石斯琳

Americans love to eat Chinese food. Some people say that Chinese food found in the U.S. is very different from the cuisine1 in China. How different？

The Dining experience

The experience of dining in a restaurant in China is different from eating at restaurants in America. Manners and menus are opposite. There are many beautiful pictures in menus in China. Chinese people order food according to the picture. But in America， people order food according to the written description. In China， people are used to dining in noisy environments， because it means welcome and joy. However in America， most of the restaurants turn out to be very quiet. For example， if you go to a Chinese restaurant that offers roast duck， people there are dressed up for eating roast duck with a candle on each small table. This is a scene you would never see in China.

Ingredients2

Chinese food puts more attention on vegeta-bles. Most Chinese dishes in the U.S. focus on one kind of meat， beef， pork or chicken. In addition， Americans cant accept things in food like pig ears， chicken feet， duck blood. So in America， you cant find these things in Chinese food restaurant. There are some ingredients that are usually used in Americanized3 Chinese dishes. But you may not find the same in real Chinese food. For example， you can find beef with broccoli4 in almost every Chinese restaurant in the U.S.， but many real Chinese have never seen it before. Instead， Chinese prefer to cook beef with tomato， potato， or carrot.

Cooking methods

It usually takes quite a long time for Chinese people to prepare and cook a traditional Chinese dish because they think “color”， “aroma5”， and “taste” are important. Americanized Chinese food is mainly cooked through frying， while Chinese people dont fry food very often. Methods such as stewing， baking， steaming， are commonly used in authentic6 Chinese cuisine.

中國食物很受美國人的青睞。有人說美國的中餐和中國本土的菜肴大相徑庭。那么究竟不同在哪里呢？

用餐的感受

在中國的餐廳用餐與在美國的餐廳用餐的感受是不同的。兩者的氛圍與菜單完全相反。在中國的餐廳，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)菜單上布滿了花花綠綠的誘人圖片。中國人點餐通常是根據(jù)圖片來點的。但在美國，人們是根據(jù)菜單上對食物的文字描述來點餐的。在中國，人們習(xí)慣在熱熱鬧鬧的環(huán)境里進餐，因為這種環(huán)境被視為是熱情和愉悅的。但是在美國，大多數(shù)餐館是很安靜的。例如，當(dāng)你走進一家（美國的）中餐館，那里的主食是烤鴨，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)在那兒進餐的人都穿著講究，圍著一個點著蠟燭的小桌子安靜地吃烤鴨。這樣的情景你在中國恐怕是看不到的。

原料

中國菜里有很多蔬菜。而在美國大多數(shù)中餐都以肉類（牛肉、豬肉或者雞肉）為主。除此之外，美國人很難接受中國菜里面諸如豬耳朵、雞爪、鴨血等食材。所以在美國，你很難在中餐館品嘗到這些食物。美國本土化的中國菜有一些常用的食材，但在正宗的中國菜里卻不用。例如，幾乎所有美國的中餐館都會有一道菜——牛肉炒西蘭花，但正宗的中國菜里幾乎沒有這樣的搭配。中國人做牛肉時喜歡搭配番茄、土豆或者紅蘿卜。

烹飪方法

中國人做一道菜要花很長時間來準(zhǔn)備以及烹飪，因為傳統(tǒng)地道的中國菜強調(diào)色、香、味俱全。美國化的中國菜主要烹飪方法是煎炸，而中國人不會經(jīng)常吃煎炸類食物。地道的中國菜肴經(jīng)常采用燉、烤、蒸等方法制成。endprint