Compare and Contrast Essay: Chinese Eating Manner vs. Korean Eating Manner

Compare and contrast essay: Chinese eating manner vs. Korean eating manner Different places and countries have different cultures and manners. China and Korea both are historical and traditional Asian countries, which have many traditional cultures and manners, including the eating manners. Even though their geographical position is close, there are similarities and differences between Chinese and Korean eating manner. There are some distinct similarities between Chinese and Korean eating manner. The first similarity is that they both use bowl and chopstick to eat, and no sounds are allowed when chopstick touches the bowl, for example like scratching rice from the bowl with chopstick. Different from western countries, most Asian countries use bowls instead of plates to carry food. It is impolite to make noise by tableware when eating. Another similarity is that, when eating with seniors, juniors only can start eating after seniors start. There is a traditional saying in Chinese called “ respect for seniority”, let seniors to start eating first is a kind of showing respect to them. Similarly, in traditional Korean culture there are plenteous manners on respecting seniors, and start eating after they eat is one of the manners. Although there are a number of similarities, there are several differences between Chinese and Korean eating manner. The first difference is that Chinese prefer to hold the bowl when eating, and use chopstick so often. It is impolite to put down the bowl on table and just use one hand to eat. In contrast, it is not allow to hold the bowl when eating in Korea, also, spoon is much more important than chopstick in its manner. For example, though it is difficult to spoon up a bean sprout from a bowl, it is not allow to use chopstick for it. Another important difference is, in China both hands should be upon the table when eating. When holding a bowl to drink soup without using a spoon, the idle hand still needs to be upon the table.