Chapter Two Customs of Cuisine

1. General Introduction

Cuisine customs refers to people's way of food choice and process as well as their eating habits. Food, the basic necessities of human beings, plays an indispensable role in everyday life, which not only satisfies people's physical needs, but also meets their spiritual requirement. Cuisine customs are bound to be colorful with rich cultural connotations.

（1）Formation

Cuisine customs of different regions and ethnic groups are various, the major factors being the following five aspects：

①Natural Conditions

Folks' diet customs are inevitably influenced by natural environment especially in early stages of human life since food materials all come from nature. People living by the water must favor fish and shrimps; mountain and forest residents tend to like meat and fungus. Northerners enjoy cold drinks while southerners love hot soups. For those who never see asparagus, it would be impossible for them to fancy the food. Therefore, natural conditions are of significance to the evolution of diet customs.

②Economic Production

Production is the foundation of human diet. Diverse material productions give birth to correspondent eating structure and habits. Southern Chinese eat rice since it is grown there whereas those coming from central plains consume noodles with wheat planted in the areas; and in the vast prairie where depends on graziery, people basically feed on beef, mutton and kinds of diary food.

③Psychological Concept

The eating habit is directly related to psychological concept. For instance, in northern Chinese, people rarely eat mice and snakes out of disgust. However, in southern China, mice and snakes can be regarded as classic food. Thus, different food cognition passed from generations result in distinct diet habits.

④Religious Belief

Particular nationalities possess different food customs out of individual religions. For examples, Chinese Hui, Uyghur nationalities and Kazakhstans, influenced by Islam, see pigs, dogs and donkeys as unclean and inedible and Buddhists are not allowed to eat meat for the creed of ahimsa.

⑤Foreign Influence

Like other cultural phenomena, diet habits are changing under the influence of foreign customs. For Chinese, the alien food customs such as milk, beer and hamburger consumption are now comprehensively adopted among Chinese.

（2）Development

The discovery and control of fire is the most important factor in the early development of cooking. Chances are that men found this means accidentally. Probably a piece of raw meat fell into a fire, and people thought it more delicious and easier to chew, thus became the unique creature to cook his meal.

The first method of cooking was believed to be broiling. People placed an animal on the end of a stick, holding it over a fire until it was well done. Later it was found that food tasted better when the removal of furs or feathers is completed and the insides of the food were taken out and replaced with a stuffing of herbs or grains before cooking. Further discovery was that a metal rod conducted heat to the inside, enabling the food to be cooked more quickly. Therefore, roasting is still adopted in outdoor barbecues.

Human being started to be interested in controlling his food sources with the development of different cooking methods. All food was originally provided natu rally, including wild animals, fish, birds, fruit, vegetables and nuts.8000 B. C witnessed the domestication of wild animals when man tried to tame sheep, goats, cattle and other animals. Meanwhile, grain and other crops started to be cultivated, proving that man was capable of exerting certain influence over his food supply.

With the progress of sciences such as physics and chemistry, man began to apply new knowledge to prepare and preserve food. Later on, people replaced the open fireplace with cast-iron range, which was viewed as one of the biggest changes in the middle of 19th century. The acquisition and preservation of a wide variety of foods was made possible when means of transportation, refrigeration, freezing, and canning advanced more rapidly. Electricity has proved useful not only in kitchen stoves, but also in appliances such as mixers, blenders, frying pans, and coffee makers.

（3）Functions

①Physiological Functions

There is not a single moment in life when the body is completely at rest and does not require energy. Energy is also required to carry out professional, household and recreational activities which are supplied from foods like carbohydrates and fats. Besides, food protects the body against diseases since elements such as vitamins and minerals are needed for maintaining the general health of the body.

②Psychological Functions

People find that the consumption of food can provide satisfaction to their certain emotional needs and they view it as a source of psychological safety. So, a baby is secure when his mother feeds him. On the contrary, when a child learns the shortage of food in his home and he always needs to face hunger, he will gain no confidence and the sense of belonging.

What's more, food can serve as the emotional outlet. As a relief from tension, one may tend to not eat or over-eat. For some people, continuous nibbling at food can magically reduce their loneliness and boredom.

③Socio-cultural Function

The socio-cultural function of foods has always existed since ancient times when it is regarded as a symbol to express friendship among people. We present food or drink to a guest to show our hospitality. People use food as an instrument to establish social bonds in social gatherings.

To sum up, food serves as not only a substance supplying nutrients for people's physical health, but also represents their culture, emotional outlet, pleasure, satisfaction, status and a relief from intense pressure. Besides being a means of personal interaction, it offers people a sense of security, all of which interwoven in the fabric of life and unconsciously expressed in food likes and dislikes.