ABSTRACT:As is known to us, food is the first need of human survival and development. In Chinese, there is an old saying of “Food is human's god” or “Food is the first and paramount necessity of people”, which indicates how important food is to our human beings. Chinese food and western food are two different kinds of food styles in the world and their differences give rise to their own unique styles and characteristics. Chinese food refers to Chinese - style food of Chinese people at large, while western food generally refers to the food of western countries’ style. These two food styles are quite different in many aspects. This thesis aims to make a contrastive study of their differences in terms of ways of having meals, the use of tableware and choices of food in an endeavor to probe into the deeper-level differences between traditional Chinese and Western cultural roots in the aspects of their ways of thinking, living habits. 

Key words: Chinese food  western food  differences  cultural roots   

摘要:众所周知，食物是人类生存和发展的第一需要，在中国有句老话“民以食为天”， 揭示了食物对于人类的重要性。中餐和西餐是两种不同的餐饮，这种不同形成了两种不同风格和特点的菜系。中餐涉及到的是中国风格的菜肴，而西餐则主要是西式风格的菜系，这两种菜系在很多方面都不同。本论文主要从中西餐吃的方式，用的餐具，选料搭配等三个方面来论述它们之间的不同差异，通过对中西餐在这三个方面差异的比较来尝试探索中西餐文化中更深层次的表现在思维方式，生活环境等方面上的文化根源差异。

关键词：中餐  西餐  差异  文化根源