Chinese gastronomic nomenclature: Culture and translation

Gastronomy is a cornerstone of all civilizations and the essence of every culture worldwide. Chinese cuisine has been enjoying growing popularity internationally over the years. The richness of Chinese food not only resides in its delicate and abundant tastes, but also in its millenary history, which contributes to the numerous regional cuisines and a deeply rooted gastronomic culture. It also relates to different areas of society such as philosophy, traditional medicine, etc. The nomenclature of Chinese dishes, which reflects the essence of its culture, is considered a linguistic art and incorporates several cultural elements, including ingredients, colors, flavors, culinary techniques, utensils, anthroponyms, toponyms, metaphors, historical legends and so on and so forth. Furthermore, it follows certain patterns, which could be roughly divided into descriptive, figurative and mixed. Despite the importance of translation in the gastronomic field, the relationship between gastronomy, culture and translation has not yet been fully researched in academia. This chapter gives a detailed description of the language of Chinese food to illustrate the cultural components of Chinese gastronomic nomenclature, as well as insights into and discussion on the difficulties encountered in their translation.