Chinese Dish Research Articles

Exploring English Translation of Chinese Dish Names from a Cross-Cultural Communication Perspective

As Chinese food culture gains popularity, the English translation of its dishes has garnered increasing interest. The menu not only highlights the cuisine but also reflects Chinese aesthetics and culture. This paper analyzes dish name translations, highlighting the major issues in current translations, such as machine translation, grammatical errors, and improper wording. It then refines these translations and identifies three key principles for dish name translation: semantic proximity, cultural communication and aesthetics. Studying dish name translations enhances Chinese food culture, fosters Sino-Western exchanges, and propagates Chinese cuisine globally.

From Chinese food to Japan’s Hokkaido heritage: The transformation of the grilled mutton or lamb dish ‘Jingisukan’

Jingisukan is a dish in which mutton or lamb and vegetables are grilled using a uniquely shaped pan with a convex center. It originated from the popular Chinese dish ‘Kao Yang Rou’ (grilled mutton), which was discovered by Japanese individuals in Beijing and underwent modifications, leading to the creation of the distinctive name ‘Jingisukan.’ This dish was then introduced to the Japanese in Northeast China, specifically known as ‘Manchuria,’ and gained fame as a specialty of ‘Manchukuo,’ being highly valued even by the Japanese army. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Jingisukan became a local dish in Hokkaido and was recognized as a ‘Hokkaido Heritage’ in 2004. The widespread popularity of this dish in Japan can be attributed to its association with Genghis Khan. This study views Jingisukan as a type of ‘colonial cuisine’ and elucidates its dissemination by comparing it with examples such as British curry. Furthermore, it considers this cuisine a ‘difficult heritage’ to evaluate, examining how people in post-World War II Japan perceived the history of Jingisukan’s association with imperialism and how they transformed it into a local dish in Hokkaido. Jingisukan became widely popular after World War II and was initially perceived as a Chinese dish. This association evoked nostalgia for mainland China, where the Japanese Empire had expanded its influence before and during the war. In Hokkaido, Jingisukan became particularly favored for outdoor dining. By the 1960s, it gained nationwide recognition, with mutton imported from overseas. Simultaneously, Jingisukan has been actively promoted as a tourist attraction in Sapporo and throughout Hokkaido.

Study on the Diffusion and Optimization of Sucrose in Gaido Seak Based on Finite Element Analysis and Hyperspectral Imaging Technology.

As a traditional Chinese dish cutting technology process, Gaidao artificially create cuts embedded in the food surface by cutting through it with knife, a process that currently plays an important role in the beef marinating process. And different Gaidao processes directly affect the beef marination flavour and marination efficiency. This study is the first to propose the use of Hyperspectral imaging technology (HSI) combined with finite element analysis to investigate the effect of Gaidao process on the quality of marinated beef. The study was carried out by collecting spectral information of beef marinated with different sucrose concentrations and combining various pre-processing methods and algorithms such as PLS, BiPLS, iPLS, and SiPLS to establish a quantitative model of sucrose concentration in beef, and finally optimizing parameters such as the length, position and number of Gaidao by Finite Element Analysis (FEA), which showed that when marinated with 1.0 mol/m³ sucrose solution, the concentration of sucrose in all tissues in the Gaidao steak reached 0.8 mol/m³ and above, which greatly improved the diffusion effect of the marinade. This work provides new ideas and methods to optimize the beef marinade Gaidao process, which has important practical value and research significance.

From Chinese food to Japan’s Hokkaido heritage: The transformation of the grilled mutton or lamb dish ‘Jingisukan’

Jingisukan is a dish in which mutton or lamb and vegetables are grilled using a uniquely shaped pan with a convex center. It originated from the popular Chinese dish ‘Kao Yang Rou’ (grilled mutton), which was discovered by Japanese individuals in Beijing and underwent modifications, leading to the creation of the distinctive name ‘Jingisukan’. This dish was then introduced to the Japanese in Northeast China, specifically known as ‘Manchuria’, and gained fame as a specialty of ‘Manchukuo’, being highly valued even by the Japanese army. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Jingisukan became a local dish in Hokkaido and was recognized as a ‘Hokkaido Heritage’ in 2004. The widespread popularity of this dish in Japan can be attributed to its association with Genghis Khan. However, in Mongolia, Genghis Khan is a revered national hero, leading to opposition from some people regarding the use of his name for a dish. This paper provides a concise overview of the birth and spread of Jingisukan, followed by an examination of how the Japanese perceived the history of Jingisukan, which was intertwined with imperialism after World War II. It investigates the reasons for and processes behind the transformation of the dish into local cuisine in Hokkaido. Post-war Jingisukan no longer evokes the heroic imagery used to boost morale during the pre-war and wartime periods. Instead, it became a comfort food that acknowledged the reality of defeat and served as a means of healing. During that time, Jingisukan spread throughout Hokkaido and came to be recognized as the ‘flavor of the homeland’, while also being utilized as a tourism resource. Can we cherish and utilize this dish and its name, which has been beloved by the Japanese for over a century, as a cultural heritage that connects many people, ethnicities, and nations?

