There are many customary differences between the West and the East, of which are some of China's eating habits, which many Westerners would find quite hard to understand.
Not eating food dropped on a table
I've seen the disgust (恶心) in people's faces here when I've dropped food on the table only to then pick it up and eat it. Our thought is, "A tabletop has had nothing but food on it. No one walks on it, sits on it or throws garbage on it. Why is it considered so dirty?" We don't get it.
Westerners don't want their food near the floor. Dust, germs, etc. are far more likely to get into the rice. I've been in several restaurants and nearly everyone I've seen puts their rice cookers on the floor.
Eating dessert before a meal
Every Western child's dream would be to live in China for the purpose that he/she could eat the dessert before they eat their main meal. I'm not sure about this Western tradition of eating dessert last. In China, it doesn't matter. Westerners would find that very strange.
Drinking hot water with your meal
Often, it has been my experience that many. Chinese will not have a drink (water, tea, etc. ) with a meal. But, when they do, it is usually hot water. However, we westerners like cold water or cold drinks.
A．Putting rice cookers on the floor.
B．The following are just some of them
C．Having noodles or rice every day.
D．Americans do eat a lot of hamburgers.
E．You can have ice cream before your meal.
F．I've often heard that hot water is better for digestion than cold water.
G．In the West, we clean our tabletops quite well.
