Ethnographic paper. Discuss a typical Shanghai cuisine in China

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Discuss a typical Shanghai cuisine in China
Introduction
I am a researcher at the Syracuse University in China. I am conducting this survey in order to facilitate my research, which endeavors to assess the population’s perception on quality, taste, consumption of food amongst the Chinese cuisine in Shanghai. This research is purely academic, and will solely be used for that purpose. Your details or data provided will not be passed onto a third party without your permission. This research will result in a user-centric conceptual framework that will inform current and future stakeholders with factors that could successfully inform the population on the Shanghai cuisine delicacies in China.
A descriptive account of the activity
Eating presents one of the basic needs for human survival making the base of food offered on the world platform to be very wide. China is well known as one of the fast-developing nations of the world with an increasing number of inhabitants as well as a booming economy; this creates a growing and steady offer of foreign cuisines. However, there is a big difference between the Chinese and Western-based restaurants providing different dishes depending on the influencing factors. Such factors also influence the level of consumption patterns of the Chinese regarding the cuisines.
The Chinese consciously choose to dine in Restaurants with unique taste since the environment feels more welcoming. They also want to feel the taste of food and different culture. The opening up policy due to globalization has influenced the high level of open-mindedness amongst the younger generation who delights in exploring new things, therefore, demanding increased offer with high quality.
I intentionally placed questions into some specific order for the purposes of allowing me to pose questions in accordance with the interviewees’ responses. The open conversation style enabled the creation of harmonic atmosphere during the interview making the respondents feel comfortable about sharing their opinion despite the struggling with language at some point. The technique enabled me to consider asking further questions that helped in developing a train of thought on the participants.
Participant’s selection
The participants of this interview were chosen randomly and also selection was based on a voluntary basis. Many different people were sampled for the reasons of receiving different opinions on Shanghai cuisine and consumption. The participants were contacted by the restaurants from within Shanghai. Since not everyone could speak English and also, on the other hand, I was not fluent in Chinese, the focus was on the people who could speak English. This is how I landed on my friend and her father who happens to be a Shanghai cuisine chef. The aspect of gender and age was randomly chosen, however, I decided to focus on those over 18 years. This is since there’s a higher probability that those above eighteen have moved away from the parent’s home and were currently thinking and looking after food matters by themselves.
I made appointments in advance with the two participants and made them aware of the conditions surrounding the interview. I told them that they needed not to prepare since my questions will be based on everyday life regarding Shanghai cuisine and that the interview would not be more than twenty minutes. The interview took place in a restaurant and I assured them that I will not publish any of the information provided and could send them the findings after the entire evaluation if at all they were interested.
Each of the interviewees notices the existing differences amongst the different cuisines. None of the two is for the opinion that there is actually no difference in taste, quality as well as the preparation style. They all express their liking of Shanghai Cuisine. The quality of the food is viewed as clean and safe as compared to Beijing cuisine.
Characteristic
The dishes found in Shanghai are usually characterized by red, shiny color since they are pickled in wine. The food is here is cooked through different methods that include baking, stewing, deep-frying, braising as well as steaming. Foodstuff such as crab, fish and chicken are drowned in spirits and cooked briskly, served raw or placed under steaming. Further, preserved vegetables, as well as salted meats, are applicable especially in enhancing different dishes. Importantly, sugar is considered key ingredient in making Shanghai cuisine in combination with soy sauce. There is also use of great variety of food from the sea and also rice is more common than wheat products or noodles.
In Shanghai cuisine, there is the use of condiments as well as retention of the original flavors from the raw ingredients materials. The major aim is on lightness in flavor and being made slightly tasty in comparison to Beijing cuisine. The aspect of being sweet as well as sour marks the typical Shanghai taste. Importantly, the quality is laid on the attractive presentation with the ingredients being carefully incorporated through color harmonization.
According to the participants, Shanghai cuisine has influence from the cooking styles from the neighboring provinces. This means that majority of the applicable techniques; flavors and ingredients had origin from some of the older cities such as Yangzhou. Evidently, these dishes tend to be delicious as well as having much oil as compared to those from other parts of China. In this case, Shanghai cooking is associated with the element of spiciness. The eastern provinces are identified with the element of best soy sauces, rice wines as well as vinegar. Further, the use of red cooking, soy sauce as well as the use of sugar as a base has originality in the eastern region. The regional cuisine places much emphasis on use of fresh ingredients and also the use of sauces and seasoning for the purposes of enhancing the seasoning and flavor originality.
In this study, the consumer attitude presented a form of mental state that involves beliefs, feelings, values, and dispositions to act in certain ways. Therefore, the subjective norm in my case presented an individual's perception of social norms or his/her peers' beliefs about behaviour. To understand behavioural intent towards foodstuff, which is seen as the main determinant of behaviour, the study looks at a person's attitudes towards that behaviour as well as the subjective norms of influential people and groups that could influence those attitudes.
The activity itself
The researcher specifically set up individuals and panel of respondents whose opinion was sought on specific issues. For data gathering, all research tools were translated into the local language for ease of understanding by the research participants. An initial survey was conducted on some non-research participants to test for the technicalities of the proposed data collection procedure. This served as a pilot study to test the tools and determine any gaps that required to be sealed. For the actual data collection procedure, consumers were asked appropriate questions about their demographics; perception on quality and nature of Shanghai cuisine and Beijing cuisine.
The participants of this study were purposely sampled with the help of the friends and residents of China. The inclusion criteria were being a male or female above 18 years of age and a resident of China and its environs. I was able to reach potential participants whereby I had to explain the purpose of the study including my expectations as the interviewer during the sessions. I did the main observations and generally recorded the verbal and non-verbal responses from the participants, being very cautious of not including their personal bias in any of the recordings. I then had to explain the confidentiality of the information given by the participants and at the same time made the respondents aware of their freedom to decline participation in the study at any given time. The interview took close to 45 minutes each and was conducted within the restaurant set-up. The sessions were conducted primarily in English language with some questions being explained using Chinese terms and translated by the bilingual moderator. Originally, the interviews are supposed to be interactive as well as involving. Therefore, it was essential that the participants be willing volunteers who could be depended upon to offer their opinions on the topic under study. The researcher had not anticipated elaborate information.
For the purposes of ensuring existence of freedom and encouraging open discussion, the interviewer assured the participants that there was no right or wrong answer. The interview had only two participants for the entire study. The Personnel Researcher ensured that there was a q guide for the purposes of consistency across all groups. After each session, I retreated for the purposes of transcription and debriefing that enables comparison of notes taken by the assistant moderator. After each interview process, each participant was given refreshment. The transcripts were thoroughly reviewed whereby I compared and counterchecked the transcriptions with the recordings for the purposes of ensuring accuracy. Finally, the data was transcribed verbatim and translated into English where necessary.
Concerning perceived severity, there is an individual perception of the serious repercussions associated with ingredients used for preparing Shanghai cuisine. In this case, there is full awareness of the consequences of contracting diseases from food with high fat and sugar content. There are also social consequences on family life and social relationships within society. On the side of perceived benefits, participants come to appreciate the consequences of undertaking different preventive measures that would ensure they are not exposed to any form of risks associated with wrong food selection. However, the course of action undertaken is largely influenced by an individual’s perceived analysis of susceptibility before accepting the recommended health action that is perceived as beneficial in preventive measures. For instance, in this study one would choose to consider dietary and lifestyle changes that would eventually lead to preventive measures or the associated treatment costs. Further, perceived barriers prevent an individual from enjoying the full benefits of a course of action despite their belief in obtaining p...