Proposal for Enhancing the Taste and Nutritional Value of Braised Fish

Braised fish, a highly popular Chinese dish known for its delectable taste and rich nutritional content, is prone to being affected by factors such as its inherent fishy taste. To elevate the dish's flavor profile and impart a delightful aroma, it becomes essential to mask the fishy taste effectively. This study compared the salt solution method, sensory masking method, biological method, and acid-base method to comprehensively analyze and address the underlying causes of the fishy taste. It was observed that both the salt solution method and sensory masking method proved successful in concealing the fishy smell. While the biological method effectively mitigated the production of fishy substances, it fell short in completely eliminating the fishy smell. On the other hand, the acid-base method demonstrated promising results in significantly reducing the fishy odor. Furthermore, manipulating the Maillard reaction's efficiency by controlling water activity and temperature through the use of the control variable method was studied. The highest Maillard reaction rate was achieved when the water activity was set at 0.7, and a neutral or weak base pH was maintained. Optimizing temperature and processing time led to the successful formation of aromatic compounds while minimizing damage to human cells. In addition to enhancing the taste, incorporating vegetables such as tofu, broad beans, or celery into braised fish recipes can offer additional health benefits, such as preventing obesity and reducing the presence of carcinogens.

Retracted: Accurate Real-Life Chinese Dish Recognition

Retracted: Accurate Real-Life Chinese Dish Recognition

The Development of Traditional Food in Tourist Destinations from the Perspective of Dramaturgy

The sustainable development of traditional diets in the tourist industry is an important issue. This article analyses the historical evolution and the opportunities for a traditional Chinese dish in tourism. Taking mandarin fish in Anhui cuisine as the research object and the world heritage site Hongcun as the case, this paper investigates the evolution process of the local traditional die driven by tourism and its influence on the construction of gourmet tourism destinations. Primary data were obtained via interview. It was found that, to cater to the mass tourists, the destination created the diet frontstage. Traditional food changed through menu simplification, taste changes, the standardization and scale of production, and the immobilization of presentation. The dieter’s frontstage and backstage are not entirely separated; the “middle stage”—Homestay diet is a fusion of them; it is the product of functional differentiation of the frontstage and active integration of the backstage. By expressing the actual state behind the scenes, the middle stage transforms the tourist system from a “supportive experience” to a “peak experience”.

Accurate Real-Life Chinese Dish Recognition

Deep learning is a new research direction in the field of machine learning, which was introduced into machine learning to bring it closer to its original goal. Accurate dish recognition becomes increasingly important in the multimedia community since it can help cuisine recommendation, calorie management, service improvement, and other food computing tasks. Many novel approaches have been developed on web recipes and menu pictures, while few are concerned real-life dish image analysis. In this study, a deep learning-based prototype system is deployed in a Chinese canteen, and 28 dish types, 16,904 images, and 45,061 instances have been collected. Specifically, in the prototype system, three practical issues are explored, including the backbone network selection, the training strategy determination, and the minimum number of samples for model upgrading. Experimental results suggest that fine-tuned Faster-RCNN can serve as the backbone network of the prototype system since it outperforms the other four fine-tuned networks on dish recognition (accuracy, 98.10%; recall, 97.20%; MAP (mean average precession), 98.30%) and satisfies real-time requirement (0.15 second per image). Meanwhile, the transferred backbone network achieves superior results (MAP, 96.48%) over the same architecture trained from image scratches (MAP, 87.84%). On model upgrading, a good (MAP, 91.34%) to better (MAP, 96.48%) outcome is obtained when the training size is increased from 50 to 200 samples per dish type, and 150 and more instances should be annotated if a new dish type is added to the system’s recognition list. Conclusively, the real-life deployment and evaluation of the prototype system indicate that deep learning is full of potential to enhance customer experience through accurate daily dish recognition.

