《舌尖上的中國》製作精良的再現了當代的「中國食物」，並廣為傳播。然而，依舊體現著特定的意識形態，與中國官方立場並無二致。本文將從敘事分析的角度，分析《舌尖上的中國》背後所隱含的中國共同體想像。安德森（ Benedict Anderson）曾經論證，報刊與小說的傳播構建了民族想像，而時至今日，能廣為散佈的影視傳媒更是建構民族想像的重要載體。本文將嘗試指出，《舌尖上的中國》選擇哪些敘事元素（諸如題材、內容、價值）進入中國共同體，以形塑民族形象。由民眾到民族：庶民的日常生活，被轉化為「國民」、「中國人」的日常生活。在當今「中國崛起」的呼聲中，敘事創作也與意識形態相互呼應，並體現在影像與藝術等等各種不同面相的敘事。換句話說，這樣的美食展演，不僅是文化的，同時也是政治的。如果，在臺灣出版的《舌尖上的中國》一書，其封底曾經有紀錄片導演表示，「在國與國、文化與文化的差異間，食物或許可以扮演理解的力量。」 我反而想提出另一種可能的說法，在這部紀錄片中，食物也擔當了誤解與劃界的功能。

The documentary “A Bite of China” was a well-constructed effort at presenting modern Chinese food to international audiences, and has spread far and wide. However, this documentary contains some elements that come from the Chinese government and its ideology. In this article, I will analyze the community images presented in “A Bite of China”. Benedict Anderson once argued that widely-circulated newspapers and fiction build people’s national identity. Through my analysis, we should see some specific narrative components in “A Bite of China” that lead the audience to think that they belong to a nation. From people to nation: people’s daily lives are transformed into the daily life of a nation. In conformity with the theme “The Rise of China”, the narrative conforms to the official ideology. In other words, this kind of “food show” is not only cultural but also political. The documentary director once said that “between the difference of nations and culture, food can play a force that helps people to understand each other”; this is from the book “A Bite of China” published in Taiwan. However, in this article, I argue that there is another possible moral: in the documentary, food also plays a role that causes misunderstanding and division.