4/3/2018 0 Comments Dessert vs. Dim Sum (点心)Okay, I have a confession to make: the word “dessert” used to confuse me a lot, partly because its translation in Chinese may have different implications of how the word is used in daily context. After many discussions with my American friends and looking up information online, I have finally reached some clarity of this seemingly easy concept.
“Dessert” is used to describe the last, usually smaller course to conclude a meal. It is served after all the entrée/main courses. Most of the time, dessert is sweet, but the word per se does not imply sweetness. The custom of serving dessert became popular with the French custom of serving multiple courses of a meal, so the word “dessert” was also derived from French, originally meaning “clearing the table”. As you can see, the core meaning of dessert is more about the function of the course (i.e. finish the meal) rather than the taste. So far, so good. Where is my confusion from? Well, when “dessert” was translated into Chinese, the typical problem of cross-cultural translation occurred that no exact counterpart exists in Chinese culture. In China, as well as most of Asia and some parts of Africa, there is no tradition of finishing a meal with a last course. First of all, in families, most dishes are served at the same time, so there is no clear “starting dish” or “finishing dish” (slightly different if you eat out in a restaurant or have a feast/banquet). Second, even if some people do eat something when the main dishes are mostly finished, it tends to be staple food (主食) to fill up the stomach, or a soup to clear the taste in the mouth. So how would translators find a proper way of conveying the idea of dessert? It turns out, as is often the case, that translators looked for similar though not exactly the same concept as a substitute. They noticed Dim Sum (点心), commonly used among Chinese people, to resemble the idea of dessert. Well, sort of. “Dim Sum” is used to describe small amount of food usually eaten as snacks in between meals to satisfy hunger. They are often relatively small in terms of amount, thus not enough to be eaten as a main dish. They are also made to be easy to eat with hands so no utensils are needed. In Cantonese-speaking area, “Dim Sum” have developed into a particular type of meal, where people order several small dishes of different kinds, often with some drink (tea is common), and hang out while enjoying good food and drink. The prototype of “Dim Sum” though, has not changed, that it is small dishes to be eaten as complementary meals. Dim Sum can be sweet or savory, so to approximate the concept of “dessert”, translators decided to use “甜点” (sweet Dim Sum) as translation of “dessert”. Here you see, the confusion arises. Specifically, there are two confusions. First, dessert is not necessarily sweet (though they often are). Sometimes, nuts/cheese/coffee are served as dessert. Once when I ate with some American friends, they didn’t want anything sweet but they wanted dessert, so they ordered some cheese tarts with zucchini and corn. No one seemed to think anything was wrong except me, as I had equated “dessert” with “sweet little meal” in my head. I therefore had to relearn the concept of “dessert” to overwrite my misconception before. Second, dessert should always come at the end of a meal, whereas Dim Sum can be eaten at any time, during meals, as a whole meal if that’s all your appetite is for, or between meals. When I first arrived in the U.S., I was interested in some items on the dessert menu of a local restaurant but I did not find the main menu appealing, so I went into the restaurant only ordering three different desserts without ordering any main dish. Though this practice was perfectly fine in China, my poor waiter was really be befuddled, as he confirmed with me three times, that I ONLY wanted a piece of key lime pie, a cream puff, and a chocolate pudding, AND they would be served at the same time (i.e. I didn’t care about the order at all). He must have thought that I had a gigantic sweet tooth:P But now I understand that having three desserts without a main dish is like listening to a symphony with three epilogues but no other movements at all.
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