The Culture in Ameria and Vietnam : Food

Do you know that eating dog is a common behavior when men gather in Vietnam but is against the law in America? Vietnamese assume that it is acceptable to kill and eat dogs. So are American assumptions that it is wrong to do either of these things. Obviously, each country’s culture has influence on all aspects of its population’s lives. By comparing the aspects of food, traffic law and handicapped treatment, people can understand more about the cultures of these two countries and how they affect behaviors of individuals.
The first basic aspect when comparing two countries is food, which has many differences due to the effects of history and traditions of each country. An example is the way people cook and eat. As a former colony of China, Vietnamese cooks usually use a wok instead of a normal pan. They also use some ingredients that cannot be found in American recipes such as fish sauce and soy sauce. Moreover, Vietnamese people always use chopsticks and spoons to eat while Americans prefer forks and knives. Some Americans also use chopsticks because American culture is a combination of many other countries of immigrants. While in Vietnam, a country which has been colonized and invaded for almost 1000 years by China, Chinese culture has become a part of Vietnamese culture and also influenced the tradition of Vietnam. In a traditional Vietnamese family meal, younger children have to ask their parents or grandparents to eat first then they follow in order to show their respect. In an American meal, however, all people in family only have to say grace and then share food equally by passing the plate around. Form these customs in food we can see the differences between two cultures. It does not merely influence people’s habit of eating, but also influence they way people behave to things and change the way they think. In Vietnam, having the meal with family together is really important and meaningful. All of family’s members enjoy and help each other make a meal. They find the happiness and joyfulness in seating in the same table and talk with each other. Younger generations always show the respects to their older family’s members. In contract, American families hardly have a meal together. They are so busy and focus too much on their jobs; therefore they usually choose the fastest way to save time. Everyone has their own meal and most likely in the fast food store. However, experiencing many fast foods routinely is not healthy for people’s body. French fries, pizzas, hamburgers, and drinks consist many harmful factors can affect our health. That is American people experience some illnesses from overusing fast foods. However, Vietnamese people are quite different. They refer make food by themselves and fast foods are not a common type here. Eating fast foods costs a lot of money for them in general because the standard of living in Vietnam. Instead of spending their money on fast foods which are quite expensive for Vietnamese people, they choose to make their traditional foods. It might take time to cook these foods, but they are healthy and have suitable taste for Vietnamese people. Therefore, international students from Vietnam going abroad to America, they usually have their lunch box with them. They like to make their own food. It not only saves time, but also their enjoyable thing to do. Different custom and different culture can lead to living’s habit of people.