A Collective Dining Experience

Yesterday I went with the coffee shop staff to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Barbeque place.  The whole experience felt strange to me but I couldn't put my finger on the reason at first.  Then after about 10 minutes there, I figured it out.  Take a look at the table.  Does anything seem different to you?

I realized that the whole concept of all-you-can-eat is quite different in a collective culture like China than it is in an individualistic culture like the United States.  In the US, we would go through the line and fill up our own plates with a little bit of the items we wanted to eat and then take it back to the table and eat it.  Yesterday, my friends went through the line and filled up whole plates with the food items they liked.  They then brought it back and set it on the table to be eaten Chinese style (similar to family style).  Everyone would eat off of each other's plates.  Every time someone got up to get something to drink, they brought back drinks for the whole table.

It was really quite fascinating to watch.  Chinese hospitality shone through as each person took care of the needs of others around them before themselves.  At one point I looked at all the food on the table asked aloud if they really could finish everything.  They did!  The conversation around the table had to do with the food they were eating.  They would describe why they liked the foods they liked and why certain items were not good.  The closeness they felt with each other did not come from meaningful conversation but rather in the physical act of eating together.

It amazes me that even after living here for so long, I still am observing and learning new things about Chinese culture.