Talk:Chinese Steamboat

Perhaps this article ought to be merged with hot pot. To be truthful, I never heard of this meal being called a Steamboat. Hotpot has been the more prevalent name that I have seen. Dyl 02:02, Mar 26, 2005 (UTC)

Hot pot isn't the same as steamboat. Notice how differently shaped the pots are, and how the latter is shaped like a steamboat, literally. Steamboats are used more in Southern China cuisine and hotpots in the North. Mandel 18:42, Jun 2, 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps the pots are different, but these articles are on the meal itself and these articles makes little mention on the pot shape. I would argue that the style of meal is the same in Southern and Northern cuisines - cooking raw ingredients in a hot broth. In my opinion, the two articles should still be merged with a section noting the difference in cooking vessel between North and South. Dyl 15:08, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)

Well, what is the the Chinese name for steamboat? (I noticed that the article doesn't have the Chinese name). If the Chinese name suggests that the steamboat is a type of hot pot, then it should be very clear that the steamboat belongs to the hot pot article. My impression during my time in Taiwan and in my extended visit to Beijing is that any mean involving cooking raw ingredients in a hot broth is hot pot regardless of the shape of the pot. There's an internet site that suggests that steamboat is the Cantonese term for hot pot. [1] Hope we can get a consensus about this soon. Allentchang 23:09, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Cantonese steamboat is quite different from the Northern style hot pot, though both are known as 火鍋. In hot pot the broth is much thicker, and there're more variety of food being eaten. Cantonese steamboat is almost a soup variety of hot pot, and the typical foods being thrown in are usually seafood. I wouldn't mind merging, so long as "Chinese steamboat" gets redirected there and there's a section mentioning the difference between the two. Plus a photo of the actual steamboat vessel should be shown over there. Mandel 06:06, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)

Well, in Australia if you go to a Chinese restaurant and order a hot pot, it's a small clay pot with your meal in it, like stew. A steamboat is always a big, fun, group meal with a large pot of broth, as described in this article. Chriskl

"Steamboat" is a well-known name for this meal (google search "steamboat dinner"). There is even a chain (Coca Steamboat) in Singapore. Cepstra

The meal, whatever you want to call it in English, is called huǒ guō in Mandarin.

I'd like to refer to the characters written in the discussion above (火鍋). The first is huǒ (3rd tone), which means fire. The second is a japanese character! Mandel, you should check your sources before cutting and pasting characters!

After translating the japanese character, it means pot. But the proper (Chinese) name for the dish is 火锅, huǒ guō, or fire pot.

Eh, don't you know the difference between traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters? Mandel clearly used traditional Chinese characters to describe hot pot. Allentchang 03:41, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I've found over time that the only way to correctly and absolutely identify and distinguish between chinese dishes, ingredients and cooking methods, is to use the Chinese name(s). For example:

A favorite Sichuan dish of mine, 宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng), goes by a dozen different names in English! I've seen it called chicken with peanuts, chicken with pepper, kung pao chicken, chilli chicken, szechuan style chilli chicken, stir fried chicken with pepper, chicken cashew, to name a few. These descriptions are far from accurate. The dish is unmistakeable and very identifiable, and to anyone that knows gōng bǎo jī dīng, referring to it in Mandarin leaves no room for misunderstanding. The English names, however, could refer to dozens of different dishes!

Hotpot, steamboat, fire pot... call it what you will in English. The fact is, there are many versions of huo guo, many styles as the articles suggest, and that is where the distinction lies.

I think we should merge the articles, and focus more on the various styles of huǒ guō rather than trying to draw a distinction between two (incorrect) English names. The current steamboat article mentions that northern style huo guo is often called "hot pot" in English. It also refers to "steamboat" being the English name for the cantonese version of the meal. Both current articles contain good information about the meal and merging them will help make the whole situation clearer.

A discussion about the shape of the cooking vessel is ridiculous and a waste of time. I've seen huǒ guō eaten out of an old can in a poor village of china.

Let's merge the articles, and work on making a resourceful, concise article about huǒ guō that does the meal justice.

Happy eating!

Everyone in Taiwan assigns the English name "Hot pot" to huoguo. In the San Francisco Bay Area, stores advertise selling hot pot rather than steamboats. While hot pot is not an exact translation of huoguo, it is much closer than the term "steamboat.' Also, zhongwen.com does not register steamboat to be huoguo; it registers hot pot instead.Allentchang 03:41, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Um, is it just me, or does it seem a little pointless to argue about which name is used *most*. We've verified on this page that this one meal is known by many names, each of which is used more commonly in various places. So the conclusion is to have the *one* article, which mentions *all* of these names. e.g. '...this social meal, known in china as huoguo, also known as 'hot pot' and 'steam boat...'???