Do chinese people who live in China eat only chinese food?

Question

Or do they also cook pasta, potatoes, etc. I mean regular cooked food at home. Is chinese food in China, like the one we know in other countries?

Answer 1

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Chinese cook Chinese meals at home
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Yes, Chinese in China cook Chinese meals at home. So do most Chinese in other parts of the world. May be there are some exemption cases where Chinese, especially younger generations, cook non-Chinese meals at home.

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Daily meal in Chinese culture
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A meal in Chinese culture is typically seen as consisting of two or more general components:

(1) A carbohydrate source or starch - typically rice, noodles, or steamed buns.
(2) Accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat, fish, or other items.

This cultural conceptualization is in some ways in contrast to cuisines of Northern Europe and the United States, where meat or animal protein is often considered the main dish, and analogous to the one of most Mediterranean cuisines, based typically on wheat-derived components like pasta.

Rice is a critical part of much of Chinese cuisine. However, in many parts of China, particularly northern China, wheat-based products including noodles and steamed buns predominate, in contrast to southern China where rice is dominant.

Image: Chinese home cook meal - http://album.sina.com.cn/pic/4a7cd4a502000cap
 

Answer 2

Good question!

Chinese eat only Chinese food in China, but it is way different than what they make and sell in restaurants around the world.

In China, meat is rationed, and you must have a 'pork ticket' to get pork, for example. So most people only get rice and vegetables most of the time, and eat meat once a month or so.

The food is delicious, healthy, and well-balanced, regardless of whether it is any of the 4 major cuisines or 10 or so other cuisines served there.

I just LOVE Chinese food; all kinds!

Answer 3

Just because ppl live in China doesn;t mean all they eat is Chinese food. They also eat other western food, such as McDonald's, pastas, etc. The Chinese food in China are a little different from the ones in the USA.

Answer 4

When I was in Guanzhou China 6 years ago... they had a ton of Chinese restaurants serving foods from all parts of China. Each area has there own unique dishes. Also I saw a McDonalds and a KFC. If you like Dim Sum I recommend you visit the White Swan Hotel/Restaurant/Mall.

My wife was born in China and when she was a kid she had witnessed food rationing and using government issued food tickets, but I didn't see any food rationing while I was there in 2000.

Answer 5

Well... how can I politely say this... Hmm... When the Olympics games were announced to happen in Beijing, the president asked people to please stop spitting on the streets because besides having to keep their urban cities clean, they didn't want to appear disgusting to foreigners. Also, when my father visited it, he said the water from the tap is not even good to brush your teeth. How weird is that? I'd say that I like parts of their culture, especially some of their food, but I'd rather eat it cooked somewhere else than prepared in their country. So I'd say I rather be banned from eating chinese food than having to live there. How good could it be if I could eat their food by living there but being disgusted by the way it was prepared?

Answer 6

Of course they have different meals...Like Americans don't just feast on burgers do they? They have Indian food, British food, Chinese, Italian etc..If China just had Chinese cuisine, then it would be a very secluded culture don't you think?

Answer 7

If they have been exposed to western culture for example studying at uni abroad, or vacations, or even going to Hong Kong then they take back with them tastes for overtly overseas food, you have expat foreign chefs opening five star restaurants in Shanghai as example selling fusion food which is western and far east asian mixed tastefully together, chinese food is not like chinese food sold in fast food outlets overseas, crisps for example are sold in chinese supermarkets as well as tomato ketchup and salad cream so its an effect of globalisation, the westerners who lived in Guangzhou 1930's ate food adapted to what they were used to in the UK or France etc

Answer 8

I was in Shanghai. The Chinese are very modern. Of cos they do eat other cuisine besides Chinese food.

Answer 9

I think only the rich chinese eat other food than chinese.

Answer 10

Real Chinese food doesn't compare to what we eat at "Chinese" restaurants.