How is Chinese food different from Western food?

Question

Can you give me a specific description? Thanks a lot!

Thank you for everyone's precious advice!
But I really need a long description and hope someone can tell me in detail. And i will really appreciate it!Thanks a million!

Answer 1

There're too many things that I want to put in my answer, but the most important thing that I want to tell you all is ---- GOOD / HIGH CLASS AUTHENTIC CHINESE RESTAURANT DO NOT PUT MSG IN THEIR FOOD, they use premium grade ingredients and they prepare their stocks everyday!

My dad is a good cook, my sister and I also can cook, we never put msg in our food and we buy fresh vegetables & seafood daily in the market, our meals contain lot of vegetables + fish and less meat (my family eat chicken, fresh water fish and seafood, no beef nor mutton). When we go to restaurant to have Cantonese food, the steamed fish - garoupa or lobster were killed soon after we picked from the tank.

China is a big country (as big as USA) and has the biggest population, therefore, Chinese from different regions have different cooking ways, styles & tastes. For example, Sichuan cuisine is very spicy while Cantonese cuisine isn't spicy at all. People in the north eat wheat noodles or steamed buns while people from the south eat rice or rice noodles.

Chinese food is different from Western food by the way we prepare food before cooking, Chinese cut the ingredients in bite size then stir fry or steam the ingredients in short time while westerners cook the ingredients in big pieces and cut the food on their plates with knives and forks.

There are some ingredients or seasonings in Chinese cuisine that Western cuicine seldom use, like jelly fish, sea cucumbers, shark's fins, fish maws, bird's nest, thousand years eggs, bean curds (tofu), oyster sauce, black bean sauce, salty shrimp paste, soy sauce, ... etc. On the other hand, Western cooking adds herbs like rosemary, dill, sage, oregano, thyme, tarragon.. etc, in their food while seldom you would find these herbs in Chinese food. Chinese add ginger, spring onions, mints, corianders, white pepper ..., you hardly can find any traditional Chinese food contains cheese, butter, cream or milk.

(Below is a photo of Cantonese dim sum) You may find the presentations of Chinese food are very different from Western food in these photos.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2Bin%2BHong%2BKong%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26x%3Dwrt&w=638&h=524&imgurl=www.compufield.com%2Fvyoma%2Fchinesefood.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.compufield.com%2Fvyoma%2FFood.htm&size=82.4kB&name=chinesefood.jpg&p=chinese+food+in+Hong+Kong&type=jpeg&no=7&tt=660&oid=ec3803a46e0bdeb6&ei=UTF-8
Photo of French food
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DFrench%2Bfood%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26x%3Dwrt&w=200&h=142&imgurl=www.mielparque.or.jp%2Ftky%2Fimg%2Ffrench_food.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xhakli.com%2F2003%2F10%2Ffrench-food-is-totally-disaster.php&size=12.9kB&name=french_food.jpg&p=French+food&type=jpeg&no=6&tt=66,150&oid=799a388498384fae&ei=UTF-8
Photo of Sweet & Sour pork
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2Bin%2BHong%2BKong%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2Bhong%2Bkong%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D81&w=376&h=282&imgurl=www.jacekphoto.com%2Fhong_kong%2Fhk2005_113.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacekphoto.com%2Fhong_kong%2Fhk211.htm&size=74.6kB&name=hk2005_113.jpg&p=chinese+food+in+Hong+Kong&type=jpeg&no=83&tt=660&oid=594f5f8fd17c5026&ei=UTF-8
Photo of stir fried scallops with broccoli
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2Bin%2BHong%2BKong%26ei%3DUTF-8%26qp_p%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2Bhong%2Bkong%26imgsz%3Dall%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D81&w=376&h=282&imgurl=www.jacekphoto.com%2Fhong_kong%2Fhk2005_112.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacekphoto.com%2Fhong_kong%2Fhk211.htm&size=45.5kB&name=hk2005_112.jpg&p=chinese+food+in+Hong+Kong&type=jpeg&no=95&tt=660&oid=084d60ea0ccb5516&ei=UTF-8
A photo of roasted beef rib eye
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DRoasted%2Bbeef%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D21&w=150&h=146&imgurl=www.foodlion.com%2FMealsRecipes%2FRecipeImages%2FRoastedBeefRibeye.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodlion.com%2FMealsRecipes%2FMVPRecipe2005-0518.asp&size=11.3kB&name=RoastedBeefRibeye.jpg&p=Roasted+beef&type=jpeg&no=26&tt=2,015&oid=62de6ff82804802a&ei=UTF-8
You can find photos and recipes of some typical Chinese food in below website.

http://www.nicemeal.com/beef.html

For more information, check these websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_food
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dchinese%2Bfood%2B%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D21&w=383&h=547&imgurl=www.historyforkids.org%2Flearn%2Fchina%2Ffood%2Fpictures%2Fchinesefood.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.historyforkids.org%2Flearn%2Fchina%2Ffood&size=52.6kB&name=chinesefood.jpg&p=chinese+food&type=jpeg&no=32&tt=76,662&oid=e822ff6c95b290f2&ei=UTF-8

P.S. The desserts are very different too, Chinese do not have chocolate mousse, apple pie, cheese cakes, fruit tarts, while Westerners do not have red bean + lotus seed soup, sweet black sesame pudding, steamed bird's nest with rock sugar....!

