What We Like About Food

Seeing as Thanksgiving is coming up in the U.S.A., here is a post on food and culture that might reveal something about gongfu as well.

Americans are most concerned with the way food tastes in their mouth. Thus ice cream is a big hit, and over eating is funny.

Chinese are most concerned with the way food feels once it enters their stomach. Thus the inexpensive noisy restaurant around the corner, which is always packed, is decorated with intensionally unappealing bright orange and green triangles and circles. Why waste money on decor, put your effort in to cooking.
Japanese are most concerned with food appearance and texture. Each type of food has its own rituals of presentation, and people pay close attention to how it feels in their mouth. When eggs are used in sushi they layer them, pouring the beaten eggs from up high multiple times. It doesn't effect the taste just the texture. Of course Japanese eggs also happen to be the best I've ever tasted, but that is because eggs are treated with ritual care.

Koreans are most concerned with survivability. For Koreans to enjoy a meal, there has to be a question in the back of their mind about whether they can actually survive it. Think live octopus! The national dish, Kimchi is huge amounts of red pepper, garlic, something dangerious like raw crab,and a little bit of cabbage--all mixed together and then left to ferment.