Original Chinese Food Essay

For an international student like me who lives in a foreign country, one thing that I miss the most is a home cooked Chinese meal. I know how to cook and this helped me to adapt to the food here easier. As a native Chinese, I am lucky to live in Houston because it is a big city with many diverse groups. In Chinatown, there are a few Chinese grocery shops that I can purchase food products from Taiwan or China. Whenever I try to cook like my mothers food, I rarely succeed because of the original ingredients. These spices and herbs are grown under different circumstances, which make the main difference between Original Chinese food and American Chinese food. Some of my American friends think that the Chinese food served in the restaurants such as all-you-can-eat buffet are the same as the Chinese food that is made in Taiwan or China. The homemade Chinese food that I used to eat in my country tastes different and looks different from the Chinese food in America. Of course cooking methods differ according to cultures and communities and the difference in taste between food cooked here and food cooked in Taiwan exhibits some of these differences between eastern and western parts of the world. Lets start with comparing eating habits and table manners before diving into the actual taste and cooking procedures. In a typical Chinese buffet restaurant, diners usually have all sorts of food on the same plate. This is usually made up of salad, fried rice and meat. Forks, knives and spoons are used to eat the meal. The drinks consumed by the typical Chinese buffet customer include sodas and still water. On the other hand, the customers of a Chinese restaurant in Taiwan drink tea made with special herbs and they use chopsticks to eat. They serve each different kind of food in a separate plate in the center of the table and...