A few random thoughts here.
First there is presentation. When you start deliberately mixing food
together on the table - haha how can you call it an 'art' with
those bibimbap or something, in a charred stone bowl or all that lo
mein on a sizzling plate? One of the hallmarks of haute cuisine is its
emphasis on preparation or presentation technique -not how you
reproduce your stomach contents for public view! In fact in haute
cuisine often different ingredients are cooked separately to the right
degree of 'ripeness' and then mixed together, hence the
extraordinary amount of time needed for preparation. Bento boxes -
and these are considered cheap Japanese - like 'rice boxes' -
nonetheless preserve or at least pretend to preserve this quality.
Koreans and the Chinese do not. Else you may as well go for an infant
diet or a pureed diet for old people. The fact that everyone digs into
a public plate in the case of Chinese - thus sometimes without a pair
of public utensil (i.e. chopstick) is yet another 'low class' sign
- it's probably a residual from an ancient powwow ceremony where
people just feast on a dead carcass after a long day's hunt. Very
very primitive (or authentic, depends on your perspective).
Décor of the restaurant is another issue and is peripheral to this
subject of presentation. Even a middle class Japanese restaurant (at
least in North America) is quiet - meaning you can hear what your
neighbors are saying, unlike Chinese or sometimes Korean - and at
times you feel like you've entered a monastery or Shinto temple
inadvertently where you start your life journey and engage in some epic
meditation session. "Authentic" Chinese restaurants - even the so
called more
expensive ones are like a flea markets or a public high school
cafeterias where you need to shove your way in and where you are
sometimes given a time limit on when you should finish your food, and
where you have to combat waiters from mixing residual food between
dishes together - just so they get a head start in dish cleaning, if
they do that at all....
The use of ingredients is important. Eggs or bean sprouts may be valid
ingredients but they are very cheap, and are definitely not suitable
for a main course dish at supper, and are certainly no showcase prizes.
No, in fact the use of these materials reflects a sign of historical
economic dearth when you think about it. It's not so common in North
America but I think in mainland China people are so poor they eat
tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and tofu as their main dinner dish day after
day, night after night! Whoa!!
I think 'high class' cuisine often seeks to preserve freshness and
the true, 'original' flavor of the food with a minimal amount of
seasoning. Chinese cuisine often resort to deep frying or stir frying,
and certain provincial Chinese (like Szechuan) use spices or MSG to
mask their flaws. Some Korean dishes encourage the use of hot sauce
(e.g. the bibimbap). Sort of like poor Indians using curry in
everything - thus you can really have a crappy piece of meat (if they
can afford it) but you still won't be able to tell what's in it.
It's like a woman who relies too heavily on makeup. That's why
ground beef is low grade but you'll never mince filet mignon. And why
many Chinese kitchens are so invisible - so secretive and furtive in
their preparation of food that they in fact don't even pass public
health standards!! One report I read demonstrated that it's cleaner
(measured in terms of a lack of bacterial count) to eat off the *floor*
of a university microbiology lab than a food tray at fast foods places
where teens spit on your onion rings (is that true, or is that just
Eminem lyrics) or at Chinese restaurants.
Another sign is quality vs quantity. Chinese buffets now abound in
North America - because they are cheap - and Chinese buffets love
to emphasize quantity at the expense of quality. They are geared
towards 300 lb trailer wives and inner city single moms and new
southeast Asian immigrants probably. Higher class restaurants
emphasize more on preparation and not on quantity, and the end product
is presented perhaps as a psychological mechanism - product being food
is so much smaller than the plate, and are 'vertically stacked' rather
than a 'horizontal mess'.
Also, practically, when was the last time at a quiet, sedate wine
'n' cheese inbred soirees or business meetings that they serve
Chinese food? Never! Never! Never! These just do not have the
same cachet at upper middle class or upper class/educated functions -
it's like wearing a tracksuit to a wedding. Japanese is however
increasingly served in these functions, and in fact I think it adds a
touch of cosmopolitanism to an otherwise dull mélange of French and
Italian.
And let's not forget also that at the lower middle class level, we
see Chinese and Koreans trying to operate Japanese restaurants, dishing
(pun huh?) out ersatz Japanese food. You just don't see things the
other way around.
Here is another practical reason. We now know how beneficial omega-3
acids are to health. These are found in cold-water fish amongst other
food items. Fish - sushi, sashimi - is one of the main staples of
Japanese diet. And the Japanese have one of the world's longest life
expectancy at ~81 years, last time I checked.
So why is all this important? Food is like sex. Hunger is one of our
natural, human, cardinal urges. It may be a non-topic and neglected
when it's abundant, such as in North America, but since food is
required by everyone to survive, i.e. it drives natural selection,
cultural varations hold a key to understanding something deeper
perhaps. I think what we eat and how we do it - like sexual norms and
mores - reflect and reveal ourselves more than anything else. I've
listed a few suggestions here, as a brute, who visits, occasionally,
Burger King. But if I can see it, I'm sure others can also.
Yeah yeah I know, "de gustibus non est disputandum", i.e. taste is
not disputable. But in this mano a mano comparison between Japanese and
Chinese/Korean cuisine, I say the Japanese won hands down.
Postscript: two other objective data points.
1. Price. Unless they're Chinese or Korean owned, Japanese restaurants
in general charge a premium for their food and services. While the free
market is not always rational, it does indicate that there is a demand,
at least in North America. And I think that's true in the Far East as
well outside Japan - Japanese restaurants are never considered 'cheap
food' or 'lower class food'. Zagat survey indicates many more Japanese
that make it on top compared to Chinese, *in spite of* the latter's
popularity. It's almost like 150 girls and 50 boys competing for the
Math Olympiad, but the top 10 winners are all boys.
2. Yes you can get real sick from Chinese food. It's called the Chinese
Restaurant Syndrome. Heard of it? He
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/001126.htm
"Chinese restaurant syndrome is a collection of symptoms that some
people experience after eating Chinese food. A food additive called
monosodium glutamate (MSG) has been implicated, but it has not been
proved to be the agent that causes this condition."
"Life-threatening symptoms may be similar to any other severe allergic
reaction and require immediate medical attention. These include the
following:
* Swelling of the throat
* Chest pain
* Heart palpitations
* Shortness of breath"
Seems that the above 2 points which have been blatantly neglected in my
first go-around carry more weight. Chinese food more often than not
just does not have the same cachet as Japanese.
Make no mistake: Chinese food is very much like porn: (1) best enjoyed
private and takeout, (2) good variety, (3) addictive to some, (4)
cheap, (5) often dirty, and (6) most outlets are found in sleazy
neighborhoods. That is, it's way way fun. It's just not always
mentioned in the same breath as your CEO's inbred wine 'n' cheese
soiree.