The Interplay Between Foreignization of Dish Name and Interactive Meaning of Visual Image in Food Documentary

A Bite of China 1, a popular food documentary with numerous food-related culture-specific items and including the interplay between subtitles and visual images, is selected as the data to be examined in this study. The purposes of this study are firstly to identify foreignization strategy in the translation of dish names based on Aixela’s model, and secondly to explore the interplay between visual images and foreignization, so as to demonstrate how visual images help to make up for the loss caused by foreignization and further facilitate the understanding of Chinese dishes and culture. Purposive sampling is employed to collect data and 112 samples on dish names with corresponding images are obtained. The findings reveal that transliteration, linguistic translation and intratextual gloss under the category of foreignization are three main translation strategies when rendering Chinese dish names into English. Apart from foreignization affecting the meaning conveyance of dish names, the results also suggest that interactive meanings of visual images play a vital role in facilitating target audiences’ understanding of Chinese dish names by providing detailed background information, whereas the connotative meanings behind Chinese dish names cannot or can hardly be obtained through the visual images or translation alone.

Diasporic foodways and intersectionality in Chenta Tsai Tseng’s Arroz tres delicias

ABSTRACT This article examines how Chenta Tsai Tseng engages with Chinese diasporic foodways to construct their identity as a racialized migrant subject. Tsai’s memoir, Arroz tres delicias, uses the iconic Chinese dish as a metaphor for those who have had to survive by being creative, versatile and adaptable in limiting and oppressive diasporic conditions. Tsai also delves into how the popular dish was improvised rather than replicating a traditional recipe, providing a strategy to disidentify with and challenge Asian stereotypes. Tsai notes that Chinese culinary references are often used to racialize this minority community, whether to provoke social anxiety against them or to fetishize them. In the memoir, Tsai’s reflections on their own experience of romantic relationships corroborates how their Asian race conditions their sexual objectification, which makes their identity intersectional. Tsai shifts the debate regarding the identity of Spaniards of Chinese descent from nation-states to transnational alliances, and from binaries to infinite, situational potentials. In contrast, Chinese Spanish cultural productions before Tsai, including Susana Ye’s documentary Chiñoles y bananas and Quan Zhou Wu’s graphic novel Gazpacho agridulce, have defied the Spanish xenophobia and discrimination against Asians by emphasizing the cultural differences between generations. Tsai’s turn to intersectionality opens up the possibility of envisioning identity through an alternative history and a sense of belonging. At the same time, it presents a model for antiracist activism in solidarity with other oppressed groups. Both as a theory and praxis, intersectionality underpins ethical and affective affiliations in Tsai’s identity, art and activism.

Food consumption and stigmatization under COVID‐19: Evidence from Chinese consumers’ aversion to Wuhan hot instant noodles

AbstractPandemics often lead to food stigma, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic provides some evidence to this belief. Mitigating food stigma during the pandemic is vital for consumption replenishment and economic recovery and helping the stigmatized people. We conduct an empirical study to examine consumer behaviors using Wuhan hot instant noodles (WHINs), a packaged version of the famous Chinese dish reganmian, as a case study. Although WHIN's name and origin signify Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, the noodles could be actually produced elsewhere, but since the COVID‐19 outbreak, WHIN has been avoided. On the basis of our results, we find that providing scientific information about the irrelevance between WHIN and the coronavirus is not effective in changing the minds of people with stigma. Moreover, stigma is more emotional than rational, especially among people with a lower self‐identified social class and poor psychological state. Therefore, psychological intervention programs may be warranted during pandemics to avoid potential stigmatization. The findings of this study could help to resolve the stigma affecting regional agriculture and the food economy. [EconLit citations: Q11, Q13].

중식 패스트푸드 포장용기 디자인 제안

중식 패스트푸드 포장용기 디자인 제안

Chop suey surplus: Chinese food, sex, and the political economy of Afro-Asia

This essay traces the forgotten hemispheric Afro-Chinese political economy of race and desire in the Americas through chop suey as an analytic during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Post-abolition Asian indentured laborers occupied the colonial plantation, and so Chinese and Indian food was cooked and eaten in these spaces. Chop suey the Cantonese overseas dish, an amalgam of stir-fried vegetables and proteins, was adapted to local palates with substituted ingredients. New cuisines, new foodways, and new subjects, people of African and Asian descent, emerged out of the of the interracial entanglement of racial slavery and indenture after emancipation. Chop suey, a trope used time and again by multiculturalism masks a deeper history of Afro-Asian women’s sexuality. The Chinese American dish developed out of a logic of substitution and improvization that I extend to the ways the Black woman became the understudy for the absent Chinese woman in the Americas. The indeterminate genealogy of chop suey poses a critique of the rhetoric of authenticity and hybridity. In acts of performance from Broadway musicals to Hollywood cinema to the Harlem Renaissance to West Indian beauty pageantry, I trace the relational contingency of Black and Chinese women’s sexuality and labors. From New York City to the Mississippi Delta to Jamaica, chop suey illuminates how race, immigration, and desire are enmeshed through Afro-Chinese femininity in the Americas. The Afro-Chinese woman has been consumed as chop suey but remains undigested, in surplus value, through the conceptual metaphors that equate sex with eating that are often projected onto women’s bodies.

