Abstract：Food plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and the progress of human civilization. It is an essential prerequisite for human existence. However, different nations have different food and food habits. That is because they have different culture, especially food culture. Only within the context of each individual culture can food and food habits be best understood. This thesis expounds the important function of food culture between different countries’ cultural communication by analyzing Chinese and Western food culture. By examining these differences, we can improve our ability in cultural communication.

　   Food culture is a special cultural phenomenon. By the process of people’s studies, people know food culture from one side to the study of different culture backgrounds, customs and historical environments. This thesis endeavors to analyze the cultural differences and their root causes in Chinese and Western food cultures from the perspective of concept, etiquette and content, and points out that with the development of cross-cultural communication, more communication and interaction will arise between Chinese and western food cultures and they will develop together.

Key words: value conception; feature; etiquette; Chinese food culture; western food      culture

中文摘要：饮食作为人类生存的必要前提在人类社会的发展和文明进步中起着无可替代的作用。然而不同民族的饮食或饮食习惯却各不相同。这是由于不同的民族有着不同的文化。只有在各自的文化中，人们才能更好地理解其饮食内容和饮食习惯。 本文通过中西方对饮食的不同理解的分析，阐述了深刻了解不同国家的饮食文化在跨文化交际中的重要性。通过对这些不同点的掌握，可增强我们跨文化交际的能力，促进跨文化交际的顺利进行。

　　　饮食是一种独特的文化现象。随着研究的深入，人们也从原先对饮食的单方面了解扩展到对中西不同文化背景、风俗习惯和历史环境等方面的研究。本文着重探讨和分析中国与英国等西方国家在饮食观念、饮食特点、饮食内容和宴会礼仪等方面的文化差异，以揭示导致饮食文化差异的深层次原因，并进一步指出随着跨文化交际的不断发展，中西饮食文化将不断的进行交流和互补，并会得到共同发展。

关键词：价值观; 特点; 礼仪; 中国饮食文化; 西方饮食文化