My Ethnic Foodways
Personal foodways are usually decided by geographic region, family and tradition heritage, and personal likes and dislikes. In this paper, I will try to analyze how my personal foodways come from. I will have an overview with Chinese food culture, and I will try to explain the Cantonese foodways, which is also my personal foodways.
According to Kiple & Ornelas (2000), “Although emperors and the princes enjoyed the privilege of savoring the very finest dishes, they, like everybody else, could not get along without cooked cereals.” “For in ancient as in modern China, cereals have been assigned the function of nourishing and sustaining life” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). I really agree with this statement that cereals play a really huge and important role in Chinese food culture and history. From ancient past to present, Chinese usually have cereal as the basic ingredient in their daily meals. Chinese commonly think that cereals are the essential ingredient to make them alive, and they will have cereals in every daily meal. Chinese usually see the dishes as the supplement for the cereals, so they usually won’t only have dishes without any cereal. There are a variety of cereals, like rice, wheat, millet, and maize. According to Kiple & Ornelas (2000), “Two of them, rice and wheat, are the most highly valued, with millet and maize less appreciated.” “From an agricultural point of view, wheat, various millets, and maize are the typical cereals of the north, whereas rice is characteristic of the regions south of the Yangtze River and of western China” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). Therefore, the southern Chinese usually have cooked rice as their daily staple while the northern Chinese have breads, noodles, dumplings, and pies as their staple. In addition, many foreigners may think that dumpling is the traditional food for China. This is right, but to be more accurate that the dumpling is actually the traditional food for the northern China. The southern Chinese usually don’t see dumpling and noodle as their traditional food because they actually don’t have them pretty often in the daily lives. Furthermore, during the important Chinese festival, like moon cake festival, spring festival, and so on, the dumpling is the essential food for the northern but not for the southern Chinese. Also, Chinese usually have special food habits for the festivals. According to Kiple & Ornelas (2000), “It is, therefore, only on festive occasions that ordinary people treat themselves to a good banquet, during which they almost dismiss the tyranny of the daily cereal. On such occasions cooked dishes become the center of the meal, and when rice or steamed buns are served at the end, the guests will casually take only a mouthful or two” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). As you can see, cereals play a really important and essential role in Chinese daily meal and food culture no matter in ancient or modern China.
“China is known as the land of tea, but in fact alcohol has been drunk there longer than the brew of the plant that has conquered the world” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). It is true that alcohol also plays a very huge part of Chinese food culture. Alcoholic beverages have long and important history in Chinese food culture, and even until now. According to Kiple & Ornelas (2000), “Alcoholic beverages maintain their importance in the present. No banquet, for example, would be complete without them. Indeed, the ceremony of marriage is referred to by the expression be xijiu or ‘drinking the wine of happiness,’ and each of the guests is invited to raise a glass in honor of the bride” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). Also, it is common that people have alcoholic beverages for no particular reason at a drinking party or to accompany a meal. Drinking with friends or business partners is usually a common social activity in nowadays’ Chinese culture. Furthermore, drinking alcohol has its unique culture and tradition. For example, people usually say some blessing discourses before they drink. People cannot say no when other people invite you to drink with them. People usually drink the same amount as the people who invite them. The Youngers usually “jingjiu”, which means “drinking with respects”, to the elders. There is still a lot of drinking culture in China. It seems that drinking culture and tradition become one of the biggest parts in Chinese food culture because “although getting drunk is the admitted aim of these drinking bouts, drinking without eating is unthinkable” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000).
I have talked with my grandma and parents few days ago, and they tell me that one of representative food in their generations is rice gruel, which actually the rice is boiled in the water. However, it is different from the cooked rice that rice gruel actually is the mixer of rice and water. Rice gruel is not solid, which the rice is, but more like a liquid. Vegetables and meats can be added to cook rice gruel. Because I am come from Canton, the southern part of China, I don’t know if rice gruel also is popular in the northern China. My grandma and parents tell me that rice gruel is the representative food in their generation based on the low living standards and poor economy in China that time. People are so poor that they cannot afford to have rice and meats in their daily meals, so they usually have rice gruel and sweet potato to be their staples. They are cheaper because the amount of rice, which is for two people, can usually make rice gruel for four people. Hence, people in their generations usually don’t have cooked rice and meats in their daily. Instead, they usually have rice gruel, sweet potato, and even corns as their staples with vegetables.
Because I am Cantonese, the traditional Cantonese are usually served in my home while I am growing up. If you ask me what food is the representative of my ethnic or regional heritage as Cantonese, I will definitely say Dim sum and seafood. As for Dim sum, I guess that many people, even Americans, are quite familiar with it. It is a traditional and classic Cantonese food. It actually is prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates, and it also can be seen as Chinese snacks. Cantonese like to have Dim sum, especially in weekends, from morning to midafternoon, and they usually have Dim sum as their meals with tea. Thus, Cantonese usually call the process of having Dim sum and tea as “drinking morning tea”. According to Kiple & Ornelas (2000), “The complexity and richness of Cantonese cuisine cannot be reduced to a few dominant flavors, for the art of the Cantonese cook is characterized by mastery in blending different flavors or, alternatively, permitting each one of them to stand out on its own. Seafood, however, is one of the main features of this cuisine. Its preparation emphasizes freshness by, for instance, simply steaming a fish au naturel” (Kiple & Ornelas, 2000). Because Canton is on the coastline, the fresh seafood must be an important part of Cantonese cuisine. Additionally, Chinese, including Cantonese, usually have meals together as a family very often, and even every day. Holidays usually are not important “feast” days for my family, but traditional festival is. During the traditional festivals, Cantonese must have rice, pork, chicken, fish, and vegetables in their meals, and the whole family must get together to have meal for celebrating the festivals.
To sum up, I have talked about the overview of Chinese food culture. I talk about the elder generations’ foodways that my grandma and parents had. Last, I also talk about my personal and family foodways – Cantonese foodways.

Reference
Kiple, K. F., & Ornelas, K. C. (2000). The Cambridge world history of food. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.