Why do we eat food and promote one cuisine instead of others’some researchers show that individuals who prefer to eat carefully prepared food and wide variety of it are healthier, live longer and have reduced illness such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack and stroke; also, people do it for providing body with fat, fibers, minerals, vitamins, proteins, water, etc. A dictionary definition of cuisine means” a style of cooking” (Oxford Dictionary, 2015, p.373). Different cultures have different traditions, so Ukrainian and Chinese cuisines are the great examples of three contrasts: cooking method, taste and way of eating.
There are hundreds of cooking processes around the world such as baking, frying, broiling, grilling, boiling, etc. The most common way of cooking in China is stir-frying, which mean preparing all ingredients at high heat quickly (“Chinese cooking method”, 2019). Ukrainian process of cooking is another than Chinese; they used a combined method – heat preparation of meat and vegetables with or without adding of sunflower oil and than stewed, boiled or baked (“Ukrainian National food and cuisine”, n. d.). The most frequently thing for Ukrainian cuisine is cooking fresh ingredients and preferable with fresh spices (pepper, cinnamon, bay leaves, cumin) and herbs (celery, garlic, dill, horseradish, mint) (“Popular spices in Ukraine”, 2020). On the other hand, Chinese prepare food with adding chillies, spring onion and coriander (“What Chinese eat”, n. d.).
Confucius said, “Everyone eats and drinks; yet only few appreciate the taste of food” (“The concepts behind the Chinese food philosophy”, 2015). Because China has longest history in human civilization than Ukraine, there are large variety of food, diversity of tastes and colors represent this culture. Chinese Yin- Yang philosophy of balance has impacted in their food culture; moreover, in China harmony between colors, flavors and textures must be present. Ukraine is the “bread basket of Europe” and “nearly one out of four workers is employed in agricultural or forestry related endeavors”; it is hard and exhausting work, so people must eat food rich in proteins and fats (“The bread basket of Europe”, 2017). China has the largest population in the world; in fact, ‘the Chinese eat everything with four legs, except tables, and everything that flies, except for airplanes’ (“What Chinese eat”, n. d.). Food in China taste usually spicy, but they love to eat it unlike Ukrainian food is slightly salty and creamy. In fact, Chinese chicken salad with sesame dressing is tasting sweet, tang with a touch sour, while Ukrainian Olivie is creamy and salty because of mayonnaise.
Next point of contrast is the way of eating in China and Ukraine. Chopsticks were created long time ago in China only for cooking, then, population boom forces Chinese to use them also for cutting and eating food, despite usually used utensils: fork, spoon and knife (Wikipedia, 2020). Ukrainians normally eat with knife or spoon in the right hand, fork in the left hand and this adopted from Western countries. In contrast to Ukraine, where everyone orders personal meal, in China food is commonly ordered dish-by-dish and shared by all gests. Chinese people usually avoid to put chopsticks vertically into the rice because it is a bad manner and acceptable only in the funeral (“Eating and drinking in China”, n. d.). If Ukrainians finished with their meal, they always place the knife and fork parallel in the four o’clock position on the right side of the plate (“Utensils etiquette”, 2019).
Could you imagine how many different cuisines are in the world? We are not similar and obvious that our preferences in food vary and diverge. The main purpose of eating is to be alive. Chinese Yin-Yang philosophy encourages society to keep harmony in food, instead Ukrainians follow the idea to be full of proteins and fats. In the same way, Chinese cuisine is differing from Ukrainian cuisine regarding to methods of cooking, variety of taste and way of eating.
