Once you come to Denver, you can see so
many Chinese restaurants there. These restaurants can be divided into two types,
American version of Chinese cuisine such as Panda Express and traditional
Chinese food restaurant such as Star Kitchen. To most American people, Panda
Express is very popular. You can see this restaurant in nearly all the shopping
malls here. However, only a few American customers would like to choose to eat
in a traditional Chinese food restaurant such as Star Kitchen. This is because
the cultural differences as well as the characteristics of traditional Chinese
food culture may cause some limitations to attract American customers.
Cultural differences cause the fact that traditional Chinese restaurant
cannot become popular in America. Firstly, most Americans cannot use
chopsticks. Traditional Chinese dishes contain a lot of fishes and chicken,
this kind of dish always with so many bones. In Lam Pin Foo’s article, “From
Fork to Chopstick”, he wrote that “Chopsticks are light, flexible and extremely
versatile to suit different varieties of Chinese food”. I agree with his idea.
American people use fork and knives, so food with bones is very difficult for
them to eat. Especially for fish, they may hurt themselves. Using chopsticks
could be an efficient way to solve this problem, but what a pity that most
American customers cannot use chopsticks. Secondly, American customers may have
problems in understanding the menu. No matter how perfect the menu is when
translated into English, most American customers still could not understand the
name of the dish, such as “Sichuan style”. So it is possibly for American customers
to order the taste of food that they do not like. Thirdly, the decoration of
the Chinese restaurant makes no attraction to most American customers. Chinese
restaurants have their own special decorations. There are Chinese paintings and
calligraphies hanging on the walls. They are the reflections of Chinese
culture, but American customers could not understand so they may feel these
staffs are very strange, especially for the paintings. These paintings are in
traditional Chinese painting styles; American customers may not be able to appreciate
them. These cultural differences create great difficulties for traditional Chinese
restaurants to attract American customers.
However, the characteristics of traditional Chinese food also make
limitations in attracting American customers.
Chinese food always needs a long time to
cook, and customers would like to eat in the restaurant rather than take the
food away. In the first weekend of this quarter, I went to a Chinese restaurant
called China Taipei. When I came into the restaurant, a waitress led me to a
table, asked what kind of drink did I prefer to drink, and she also brought the
menu to me. After having ordered from the menu, I waited about 15 minutes for
my dishes. The reason for such a long waiting is in a Chinese restaurant, they
would just prepare raw materials of the food. The Cook in the restaurant would
not begin to cook the food until they got the information about what customers
have ordered. Chinese food is always delicate and tasty, because so many complex
steps are made in order to cook a good dish. This makes customers wait longer
than restaurants of other countries. I have ordered Beef, Sichuan Style and
Salt & Pepper Fish Fillets; the best time to eat them is when they are hot.
Most of the Chinese dishes have this characteristic, except for cold dishes.
Otherwise, Chinese people like to order soup in their meal. In order to eat
food when they are hot, and have soup during meal, these factors determine that
taking Chinese food away is not a good choice. Chinese food also contains a lot
of fatty dishes. If you have ordered this kind of food, once it is cold, you
have to find a microwave because the oil will become solidified. However, if
you choose to eat in Panda Express, you do not to worry about that. The food
has already been cooked and after you order, the waitress just needs to put the
food in a box so that you can take it away. It is very convenient and only cost
a very short time. This is because Panda Express is an American version of
Chinese cuisine. In Nancy Tracy’s article “Panda Express: The Restaurant
Franchise’s Top 5 Secrets to Success”, she wrote that, “Cherng (The Chairman of
Panda Express) had the vision to take a limited array of his full-service
restaurant lunch dishes and convert them to fast food entrees in a mall
setting.” This is the key of the success of Panda Express, Panda Express define
itself as a fast food restaurant that most American people would like to eat,
Panda Express makes creative changes in the style of the Chinese food in order
to make it easy to take away, its convenience makes it become very popular in
the U.S.
