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Don't Use Chopsticks for That |
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Food
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Saturday, 12 August 2006 |
 Having grown up most of my life in the West but raised in a Chinese family, I find eating in Chinese restaurants can be very amusing when I see non-Chinese people eat. Two things jump out at me when I observe others dine:
- they appear a little uncomfortable and awkward eating the food
- the dishes they order are a world away from the ones Chinese diners order
It is these two phenomena that I would like to explore and I hope if you are reading this that you jump in and have your say as well (see comment feature directly below the article) as I know there will be debate.
For Part One of this article, we will explore the first issue – Chinese dining etiquette. In Part Two (to be published in September), we will discuss the difference in what Chinese and non-Chinese order in a restaurant.
In discussing Chinese dining etiquette, I want to explore how Chinese people eat in more informal settings, not a special meal like a wedding banquet. Informal dining in UK Chinese restaurants is much more relaxed with few rules of etiquette. In fact, what I suggest for diners is more to make you feel comfortable so you can enjoy your meal, rather than to help you avoid embarrassment for breaching some code of etiquette. The reason why many diners look uncomfortable or awkward is because they either misunderstand how to eat the food or don’t know how.
One of the most common misconceptions is the use of chopsticks. First of all, I must say I am impressed by the ability of so many non-Chinese Londoners who can handle a pair of chopsticks. However, the use of chopsticks is less than optimal at times. Chopsticks are used to eat noodles and to eat rice in a rice bowl. It is not used to eat rice off of a plate. That is a near impossible feat. Yet, I see many people attempt this.
Take a look at other Chinese diners and you will see that if rice is served on a plate, they will use forks and spoons or in some places in London, chopsticks coupled with a spoon (use the chopsticks to push food onto the spoon). If you attempt this with chopsticks only, you may not finish by the time the restaurant closes or even worse, give up and leave lots of good food uneaten.
Now, this leads to eating rice in a rice bowl. The easiest way to do this is to pick up the rice bowl, raise it to your mouth and use chopsticks to shovel the rice into your mouth. I know this goes against Westerner etiquette, but it is the norm in Chinese restaurants. However, in the West, some Chinese diners now avoid shovelling rice into their mouths as they know this scares non-Chinese diners. So they use chopsticks to pick up the rice (with the bowl raised near the mouth).
Another key guideline is that Chinese diners usually order many dishes and share them like you would share tapas. Dishes are placed in the middle of the table and are shared. This allows for more choice in the meal and creates a more communal dining experience.
One thing you may want to avoid doing is placing lots of food onto your plate all at once. In Western dining, it is common in shared dining to place all the food you will eat onto the plate before you start eating. However, Chinese diners tend to put a portion of one dish onto their rice bowl and eat that first before getting more food. So if you are seen to put many portions onto your bowl/plate, it seems like you are hoarding food.
There is one important etiquette that I highly advise you follow. If there is a elder at the table, that person(s) reign supreme (just like in all aspect of Chinese life). Therefore, make sure that person sits down first, make sure someone places food on their plate for them and that they get the food first. Make sure someone pours tea for them. Make sure they are generally taken care of throughout the entire meal (e.g. drinks, enough food, etc.). This is more than just a dining etiquette. It is an important cultural value to respect elders.
Other guidelines to allow you to enjoy your meal and fit in:
- Generally in the West, many Chinese diners now split the bill amongst friends. However, in many situations, especially if there are different generations at the table or there are guests from Asia, you should fight for the bill – and I do mean fight! I can tell you they will fight for it as well and if you lose too easily, you are considered not generous enough. Generally, the person in the host country pays and the visitors do not.
- In very casual restaurants, using your chopsticks to pick up food from communal plate of food in the middle is generally considered acceptable.
- Don’t expect good service in casual restaurants (and many times, even in nicer restaurants). Food quality and taste is the most important thing in a meal to most Chinese people. Service and atmosphere are not nearly as important. This is changing in the modern world so more and more restaurants are adopting the Western value of good service in restaurants.
- Slurp your noodles if it’s soup-based. If you do not, it’s not easy to eat and enjoy.
- Most wines do not go very well with Chinese food. Beer is generally consumed.
- If there is a queue and the receptionist says 10 minutes, keep in mind they say that even if it they know it’s more likely to be 30 minutes! Judge for yourself.
But most important of all, there is one Chinese value in eating that you simply cannot forget – enjoy your food! So everything I say can be thrown off the table as long as you enjoy your meal!
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