Generally Chinese dinners are served all at once, but a banquet is about bounteousness, the joy of celebration, and a host’s generosity and prosperity so the food is served in many successive courses. To display exaggerated courtesy, the host will apologize in advance for the meager and ill-prepared meal which is about to be served. Hot towels are handed out at the beginning and end of the meal. Usually the Chinese dinner procedure is as follows:
◇Appetizer/Starter: Chinese appetizers are normally cold dishes. Main ingredients in Chinese starters can be either vegetables or meat that has been cooked and then cooled down. Soy sauce, vinegar, and hot pepper oil etc. are often added as flavorers in these cold dishes.
◇Dishes: In Chinese cooking culture, many dishes can be ordered if a group of people sit around one table. There are too many types of Chinese dishes to enumerate. There are eight major local cuisines in China, each of which has a series of distinctive dishes of its own. Beer, wine or alcohol can be taken together with dishes.
◇Soup: Chinese soup comes after main dishes. This is another difference between Chinese food culture and occidental food culture.
◇Main course: The main courses in Chinese food culture don’t refer to dishes, but rice or wheat food like noodle or bun. This might be a major difference between Chinese food culture and western food culture. This difference has developed from the different food structure and different food concept. According to traditional Chinese nutrition theory, meats are not balanced with regard to nutrition. So Chinese people do not view them as the main course. In a big banquet with a lot of dishes, people have been full and can no more eat much rice after having many kinds of dishes, but people usually would still have a small bowl of rice or noodle.
◇Fruits: The most typical dessert at Chinese dining table is fruits. High quality restaurants would often assemble a big plate with several kinds of fruits presented in beautiful patterns. Fruits that people like most might be watermelon and pear, which can make one feel clean and clear in one’s mouth and stomach after the dinner.