Chinese restaurants are very lively and noisy. In the article “The
Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen”, O’donnell wrote, “In contrast,
ordering from a menu is an everyday manifestation of the New Shenzhener
lifestyle, a practice that has diminished the status of the alfresco
restaurants that once defined Shenzhen spirit”. (39) Although New Shenzheners
are eating in different restaurants that have better environment, alfresco
restaurants that once defined the spirit of Shenzhen are still very important
to Old Shenzheners. Choosing to eat in an alfresco restaurant represents most
Chinese people’s behaviors and traditional Chinese food culture. It is not hard
to imagine how noisy and lively to eat in an alfresco restaurant. Customers
ordered what they wanted very loudly, as with their communications with their
friends. They talked in a very high voice, and when there was a joke, people
could hear the surprising laughing. If a non-Chinese customer has a chance to
come to this kind of restaurant, he may feel that the environment of this restaurant
is so bad, and the customers there have bad table manners. However, this is a
refection of Chinese food culture. Chinese people like and enjoy the noisy and
lively atmosphere when having a meal. In traditional Chinese food culture, the
meal is very important to Chinese people. When having a meal, it is a period of
time to talk with others and rest themselves. During this period of time,
Chinese people will behave so differently and relaxed. The livelier the
atmosphere, the better meal they will have. To most American customers, when
they decide to have meal in a restaurant rather than take away, they may prefer
to eat in a quiet restaurant. The lively and noisy atmosphere becomes a
limitation for traditional Chinese restaurant in attracting American customers.
Chinese customers do not like to leave directly when have finished their
meal. I went to Star Kitchen for morning tea with my friends on a weekend. By
the time we arrived there, so many customers had already finished their eating.
However, they did not leave directly. They asked for a pot of tea and kept
sitting on the chairs in this restaurant. They talked with their friends in a
low and common voice. People who do not understand Chinese food culture would
be puzzled. They would not understand why these customers who had finished
their meals did not prefer to leave directly. Actually it is also a reflection
of traditional Chinese food culture. Chinese people value friendship a lot; it
is not easy to have friends get together to have a meal. Having a meal together
is a way for them to strength their friendships. After the meal, they would
like to order a pot of tea, and keep talking with their friends. But the topics
will not be jokes any more when they are having their meals. They would like to
talk about their families, the difficulties and challenges they are facing and
other personal business. Through this way, their problems may be solved, or
they can feel better with the help of their friends. The friendship will also
be stronger than before. However, to most American customers, they will feel
very strange. They do not have the same habit, so they feel not good when they
are surrounding by these customers.
In traditional Chinese food culture, there are so many traditional foods.
Each traditional food may represent a special meaning to Chinese people. To
myself, the dumpling is a very good example. Chinese people prefer to eat
dumplings when family members are getting together. In this way, dumplings represent
a meaning of reunion to all the Chinese people. Besides that, dumplings are
also an emotional connection with my parents and me. On the last day before I came
to study in the U.S, my parents cooked dumplings for me. I could never forget
the taste of the dumplings on that day. So when I eat dumplings now, I do not
only miss my family members, but also could feel the deep love from my parents.
I am sure to other Chinese people, there must be a special traditional Chinese food
that represents a different and personal meaning to them. When they have a
chance to eat in a traditional Chinese restaurant, the traditional Chinese food
there will remind them of some precious memories. It is difficult to describe
this feeling; only people who have stories about traditional Chinese food are
able to feel it. To most American customers, they sometimes choose to eat in
traditional Chinese restaurants because they are curious about it. They can
just taste the food; they do not receive other feelings in the restaurant. This
lack of emotion may be a limitation for Chinese restaurants in attracting American
customers.
Traditional Chinese food culture is very complex; it is impossible to
make a summary about what traditional Chinese food culture is. Because of the
cultural differences, traditional Chinese restaurants have already lost some
opportunities to attract American customers. Otherwise, the characteristics of
traditional Chinese food also become limitations to attract American customers.
However, the American version of Chinese cuisine is very popular here. This
style of restaurant makes changes so that it could better adapt to American
customers here. However, we could not deny the importance and the value of traditional
Chinese food culture. It is just because the cultural difference and the
characteristics of traditional Chinese food culture become the limitations to
its spread in the U.S.
Works
Cited
Nancy Tracy. “Panda Express: The
Restaurant Franchise’s Top 5 Secrets to Success”. Aug 27, 2008. April 25, 2012.
http://voices.yahoo.com/panda-express-restaurant-franchises-top-5-secrets-1830994.html?cat=3
Mary Ann O’donnell, “The Cultural
Politics of Eating in Shenzhen.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture,
Vol. 10, No.2 (Spring 2010), pp 31-39
Lam Pin Foo, “From
Fork To Chopsticks”.
February 12, 2009. April 25, 2012. http://lampinfoo.com/2009/02/12/from-fork-to-chopstick/
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