Chinese Food vs. Japanese Food

Chinese food is very different than Japanese food, but it seems like many people confuse the two. Often Japanese food and Chinese food are thought of as things like Fried rice, lo mein noodles, Kung Pao Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, and crab rangoons, among other things. These foods, however, are only Chinese food. And, if we're talking real here, many of these dishes are highly Americanized to be sweeter and more fried than their traditional Chinese counter parts. Sweet and Sour sauce, for example, is basically a sweet red sauce. I'm pretty sure it's in no way traditional Chinese food. I know that in Japan, for instance, people tend to like savory flavors better. In America, it's a one-way road to Salt-Fat-Sugarville with thousands of calories. Americans tend to like sweet things a lot more than Japanese people. For example, it's fairly common to find Japanese people (especially guys, although women can do this too) who don't like sweets at all. In America literally everyone I've talked to likes sweet things. I'm sure there are definitely people in America who don't like sweet things, and I do know a few people who don't like specifically chocolate (but still enjoy sweets). The fact that everyone I know in America enjoys sweets must mean that there's a fairly high percentage of people who like sweets in America. However, I digress.

American Chinese food is basically the foods I described above. Delicious fried things or vegetables in a soy sauce-based sauce. Japanese foods are things like sushi, yakitori, okonomiyaki, and onigiri. I did a blog entry about onigiri earlier that you may want to check out. If not, onigiri is basically a rice ball with something tasty inside. Yakitori is basically marinated chicken grilled on a stick (it's my Japanese teacher's favorite food). Okonomiyaki is my absolute favorite Japanese food. It's basically a savory pancake with many things mixed into the batter, and a piece of meat cooked in the center of it. My host family made it for me, and it was absolutely delicious.

Japanese foods and Chinese foods are very different. Some foods from China are also made in Japan, since Japan took a lot of cultural elements from China (such as certain kanji and traditions). Japanese food tends to be more savory, but it has a lot more flavor than Chinese food in my opinion. Part of the appeal of Chinese food is the Salt-fat-sugar combo that triggers the same response in your brain as if you had just taken drugs. Japanese food is the same way, but generally does it more subtly. In Japan quality of the food seems to be much more important than the quantity. Once, I ate Chinese food that burned my mouth because of how salty it was. That certainly made me salty. After I eat Chinese food I always feel bloated because of the high salt content. This could be because of where I am and the quality of food I was eating, versus the quality of food I was exposed to in Japan. However a Konbini onigiri tasted a lot better than a restaurant Chinese dish.

Many people probably confuse the two because of certain restaurants that serve both. Where I live there's a sushi restaurant that serves Japanese food, but also offers a wide variety of Chinese food as well. However, it advertises itself as a Japanese food restaurant. Now, I could be biased because I'm comparing totally different things. I'm not comparing traditional Chinese food to traditional Japanese food, I'm comparing traditional Japanese food you'd find in Japan to Chinese food you'd find in America.

So let's change it up a bit. In America, both Japanese food and Chinese food is prepared similarly, catering to an American audience. Even sushi in America is rolls that have many sweet sauces and

toppings that are only found in America, for example the ever-popular California roll with cucumber, fake crab, and avocado. In conclusion, Americans like sweet things, traditional Japanese and traditional Chinese foods are very different, but in America they are prepared similarly.