ways in which food is prepared, preserved, cut up, cooked, and the tastes of the foods, the likes and dislikes of the person(s) eating the foods, the utensils used to cook the food, the beliefs about the properties ingrained in the foods, all are matter of great importance and all these aspects point toward the affinity of the Chinese people to give importance on food preparation as a part of a social phenomenon.
Reminding me of the rich natural resources of China, Mr. Bao explained why the food culture of China is so enriched and how the entire Chinese society's identity is reflected by such choice of food. Mr. Bao told me that the primary characteristic of Chinese food is the assemblage of plants and animals that prosperously grow in the country. He also informed me about the basic ingredients of Chinese food that include millet, rice, kao-liang, wheat, maize, buckwheat, yam, sweet potato, soybean, broad bean, peanut, mung bean, malva, amaranth, Chinese cabbage, mustard green, turnip, radish, mushroom, peach, apricot, plum, apple, jujube date, pear, crab apple, mountain haw, longan, litchi, orange, etc (Chang, 2008). Mr. Bao also pointed out that Chinese food is incomplete without the amalgamation of different types of meat and spices in different sorts of preparations and they include pork meat, mutton, beef, venison, chicken, duck, goose, pheasant, and different types of fishes (Chang, 2008).
Moreover, Mr. Bao opined that the essence of Chinese food largely depends on the admixture of excellent spices most of which are only indigenous to China, and among the myriads of spices used in Chinese food are red pepper, ginger, garlic, spring onion, cinnamon etc (Chang, 2008). So, he let me understand that just like the Chinese society the Chinese food is also composed of diversity and there lies the uniqueness of Chinese food culture.
Interviewing Mr. Bao, I came to realize that "No culture is as food-oriented as the Chinese. In china, no social occasion is complete without a dinner; no family gathering is over without sharing a meal; and no major religious event is correctly conducted without offering up special foods appropriate to the ritual context" (Shek, 2005). Being nostalgic during a certain phase of the interview, Mr. Bao confessed that he missed all the great foods of mainland China and the special ones that are traditionally cooked in myriads of homes in the Henan province.
When I asked him about some of the special cuisines of Henan, Mr. Bao provided me with a vivid description. He told me that back in the Henan province the food speaks of the rich cultural heritage of the region. He told me that one of the traditional food items of Henan is Liyu Sanchi which denotes the three cooking methods of Cyprinoid ("Zhengzhou Dining -- What to Eat", n.d.). Mr. Bao informed that like any other people of Henan province, he too considers that the Cyprinoid (a type of Carp from the Yellow River) and the Liyu Sanchi are identical to the Henan culture and tradition which, just like the Liyu Sanchi, is full of richness of taste and aesthetics. He lamented that after coming to the United States he hardly got chance to taste the Liyu Sanchi and hence, a feeling of alienation often comes into his mind while dwelling within the realm of a foreign culture. Mr. Bao told me that he still miss the fried fillet of the Cyprinoid and the rich taste of the cyprinoid immersed in a thick sweet and sour sauce ("Zhengzhou Dining -- What to Eat", n.d.).
Also, he told that whenever he found that the Liyu Sanchi is missing on his dining table, he repented on the decision to depart from his motherland and settle in a foreign land in search of mundane pleasure and prosperity. And in this respect Mr. Bao conveyed that he sometimes feel it difficult to cope with the American culture which is thoroughly based on consumerism and materialism and he also confessed that witnessing the popularity of unhealthy foods like burgers, cold drinks, etc, in the United States, he feels sorry for the mainstream American populace whose society is composed of pragmatism but not the philosophy of simple life, simple thought, and high spiritual accomplishments.
Moreover, Mr. Bao also expressed his agony in accepting the life in a foreign society infused with a foreign food culture where cooking and serving food is merely customary and the entire process is either merely to satisfy the appetite or to secure monetary gains (through the trade of serving foods at restaurants and other snacks bars). He told me that in the United States the word ‘cook' only means to prepare something for eating but back in China the term ‘pengtiao' (the Chinese form of the word ‘cook') does not merely depict its English sense but instead "carries the rather pregnant meaning of using specific procedures to mix and combine all kinds of ingredients so that they not only become palatable, but actually enjoyable to the eater" (Shek, 2005). Mr. Bao remarked that everyone is so busy in the American society that they have little time to enjoy food, and this is yet another difference between the Chinese culture and the American culture.
Furthermore, he told me that he feels it difficult to cope with the American way of life because, unlike the Chinese way of life, the American society does not give much emphasize on relating food to different types of rituals. Mr. Bao informed that in China special food is prepared during ‘Xiongli' which denotes the rites for inauspicious events like funerals, national disasters etc, and in ‘Binli' or rites for ceremonial visits, a completely different sort of food is prepared (Shek, 2005). And this information made me understand how the Chinese way of life is different from that of the American and how Mr. Bao might feel it difficult to cope with such a foreign culture.
In conclusion, interviewing Mr. Bao, a Chinese from the Henan province, I came to know different interesting facts about the Chinese food culture and its relationship with the values and belief systems of the Chinese people. Moreover, from this interview I came to realize how difficult it often is for immigrant Chinese to cope with the mainstream American culture (or food culture) which is based upon the philosophy of consumerism and which is hardly infused with the philosophy of happiness that undoubtedly is produced through the combination of the right ingredients in the right proportion, just like the Chinese foods.
(1,492 words)
References
Chang, K.C. (2008). Food in Chinese Culture.
Henan 2005 - The Year in Review (n.d.). An Introduction to China's Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions.
Shek, R. (2005). Food in Chinese Culture.
Zhengzhou Dining -- What to Eat (n.d.). Travel China Guide.