饮食文化
Yǐnshí wénhuà — Food & Culture
Food has appeared in every grade. Here it becomes the subject rather than the vocabulary: regional cuisines, why eating together carries so much social weight, and how to host someone properly.
Unit objectives
- Name four regional cuisines and one dish from each
- Describe how a dish is cooked, not just what it is
- Host a guest — offer, serve, insist politely
- Explain one food custom to someone unfamiliar with it
Key vocabulary
川菜 粤菜 炒 蒸 煮 火锅 口味 请客 客人 习惯
More than what’s on the plate
Four cuisines
Sichuan, Cantonese, Shandong, Jiangsu — what each is known for and why geography made it that way.
How it’s cooked
Stir-fry, steam, boil, braise — cooking verbs, and reading a simple recipe in Chinese.
Hot pot
A whole lesson on one meal — because hot pot is as much a social format as a dish.
Being a host
Offering food, refusing politely, insisting once more — the small choreography of a Chinese meal.
Explain a custom
Each student presents one food custom — Chinese or from their own family — in Chinese.
Why refusing twice is polite
Offered more food, the conventional first response is often to decline — and the host is expected to insist, at which point accepting is gracious. Taking the first offer immediately can read as greedy; refusing once and never being asked again leaves everyone slightly uncomfortable. The pattern is loosening among younger people and in casual settings, but it’s alive enough at a family table that a guest who knows it will handle the meal much more smoothly. The same logic governs who pays the bill, from Grade 4.
Unit 3 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child name two regional cuisines and a dish from each?
- Can they describe how something is cooked?
- Could they offer food to a guest appropriately?
If a hot pot meal is feasible at home or in class, it is worth the effort. No lesson competes with actually doing it.