Ｔｈｅ　Ｊｏｙ　ｏｆ　Ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　Ｉｔｓ　Ｓｏｃｉａｌ　Ｒａｍｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎｓ.docVIP

Ｔｈｅ　Ｊｏｙ　ｏｆ　Ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　Ｉｔｓ　Ｓｏｃｉａｌ　Ｒａｍｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎｓ 　　When Chinese people meet, rather than remark on the weather they generally ask, “Have you eaten?” It is a question less frequently asked of neighbors and colleagues than the more global, “How are you?” Yet “Have you eaten?” is still the first greeting that the majority of Chinese people utter when they meet someone they know. Implicit in it is the Chinese appreciation of food and gratitude for its abundance. 　　 　　TO most Chinese men, a bounteous banquet is as welcome a sight as a beautiful woman is to Western men,” well-known Chinese woman writer Fang Fang once said. In her opinion, China’s high food culture has developed because the social mores of dining out are less intricate than those involving social interaction between men and women.Eating is hence by far the more enjoyable pursuit. 　　 　　Menu Culture 　　 　　Kong Fanying is a native of Shandong, birthplace of Confucius. Meatballs are a fixed item on the Kong family’s Spring Festival dinner table, as they are in every household at lunar New Year’s Eve. Kong’s mother admits that she doesn’t really like meatballs, but always serves them on traditional holidays because their roundness signifies, linguistically, the concept of family reunion. For this reason, spherical eatables are enjoyed both in north and south China. People in the north make the “Four Happiness Meatballs,” while those in the south make tangyuan ?C stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice flour served in soup. 　　Many foods, such as fish and noodles, are auspicious by virtue of their Chinese pronunciation. The Chinese word for fish, pronounced “yu,” ishomonymous with that for “surplus.” This is why fish is also a fixed item on the Lunar New Year’s Eve family dinner table, as are steaming bowls of noodles, symbolizing longevity. Although the Western-style cake-with-candles is commonplace at birthday celebrations, “longevity” noodles are the overall preference. 　　But in times of plenty, a harmo