When a foreign man is willing to make chicken feet and pig's blood a regular part of his diet because he's married to a Chinese woman, is this unequivocal proof of his commitment to the relationship and his love for her? The answer would be yes if he's very picky about the food he eats, in the first place. Numerous anecdotal evidence suggest, however, that dissimilarities in food tastes is one of the few areas of many cross-cultural relationships where a foreign man and a Chinese woman should simply have to agree to disagree. Additionally, as long as the relationship or the marriage has been founded on a solid framework, the issue of food, or the Chinese lady's (lack of) skills in the kitchen, should not be a deal-breaker.
One of the more oft-repeated quotes about love is about the man's stomach being the way to his heart. In China, this would be true in a lot of traditional marriages because food and eating plays a traditionally significant role in Chinese society and wives are expected to know all the beliefs associated with food as it relates to marriage, family life, love, work, career, etc, as well as how to properly feed her husband. When a Chinese lady marries a foreign man, she often carries such beliefs and traditional cooking practices into the marriage, even when she moves to her husband's home country. If the foreign man does not care much for his wife's cooking and/or most traditional Chinese fare, they must settle this issue of food preferences early on in the relationship.
Foreign men who end up living in China don't really have much choice in the matter of food, however. Either they have always loved the traditional foods of China from the very beginning (which is rarely the case) or their taste buds learn to adapt to the unusual flavors and textures (which also happens rarely) for the sake of the marriage and even out of love. Not wanting to eat a certain diet would seem like a silly reason to end a marriage, right? For those who take the beliefs, both healthful and traditional, attached to their food preferences and practices very seriously, the answer is no. A foreign man should seriously take into consideration his food preferences and how much he is willing to overhaul his diet when making long-term plans about marrying a Chinese lady.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Abbot
No comments:
Post a Comment