LIVING IN CHINA; TABLE MANNERS Things like table manners are what interest many of us and believe me, its a little different here than in the West. For instance, when you go to a nice restaurant, youre given a small plate (the size of a saucer but they think of it as a plate), a small bowl (about as big as what we would get for a “cup” of soup”), a small bowl for sauce, and a plain teacup. Fair enough. Or so I thought until I had to eat fish or chicken, which always involves bones. Before long, my plate was filling up with bones and there was no room for more food! My friend, Tang, showed me that the bones are simply deposited on the tabletop! Ugh. But when in Rome... and I noticed that everyone else did the same thing. It holds true for eating at someones home; you simply put the bones and other inedible parts on the table! In the West, we fill our plates with enough food for a complete meal and well take more if were still hungry. Here, the plates are too small for that. You get a bowl of rice (its served with every friggin meal...Every. Meal.) Then you use your chopsticks to put one or two morsels of food on top of it. Then eat. This may be why meals in China often last for such a long time! Naturally, after two bites or so, you need to get more little morsels. So, you do... and thats how its done. My soon-to-be brother-in-law was aghast at this. People eat with their chopsticks and then use the same sticks to dip into the food dishes and extract more bits of food. When he saw that, he asked me, “Do we all do that? We just...?” I chuckled. “Yup. Kind of like digging into the different dishes at your Moms place with your fork...” “But then you put the sticks into your mouth”, he said. “And we still use them to...” I nodded. “Just do it.” If theres some kind of soup served first, you use the bowl for that. But youd better drink it all down, because youll need to use that bowl to put other foods into it afterwards (its okay to pick up the bowl and drink the broth). Sometimes they just pour the extra soup broth into an ashtray. Really. Some dishes, such as the soup (served in a very large bowl that is placed over a heater in the center of the table) that contains chunks of corn on the cob and large pork bones, can be a bit messy. The bones are too big to be put into your mouth, so you grab them with your hands and chew off whatever meat there (including gristle or anything else) and its pretty greasy. Then a straw is inserted into the end so you can suck out the marrow. Men sometimes remove their shirts (wearing just an undershirt) while they do this. The women are just s.o.l. :-) If someone pours you tea or any drink (or puts food on your plate), you tap your fingers on the table a couple of times as a way of saying “thank you.” Its good to keep an eye on the teacups or glasses of those around you (and the most senior people in the group) and pour them tea (or cola, or whatever) when they run low. This is being very respectful and polite. Pour theirs before you pour yours, and pour the seniormost first... Theres no salt or pepper or sugar on the table...and no forks. Or knives. Maybe Chinese spoons if you have soup. If you cant eat with chopsticks, youre going to get very hungry. There are also no napkins of any kind; people bring little packs of tissues to use. Once your mini-tissue gets overly-soiled, you just crunch it up and deposit it...on the table! :-D Or toss it under the table... Most restaurants serve the food on a large “Lazy Susan”, which anyone can turn so as to get to the food they want. So, you have to keep your eyes open. Otherwise, just as youre reaching for that last little shred of chicken, someone turns the damned thing and you miss it! When putting food on your plate or in your bowl, its often wise (or essential) to put your bowl next to the dish that contains the desired food, and then use the sticks to put the food into said bowl or onto the plate. That way, theres less chance of losing your grip and having gthe food drop into someones tea or into another dish... I guess it depends on how skilful you are with the sticks. Look on the bright side; you dont have to worry about using different forks, knives, or spoons for different dishes! And its okay if you burp a bit. It seems to be that the Chinese tend to be pretty pragmatic when it comes to eating. The main idea is to eat and theyre not too terribly picky about how you look when you do it.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 20:48:08 +0000
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