Features of China’s Food Culture 中华饮食文化中的特点

中国人讲吃，不仅仅是一日三餐，解渴充饥，它往往蕴含着中国人认识事物、理解事物的折射。一个小孩生下来，亲友要吃红蛋表示喜庆，“蛋”表示着生命的延续，“吃蛋”寄寓着中国人传宗接代的厚望。
For Chinese people, food involves not only three meals a day to allay thirst and hunger, but also has great cultural significance. For example, a newborn baby’s relatives eat red eggs to celebrate the birth. In this tradition, eggs (egg sounds like birth in Chinese) represent the continuation of life, and eating eggs bears a wish to carry on the family line.
孩子周岁时要“吃”，十八岁时要“吃”，结婚时要“吃”，到了六十大寿，更要觥筹交错的庆祝一番。这种“吃”，表面上看是一种生理满足，但实际上，“醉翁之意不在酒”，它借“吃”这种形式表达了一种丰富的心理内涵。吃的文化已经超越了“吃”本身，获得了更为深刻的社会意义。
Having a special meal is a must on a baby’s first birthday, eighteenth birthday, at marriage, and even more so on the sixtieth birthday. It is important to note that while eating can satiate physical needs, it is not the main point on these occasions. China’s food culture has far stretched beyond eating itself, with a wider and deeper social connotation.
通过中西交流，饮食文化又出现了新的时代特色。如于色、香、味、型外又讲究营养，就是一种时代的进步。十大碗八大盘的做法得到了改革，这也是十分可喜的。但是，中华饮食文化在与世界各国文化碰撞中，应该有一个坚固的支点，这样它才能在博采众长的过程中得到完善和发展，保持不衰的生命力。这个支点就是优秀传统文化特质，也就是中华饮食文化需要探索的基本内涵。
Exchanges with the Western world have added new features to China’s food culture. For example, people have begun paying attention to the nutritional content of food, separate from its color, aroma, flavor and shape. It is heartening that the culinary procedures of Ten Bowls and Eight Plates have been reformed. However, to improve, develop and reserve its vitality, China’s food culture needs a pivotal strength in its interaction with those of other countries. That strength is the fine qualities of traditional culture, which needs to be absorbed by China’s food culture.