The nature vs nurture of food: 05 (Size)

 

Anyone who’s had Chinese food will know that most of the ingredients are cut up into (just to name three types): slices (片 piàn), slivers (丝 sī / “silk [strands])” or cubes (丁 dīng).

    Here’s my potted history behind this:  China doesn’t have much land space for forests, so the cooking was designed around this shortage of firewood.  The small size of the ingredients means brief cooking time.  The curved-up shape of the cooking utensil (the wok) is for spreading the heat more evenly and over a bigger area than a flat-base pan/pot would.  Stir-frying (heating up the wok until it’s very hot, then ditto for the cooking oil) rounds it off in the ergonomics of most of Chinese cooking.

    Of course, there are other styles:  fish steamed whole; stewing, which takes a long time, using a lot of fuel.  For the purpose of this blog, which is about the nature vs nurture of food, I’m focusing on the size of the food.

    The Portuguese husband and Brazilian wife couple I’ve been helping out on the allotment with watering and weeding during the growing season love Chinese food.  Yet, the husband told me that Portuguese people don’t like their food cut up into little pieces (whatever shape).  He said he’d be happy enough to eat it if it was in a Chinese restaurant, presumably because that’s how it comes and eating out in a Chinese restaurant is an occasional affair.  They’d rather, however, not have their food served up in tiny pieces.  I asked if it was because it looks more like baby food.  (More on this in another blog.)  He said maybe, but wasn’t quite sure.

    The Chinese, on the other hand, generally do not like being presented with a big chunk of meat (steak, lamb / pork chop, a whole quarter of chicken) for them to cut up themselves at the point of eating.

    Yes, one sees Chinese people (in modern films and real life) eating beef steak dinners, but that’s mostly because they’re trying to be Westernised (as it’s trendy), and again, it’s only the occasional exotic meal out (as with the Portuguese going along with how a meal in a Chinese restaurant would be served), not because it’s natural to them.  (I’m not talking about ethnic Chinese people who’ve been born and brought up in the West.)

    So, even nature / nurture dictates how one likes one’s food to be presented before eating.