The Importance of Living by Dr. Lin Yutang was once the best-selling book in America in 1938. In this book, he explains why Chinese don’t think it is a big deal to make noises when eating. Read it with a sense of humor:
The Chinese have no prudery about food, or about eating it with gusto. When a Chinese drinks a mouthful of good soup, he gives a hearty smack.
Why do the Westerners talk so softly and look so miserable and decent and respectable at their meals? Most Americans haven’t got the good sense to take a chicken drumstick in their hand and chew it clean, but continue to pretend to play at it with a knife and fork, feeling utterly miserable and afraid to say a thing about it. This is criminal when the chicken is really good.
Such is human psychology that if we don’t express our joy, we soon cease to feel it even, and then follow dyspepsia, melancholia, neurasthenia and all the mental ailments peculiar to the adult life.
Believe it or not, many Chinese never realize they make noises when eating, and the noises often go unnoticed by the fellow diners. There are indeed, however, some basic Chinese table manners to follow. (Photo courtesy of whysb.net)
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[...] you are curious to know why Chinese don’t mind noisy eaters, read the reason here. Of course, there are exceptions to every cultural rule, and some Chinese do mind noisy [...]