Yang Wang

WR100 N1

09/16/2014

Think before Eat

Nowadays, because of globalization, people who come from different cultures have more chance to eat together. You can eat with your colleague, co-worker or classmate, and they probably have cultural backgrounds different from yours. So, can people from different cultures have a nice dinner together? There are so many cultures, religions, customs in the world, and they affect how people eat. Eating habit is considered as a part of a man without exception. Some people do not eat meat while some people are addicted to meat. So how should they eat together properly, without offending each other and meanwhile satisfying their stomachs? What about people who have different religions and are in contradiction with each other’s dietary habits? It seems for people who have different backgrounds but wants to eat together, there are probably more etiquette they should consider about before having a meal.

One of my friends is from the Hui nationality and her nationality does not eat pork. I have asked her about her opinion of seeing other people eat pork and she told me she had gotten used to it, but still felt somehow unhappy. I totally understand her feeling because it is like in China, some people eat dogs. Dog is my favorite animal and my Chinese Zodiac is also dog, so if I see any person eat dog or if any person wants to invite me to eat dog, I would feel very annoyed and may want to alienate the person. For me, eating dogs is a corrupt and unacceptable custom, which is like for Hui nationality, eating pork is prohibited and impolite. There is also a member in my writing group whose whole family is Jain so they do not eat meat. If you are invited to have a meal in their house and you know their religion, then you would not ask a silly question like “Why there is no meat?” on table. Thus, it is very important to know your friends’ eating habits before having a meal together, and then you can avoid offending people by mistake.

There are also many other traditional eating customs which are from different countries and cultures. For example, Japanese likes making big sounds when eating noodles. They regard the sound as a praise of the food. However, this custom could be very weird to European people, because they usually eat very silently and it is really impolite to eat with a sound. In Korea, when a family invites clients to have a dinner in their home, the mother (usually the cook) may use hands to tear meat and then put it in client’s bowl. This could also be odd to many people from other countries.

In conclusion, as introduced in the paragraphs above, knowing different eating habits is becoming an essential knowledge that needed to learn to modern people. Because more and more people who are from different countries and cultures are getting together to study and work, it is logical that they would be having a meal with each other. If you know about their special eating customs of their religions and cultures, you can then give enough respect and try not to eat their prohibited food when eat with them. Also, when a person or a family which is from another culture invites you to have a dinner, you know their customs so you can avoid asking stupid and impolite question which would probably offend them. Thus, consider more before having a meal with someone who has a different background from yours, you can be regarded as a cultured and well-known person, and other people would be more delightful and enjoyable to eat with you.

 

 

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