The Metaphor and Translation of the Dish Names in Chinese Food Culture

China is a country famous for different kinds of delicious food. Chinese people attach great importance to the naming of dishes. With the globalization of the world economy in recent years, the translation of dish names has received more and more attention from domestic scholars and related academic institutions. This kind of cross-language and cultural communication activities involves not only the conversion between language symbols, but also the integration of cultures. Chinese metaphor-loaded dish names are an important feature of Chinese recipe names, which are derived from the concept of food culture of the Chinese nation. Only by grasping the connection between Chinese metaphor-loaded dish names and Chinese traditional culture, can we truly grasp the colorful language phenomena presented in metaphor-loaded dish names. Aiming at solving the translation problems of metaphor-loaded dish names, this paper proposes techniques that can be used in translation, in order to provide reference in food translation and boost the spread of Chinese food culture.

A Dietary Management System Using Radio-Frequency Identification Technology to Collect Information on Chinese Food Consumption: Development and Feasibility Study.

BackgroundDietary management is important for personal health. However, it is challenging to record quantified food information in an efficient, accurate, and sustainable manner, particularly for the consumption of Chinese food.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop a dietary management system to record information on consumption of Chinese food, which can help in assessing individuals’ dietary intake and maintaining healthy eating behaviors. We proposed to use plates embedded with radio-frequency identification chips to carry Chinese foods and collect food consumption data.MethodsWe obtained food composition and nutrient (eg, carbohydrate, fat, fiber) data from the Chinese Recipe Database and China Food Composition Database. To test the feasibility of the dietary management system at a population level, we applied it to collect data on 489 Chinese foods that were consumed at lunchtime across 7 weeks by 10,528 individuals. To test individual-level output, we selected an individual participant with completed 20-day dietary data for analysis. We examined the system’s nutrient calculation performance by comparing the nutrient values of 3 selected Chinese dishes calculated by our method with the results of chemical measurements.ResultsWe collected the dietary intake for a group of 10,528 individuals aged from 20 to 40 years having lunch in a restaurant across 7 weeks. A total of 489 Chinese dishes were identified. We analyzed a specified customer’s diet recordings and broke his or her 20 lunch diet recordings down to ingredients and then to nutrient intake. We compared the nutrient value of a given Chinese dish (eg, garlic puree cooked pork leg) calculated by our method with the results of chemical measurements. The mean absolute percentage deviation showed that our method enabled collection of dietary intake for Chinese foods.ConclusionsThis preliminary study demonstrated the feasibility of radio-frequency identification–based dietary management for Chinese food consumption. In future, we will investigate factors such as preparation method, weight of food consumed, and auxiliary ingredients to improve dietary assessment accuracy.

A corpus-based multimodal approach to the translation of restaurant menus

ABSTRACTTranslated restaurant menus facilitate tourism and consumerism, but menu translation remains a peripheral area of professional translation and translation studies. This has economic consequences, because translations that exclude a dish's ingredients, cooking methods, or cultural associations may deter consumers. This article analyses translated menus featuring Chinese dishes in order to establish the extent to which intersemiotic, image-based approaches are used to complement written translations; the level of consistency with which ingredients and cooking methods are translated; and the frequency of culturally specific dish names that are challenging to translate. A corpus-based methodology is used to compare 3,000 Chinese dish names and their translations from China, Taiwan and abroad. The data reveals very limited intersemiotic translation in existing menus, inconsistent translations of ingredients and cooking methods, and a high percentage of dishes with culturally specific names. However, these are often omitted in translation, or lack supplementary information concerning their ingredients. It is proposed that a multimodal translation approach incorporating Jakobson's tripartite theory can enhance menu translation. Menus featuring Pinyin as an intralingual translation can engage learners of Chinese who use this method; interlingual explicitation clarifies a dish's ingredients, cooking methods and cultural specificity; and intersemiotic, image-based translation conveys culinary artistry clearly.

Effects of Chinese pickled and dried mustard on nutritional quality, sensory quality, and shelf life of steamed pork belly.

