Comments on: Noisy Eaters? Not a Big Deal in China

By: Hoverlover

Hoverlover — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:17:08 +0000

I share a flat with à (very intelligent) Chinese bloke for a month. He eats like a pig as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to comment on this as I know it is a good custom in china. We get to the point though, he bothers me, so I’d rather leave the room or flat when he eats. I told him it does bother me very much. He couldn’t care less. Now this is when it does become rude. It is not the eating manners, but when you knowingly bother someone or your neighbors. His reply is that a quarter of the world population is @hotmail.comChinese, so why should I be right?

By: Yep

Yep — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 02:50:33 +0000

I’m a person of Chinese descent who grew up in the States and I can definitely agree with the noisy eating part. Slurping while drinking soup is considered normal in China. I usually eat as soundlessly as possible. And whenever I deal with mainlanders or people in Hong Kong, people ALWAYS comment on how silently I eat when it’s a norm that should be strived for here. Funny thing is all of my immediate family members including my brother who actually had to take an eating etiquette class when he was little.

By: thinkweird

thinkweird — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:28:52 +0000

Frankly I don’t have good advice on this. It is just one of the pet peeves of our lives that we try to get by.

I empathize with you as I believe the noise by the Indian guy is as irritating as listening to water dropping from the tap in the dead of night, only you couldn’t even get up and tighten the tap.

Maybe you can send him an anonymous email with some information about eating manners? Still I think the best way is telling him politely that he is bothering you.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:06:10 +0000

My husband is tolerant guy and recently an Indian guy moved to the spare spare seat next to him. He’s having such a hard time dealing with the guys’ bad eating manners. We live in Glasgow in Scotland and there are a few asian restaurants here but we’ve never experienced such behaviour. Please help in a posible solution: What can we do to get him to calm down without hurting his feelings or making the situation at work unbearable? My husband does not want to raise it with him because it’s too awkward. We’ve thouhgt about picking up a bad habit to annoy him but that’s just silly. Please help with other solutions other than “tell them politely”.

By: thinkweird

thinkweird — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:24:36 +0000

You can tell your wife that culturally you abhor the smacking sound made by your mother-in-law, but sometimes the old people are very stubborn.

Regarding your wife’s shuffling and sucking sound when eating from a bowl, I believe it has a reason if the food is rice or porridge — by using chopsticks to push the food into the mouth, one can avoid the embarrassing moment of dropping the rice on the table. Besides, granules end up on the table instead of in the mouth are considered a big waste in China considering the repeated famines in its history.

Maybe it all boils down to one thing: love your wife and live with your in-laws.

By: Yousef

Yousef — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:00:12 +0000

I do agree that lip smacking should immediately be stopped and not tolerated..especially at the workplace and especially if the host culture does not tolerate such behavior. There is absolutely no reason to endure a painful experience, so you wont hurt someones feelings. My mother n law is visiting from China and will be staying for another 8 months. I already told my wife that the smaking makes me sick, makes me want to put a sock in her mouth. Wife tries to remind the old lady, but if she forgets the old lady will smack. It will immediately make me sick, disgusted, feel angry and put me into a rage for two days till I calm down and try and forget about it. I try to avoid eating with them and quickly learned NEVER to take her old lady out to a restaurant with us. Thank God my wife doesnt smack but she picks up the bowl of rice, puts the edge on her mouth and shuffles the food in very quicly. I dont understand the rushing movement with the chopsticks coupled with a vacuum sucking from the mouth. Looks and sounds awful. I told her to stop it and she is doing a better job. I am just afraid that our new born will pick of these disgusting habits.

By: thinkweird

thinkweird — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:58:18 +0000

Sorry to hear about another story about noisy eaters.

I guess it is like listening to water drops from the tap in the dead of the night. Some people will not notice it at all and sleep soundly, but for others the sound kills them. The noise is such that the more you want to ignore it, the more it gets your attention.

I’ll do my part as an English speaking Chinese to tell me compatriots about the western table manners.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:39:18 +0000

I am relieved to see I am not the only person who cannot stand the sound of loud chewing and smacking lips etc. at the workplace. I sit beside a man of Asian descent who eats extremely loudly, and frequently also has food hanging out of his mouth because he eats open mouthed. It makes me feel physically ill to hear the noises. I have tried listening to music on headphones but I can still hear every sound. I try to just leave my desk as soon as he sits down to eat, but sometimes I have work that can’t wait so I have to try and wait it out. He slurps coffee really loudly too. I am usually a tolerant person – I’m sure I have annoying habits, too – but some days I just want to scream at him to be more polite and close his mouth. Knowing now that this is probably a cultural habit helps a bit, but then I guess that means no one in his family will ever let him know how gross his eating habits are. We don’t have cubicle walls in this area of the office so I at least moved my computer to face away from his desk, as the sight of the food hanging out of his mouth was over the top. Thanks for letting me vent!

By: thinkweird

thinkweird — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:30:58 +0000

It is funny to read how you describe the noises the lady makes. She probably does not even hear any of her noises at all.

Your observation make me think of how I am disgusted when seeing someone fingering between the toes in public.

By: rafael caso

rafael caso — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:21:51 +0000

The problem is easily solved, basically if these people close their mouth when they chew it would finish…. I sit opposite a very polite Chinese girl at work, everyone likes her very much. She eats at her desk and like OMG she eats like a starved wolf….chew chomp slurp, crack, growl, burp, smack, fart, slurp, lick, chomp, chew, chew chew…..all this noise from such a petite feminine lady. I noticed that she eats with her mouth open which would be responsible for about 80% of the noise pollution leaving her pie hole.
I’d love to tell her but I guess it wouldn’t be the polite thing to do. When she’s in full swing I have to leave my desk and go for a walk, I ‘d rather hear someone scrape their fingernails down a blackboard.