A question on etiquette..

[jim_julian]

Chongqing is a pretty big city and bone spitters were everywhere, to include fairly nice restaurants.

 

As someone I know said, "Beijing and Shanghai not really China!"

 

As for the practice in America ... I'm betting that when we eat Chinese we'll use chopsticks and have a bone bowl.

[Trigg]

Trigg is right but there are other cities that you can go to and get refined such as Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou.

 

I can pick a bone from my teeth without putting my hand in my mouth. I guess I am just realy coordinated.

171779[/snapback]

Refined??? Why do you call it refined???? My wife is VERY refined and she spits her waste food biproducts into a bowl at our table. What makes you think refined means your way of doing things?? White sugar is refined and it sucks!

 

Call it westernized if you must-but refined is a matter of taste, or lack thereof!

[Jeikun]

Gotta agree with Trigg on that one. From my point of view, it's not refined, I find it rather gross - but apparently me using a toothpick without covering my mouth and walking around the house in bare feet is gross and unrefined too. Both views are right, and both are wrong depending on who you ask. I mean, in the west spitting is ok for say... sunflower seeds - getting your hands messy is ok for things like ribs (most bone-spittin' Chinese would stare aghast as we picked up 2 pound rack of saucy bones and proceeded to gnaw on it like those South American plane crash survivors in "Alive") - all depends on the situation. My blood would still run cold if we were in a nice restaurant here, and wifey started spitting bones - but at home, or in China hey, when in Rome...

 

(And I saw bone-spitters in Shanghai AND beijing)

[skibum]

Westernized is good. In the cities I mentioned there has been more contact with the west and so they picked up our ways of doing things.

[Trigg]

Westernized is good. In the cities I mentioned there has been more contact with the west and so they picked up our ways of doing things.

171820[/snapback]

Hopefully they won't pick up ALL of our ways. If the did, why go to china??

[LiandLarry]

Westernized is good. In the cities I mentioned there has been more contact with the west and so they picked up our ways of doing things.

171820[/snapback]

Amy Vanderbilt says:

 

Never spit a piece of bad food or tough gristle into your napkin. Remove the food from your mouth using the same utensil it went in with (including fingers). Place the piece of food on the edge of your plate. If possible, cover it with some other food from your plate.

 

 

Larry says: Just do what is comfortable and acceptable with you and your SO. My book is available in paperback (actually scribbled on the

back of a napkin).

 

hahahaha

Edited November 26, 2005 by LiandLarry (see edit history)

[hakkamike]

Westernized is good. In the cities I mentioned there has been more contact with the west and so they picked up our ways of doing things.

171820[/snapback]

And what is so good about that??

[Jeikun]

ok, ok... let's not tear ski's tonsils out

[Trigg]

ok, ok... let's not tear ski's tonsils out

171880[/snapback]

Of course not-It wouldn't be refined

[skibum]

Mike, I was saying that westernize is a good word to use instead of refined which some oeople seen to think has only 4 letters.

 

I evidently struck a cord with this post but does anyone disagree with my first post in this thread?

 

I have the utmost respect for the rural population of China as they are the ones who have provided the tax base for China since the first dynasty and have, with their taxes of grain and silk, supported the many wars that have been fought in China as well as any improvements the gov made. They have reaped slim benefit from their labors. They have suffered with each new regime as they carried out new plans to get more taxes. They are the first to suffer in time of war as the armys come through and conscript the locals. If you read the history of the Long March, you will not believe how many people died along the way - most of them farmers.

 

There was an interesting story on CCTV a couple of nights ago. It showed a village in Guandong. A farmer would hang his produce in baskets hung from a wall. People would take what they needed and leave the right amount of payment. The farmer said that no one has not paid in 3 centurys. This would not happen in the cities where things disappear very quickley.

Edited November 29, 2005 by skibum (see edit history)

[mercator]

I know when you pick your teeth with toothpick on right hand, you should cover your month with the left hand.  Showing food in month is bad.

171679[/snapback]

usually... however in GZ I saw alot of people eating with mouths wide open. My wife was a bit more dainty about it, including toothpicking with a hand over her mouth after the meal, but our 'sophisticated' translator ate with his hands, chewed like a cow with an overbite, and even had his finger in his nose a few more times than I had wished to see. he was the worst I saw, but I think its just like here in the US. Some people have manners and some don't.

 

She'll have to adapt to finger foods when she gets here. I cant see her eating a burger with chopsticks or a fork. "when in Rome..."

[Yuanyang]

I've used the fingers sparingly, once in front of the family. I explained that the thumb and forefinger are called "American Chopsticks" and they seemed to enjoy that.

[Dennis143]

I've used the fingers sparingly, once in front of the family.  I explained that the thumb and forefinger are called "American Chopsticks"    and they seemed to enjoy that. 

172884[/snapback]

good advice, Bob. I'll start using that too. It better work!

[warpedbored]

On my first visit to China when Bing and I went out to eat with some friends I had some pork bone in my mouth. Here I am not knowing the customs and trying to figure out how to get rid of this bone without committing some social blunder. I look over at Bing and there she is happily eating away and spitting the bones on the table next to her plate. The light came on in my head and I says to myself, "self this is my kinda place" I then proceded to have good ole time eating and spittin and talkin and damned if I didn't really enjoy myself. Now at home we spit our bones on a plate or take them out of our mouths with chopsticks. My wife is not a country girl. She lived in Nanning all of her life. At western style restaurants she has very good table manners. Like others said it is just a different cultural way of doing things. I have to agree it's cleaner than sticking your fingers in your mouth to take them out.

[skibum]

Funny that after my SO and I had been talking about this subject, we were in my therapist office and a picture in a magizine showed a guy eating with his finger in his mouth up to the first knuckel. It was in Chongqing

 

Trigg, the worst case of westernization occured in Japan where after the occupation, there was no more mixed bathing in Onsens.

Edited December 1, 2005 by skibum (see edit history)