Metaphoric Cognition in Food Culture : Comparison between English and Chinese Idioms

As the crystallization of human wisdom, idioms which are vivid and concise with rich connotations, have been called the vitamins of language and the soul of life. Therefore, they are important but difficult foreign language learners. Due to prevalent use of food idioms in each culture, this paper intends to apply the theory of cognitive metaphor to make comparisons between English and Chinese food idioms and then probe into the cognitive reasons for their differences. That will help to strengthen the understanding of the language essence and the cultural differences behind the language phenomena, both of which can serve to explore the art of translation and language teaching and learning.