Answer 2

My wonderful former neighbour was a chinese restaurant chef. He had come from mainland China to Australia, but done all his training in China. He told me that the type of food in Chinese restaurants in Australia is BASED ON 'banquet' or special occasion food served in China, the type of thing you would get if you go to some big formal party or event. However, because western and Chinese cuisines are very different, the first Chinese restaurant owners modified the food to suit the customers' tastes (very smart), and so started the tradition of 'chinese' style food which would be unknown in China ~ a bit like the Outback Steakhouse food compared with actual Aussie food, or McDonalds compared with what americans really eat (I guess). Being the chief Aussie taste tester for new dishes he was trying out, I got to hear a lot of information and opinion like that. BUT, for his own meals and that of his family, they had a very simple diet. Mainly freshly prepared soups with fresh ingredients, fresh meat or fish, fresh veggies and fresh herbs and spices, with rice or noodles. They were all very slim people, and I think this wholesome but basically simple diet had a lot to do with it. Of course, after being around rich, heavy foods all day at work, he may just have preferred simple meals, but he did say that his family's diet was quite typical of the region of China he came from (the middle, lol). Other regions have other 'typical' foods, but mostly simple dishes, easy to prepare at home and cost effective, just as anywhere in the world the ordinary home meals would be. Cheers :-)

Answer 3

Ok the best thing I can tell you is watch an episode of Iron Chef and then watch an episode of Iron chef America. I think the reason asian food and american food are sooooo different is the obvious geographical differences. Things that grow naturally in asia don't grow naturally in America. Not to mention that a lot of "American" food isn't American at all but an Americanized version of another culture's food. We have a lot of mexican and Italian and Chinese food here that's really inauthentic (I don't know if that's a word but you get it right?) Also in Asia you have thousands of years of tradition behind food but America is so new that it seems like we're still figuring out what "our" food is and huge trends sweep across the whole nation and things go out of style and everyone will stop eating them. I know this is all about American food and you actually asked about western food which would include European but I still haven't figured out the stuff they call food- haggis?!?!?!? and what's up with making everything in pie form? I don't know


PS- I think the founders of whole foods were white..... White people don't all eat healthy but neither does any other race in general. I've known fat white americans fat black americans and fat asian americans, fat native americans and fat indian americans. If you look at the traditional southern food in our country I think you will find that that is where obesity is running rampant so I think it's more of a geographical thing than a race thing.... But nice try to whoever said white people eat unhealthy food with no flavor.

Answer 4

The types of seasonings used are probably the primary flavor difference. Asian food in general has a wider variety of spices used in their preparation than "American" food. Beyond that, the types of spices vary tremendously from region to region in China--even more if you are speaking of Asian food as a whole. That is why, when you go to a "Chinese" restaurant they identify some dishes as being prepared in a Hunan style, Sheshuan style, Cantonese. etc.. Then again--Western food tends to have a much larger percentage of meat as the main ingredient-as Americans we have a lot more fat and meat in our daily diet.

Answer 5

It can be more flavourful but yet blander then western food, however chinese is more healthy and less greasy , however western food has alot of basic foods, having a regular salad with olive oil and pepper isnt something your going to find on a chinese food menu.

Answer 6

Western food is not at all very healthy to begin with. The Chinese food that you get from the Chinese take-out corner store is not the food that Chinese people actually eat. They just serve it to some unsuspecting Americans. Chinese people eat things that have lots of ginger, fish oil, ginseng, wheat grass, and other nutritious things. Americans on t he other hand don't really season their food...they just mostly use salt and pepper...White Americans at least. Their food is mostly greasy, non flavorful, very unhealthy, and not too exotic. Chinese people also drink a lot of tea which is very healthy...especially green tea! Their meals mostly consist of fish and or rice. They don't eat as heavy as we Americans do.

P.S. Asians don't put MSG in THEIR food....only in the food they serve you.

Answer 7

There is much less meat in Asian cuisine then western foods. I have found that Asian meals do not waste as much as western meals. I think that Asian foods are much better in taste and quantity than what I grew up with. I have lived with an Asian family for three years, I was healthier, had more energy and felt better on the whole. I have taken a lot of what they taught me to heart and eat much better now.

Answer 8

let me clear this up ok? i don't usually cook with msg in my cooking
no salad, or bread no chili like that "so called basic foods
sometimes "we" add msg in restaurants might be more oil in the cooking like stir-fried flat noodles with beef
sometime "we" cook the dishes with a lot of sauce and oil or msg
or no msg at all...
i usually eat chinese foods with chopsticks if i am having noodles or rice. other than that i use a fork and knife to eat hong kong cafe foods (western style)..

Answer 9

Well... I'm not Chinese, but I do like Chinese food... they use lots of noodles, rice, and exotic spices. Alot of the Chinese food we get in England is very salty.

Answer 10

Chinese food uses a lot of MSG.

Answer 11

Chinese people cook Chinese food and western people cook western food.