| Respecting the Elders - Chinese Eating Etiquette | |
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| Mar 10, 2006 09:39 |   |
 | The Chinese have a great respect for the elders when eating at the dinner table. The younger Chinese will generally allow the elders to have the first helping of any dishes. The elders accept this as a rule and will feel offended if the respect is not shown to them. I believe that in the West, it is always "Ladies First" |
| Mar 11, 2006 20:59 | #1 |
| Not only the Chinese, it is the same for Korean, Japanese and most Asian societies. It all boils down to culture and values. Western world seems to be sex-based. |
| Mar 12, 2006 03:38 | #2 |
| It is very dangerous to make such generalisations about the west. The west is made up many counties with a wide range of traditions. These traditions vary between sub-cultures, especially class, and change over time. In many western counties the senior male used to receive the first serving at meal times, though I believe this is less true today - it is more likely to be the children. Of course guests will also receive priority. In 'educated' society in the countries I am familiar with, it is immaterial who receives first serving because good manners says we should all wait until everyone has been served - remembering that we serve a 'helping' onto the plate rather than all diving into the common dishes with our dirty knives and forks |
| Mar 12, 2006 04:37 | #3 |
| QUOTE In 'educated' society in the countries I am familiar with, it is immaterial who receives first serving because good manners says we should all wait until everyone has been served - remembering that we serve a 'helping' onto the plate rather than all diving into the common dishes with our dirty knives and forks. UNQUOTE. So there is a cultural difference. You wait till everyone else is served before serving yourself. So amongst the everybody else, who is normally served 1st ? The server at the table cannot have several hands to serve all the everyone else at the same time ! I wonder what is "educated" society here ? |
| Mar 12, 2006 06:07 | #4 |
| In somewhere,ladies can't have dinner with men in family:-( But now,it is not common!!! |
| Mar 12, 2006 06:28 | #5 |
| Times have changed. But not too long ago, when Japanese men invited friends to his house for a meal, the wives cannot eat together with them - she can only do the cooking !! |
| Mar 12, 2006 17:50 | #6 |
| Each country has its own eating style and habits. The Chinese have their own culture and so do the Western and Middle-Eastern countries etc. To say that you came from a "educated" society is to demean the people of certain other countries. This in insulting. Eating with bare-hands, chopsticks, fork and knives are just a eating habit or culture accumulated over a long history. When it comes to this practice, no one is "educated" or "uneducated" in this respect. Please take a look at your so-called "educated" society and tell me there is no flaws in other areas. Drugs are more prevalent in "educated" countries for one. Am I correct? |
| Mar 12, 2006 18:50 | #7 |
| Hahaha, looks like someone has made a very "dangerous" statement !!! |
| Mar 13, 2006 00:57 | #8 |
| When we Chinese invite someone for a home-cooked meal, we insist that 'the invited' have the first and last 'bite', haha~, We pick dishes for others with our own chopsticks. We don't believe it at all if the invited say "I'm full!", we insist him/her eating more and more and keep drinking until the guest/s say "I'm not drunk, give me more"... At last, we send him/her home, usually the guest/s will never remember how and when he/she gets home. Scared?? Great! Then I'll save a lot, lol ~~ |
| Nov 27, 2007 22:29 | #9 |
| GUEST28070 | I don't read this stuff often but it is true that deeply inside the houses of California, there is no PROPER ETIQUITTE |
| Nov 2, 2009 10:07 | #10 |
| GUEST21211 | you funny  |
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