Steamed pork with pickled and dried mustard (PDM) is a famous Chinese dish. Here, we examined the effects of PDM on nutritional quality, sensory quality, and shelf life of steamed pork belly. Proximate composition, lipid oxidation, fatty acid profiles, protein hydrolysis and oxidation, sensory evaluation, and induction period (IP) of steamed pork belly were determined after addition of different levels (0–100%, WPDM/W pork belly) of PDM. The results demonstrated that PDM could significantly (p < .05) enhance the loss of moisture and fat, increase the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids, and decrease lipid and protein oxidation in steamed pork belly. Additionally, IP values and steamed pork belly preservation times increased as the amount of added PDM increased. Best sensory quality was achieved when moderate levels of PDM (40%) were added to steamed pork belly. These findings provide insights into the beneficial effects of PDM on steamed pork belly.

Can we spice up our Christmas dinner? : Busting the myth of the 'Chinese restaurant syndrome'.

BackgroundMonosodium glutamate (MSG), also referred to as Vetsin or E621, is a flavour enhancer frequently used in Asian cuisine and abundantly present in the famous Chinese dish Peking duck. MSG is notorious for triggering the onset of the so-called ‘Chinese restaurant syndrome’ (CRS), a complex of unpleasant symptoms, which might include flushing, sweating and the onset of atrial fibrillation (AF). This study aims to determine the effects of MSG on the occurrence of AF.MethodsWe conducted a placebo self-controlled single-arm study in the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. We included paroxysmal AF patients who reported a consistent onset of AF upon MSG intake. During three admissions, participants were subsequently administered: placebo, 1.5 g and 3 g MSG. If AF was recorded after the dose of 1.5 g MSG, patients were given another placebo instead of 3 g MSG. The primary outcome was the onset of AF registered by 24-hour Holter monitoring. The secondary outcomes were any other arrhythmia and the onset of CRS defined as two or more symptoms of CRS after MSG intake.ResultsSix men participated in the study. Both 1.5 g and 3 g MSG were unrelated to CRS, arrhythmias or AF occurrence.Conclusion Peking duck can be put on the Christmas menu without risking guests to be admitted to the emergency department with new episodes of AF.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12471-017-1053-5) contains study inlcusion and exclusion criteria and recipe of Peking duck, which is available to authorized users.

Cultural considerations in postnatal dietary and infant feeding practices among Chinese mothers in London

Background Zuo yuezi (ZYZ) is the traditional Chinese practice of confinement for 1 month after childbirth. During this time, there are customs that Chinese mothers may choose to follow, which affect their dietary choices and how they feed their infants. Aims This study aimed to explore Chinese women's cultural considerations around their diet and infant feeding practices. Methods Ten self-identified Chinese mothers who live in London were interviewed in a qualitative study during June–September 2015. Findings All participants were aware of ZYZ and a majority practised it to varying extents, depending on practicality and availability of specific ingredients. Most of the practice was through dietary approaches, to regulate the intakes of different foods and drinks for recovery and breast milk production, to foster the balance of yin and yang based on principles of traditional Chinese medicine. The participants' partners and own mothers were important influences in shaping their diets, which suggests ZYZ as a period to help foster family bonds. All women breastfed their babies either exclusively or with supplementation of infant formula. For those who had introduced solids, the women cooked a Chinese dish called ‘congee’ (rice porridge) for their babies. There was consensus on the limited awareness of ZYZ and cultural sensitivity by midwives and health visitors in providing postpartum dietary advice, which can be contrary to their cultural beliefs. Conclusions Training and the creation of a trusted online resource available in English may help promote understanding of traditional health beliefs among health professionals, and support them to build rapport with Chinese mothers in the UK.

Toxicity Studies of Ethyl Maltol and Iron Complexes in Mice.

Ethyl maltol and iron complexes are products of ethyl maltol and the iron found in the cooking pots used to prepare the Chinese dish, hot-pot. Because their safety is undocumented, the toxicity study of ethyl maltol and iron complexes was conducted in male and female Kunming (KM) mice. The animal study was designed based on the preliminary study conducted to determine the median lethal dose (LD50). The doses used in the study were 0, 1/81, 1/27, 1/9, and 1/3 of the LD50 (mg kg body weight (BW)−1 day−1) dissolved in the water. The oral LD50 of the ethyl maltol and iron complexes was determined to be 743.88 mg kg BW−1 in mice. The ethyl maltol and iron complexes targeted the endocrine organs including the liver and kidneys following the 90 D oral exposure. Based on the haematological data, the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) of the ethyl maltol and iron complexes was determined to be 1/81 LD50 (9.18 mg kg BW−1 day−1) in both male and female mice. Therefore, we suggest that alternative strategies for preparing the hot-pot, including the use of non-Fe-based cookware, need to be developed and encouraged to avoid the formation of the potentially toxic complexes.