Hong Kong Food Culture

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2. Development of Hong Kong cuisine With Chinese ethnicity constitute 94% of the population in Hong Kong, Chinese cuisine is predominant with major influence from the Cantonese, and a part from a “sizeable number of Hakka, Teochew, and Shanghainese” (Lim & Leake, 1999). In the meantime, recognized as a city of diversified gourmet food, Hong Kong incorporates a wide range of international cuisines due to its past as a British colony and long history as a global hub of trading and commerce. In the following sections, a review of Hong Kong’s history will be presented to evaluate how gastronomy and development of Hong Kong cuisine are influenced by different cultures and traditions, as well as the effect of globalization and localization. 2.1 Imperial…show more content…
The Christian missionaries founded numerous of churches and schools in Hong Kong to spread their culture and beliefs. Western food ingredients, cooking methods, dining patterns and etiquettes were brought to Hong Kong and started in incorporate in to local catering culture. On the other hand, Cantonese cuisine was renowned and reached its peak during the 1920s, and even a traditional saying was created as “Eat in Canton” (食在广州) (Li, 1988, p.11). Consequently, Cantonese cuisine kept trickling down to the culinary scene in Hong Kong (Steers,…show more content…
In 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Japan invaded Hong Kong and soon got full control of the region and the British colonial governance therefore suspended. During the three years and eight months occupation by the Japanese, Hong Kong suffered from halted economy, shortage of necessities, lack or social services, people lived in fear, struggling with famine, and suffering from violence from Japanese military and “Japanization” of culture (Roland, 2001; Snow, 2004). Referring to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Huitt, 2004), when physiological and safety needs, which are in the lower-level, cannot be secured, those in the higher level such as appreciation of delicacies or self-actualization, use a chef’s pursuit to develop better dishes as an example, will not be considered. Therefore the development of Hong Kong cuisine actually halted and even deteriorated, given that there was a scarcity of food and necessities and Japanese military implemented rationing for food (Snow,

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