American Culture Vs Vietnamese Culture Essay

The culture of a country is defined by its own beliefs, its ways of life, its arts and other factors. Cultural differences are important because it distinguishes people living in a certain country from other countries. The differences between American and Vietnamese culture are striking, and they deserve rigorous examination.

For example, marriage has the same meaning in both countries, which is the bonding of a man and a woman, but the wedding ceremonies are very unique. Weddings in America have no real special pre-step. All that is needed is to get approval of the girl often by offering an engagement ring with the hopes that she will accept it. In Vietnam, it involves both families unlike in America where the families of the man and women are not as important. The parents of the man

Food source in America provided from big industrialized farms while food in Vietnam are provided from fishery and small independent local farmers. Bread is the staple diet for Americans while it is rice for Vietnamese. Americans like to grill or fry their meat while Vietnamese like to boil or slow cook their meat. Also Americans enjoys eating beef more then other types of meats, but Vietnamese has more dishes with chicken, fish and pork. Vietnamese cuisine uses fish sauce and a lot of spices such as garlic, onion, ginger, and toumaric. American cuisine does not use fish sauce but use salt and dairy products such as cheese, butter, and cream. Therefore American diet tends to have a higher content of fat than their Vietnamese counterpart.

Although there are a lot of differences between Vietnamese and American culture, the Vietnamese community here in America adds another dimension to the American melting pot. Cultural differences are only strange to narrow-minded people. To open-minded people, cultural differences define the identity of a country, which is unique to that one country. This world would be too boring without many countries with many