to learn what it feels like to be dead

June 28, 2023 10:18 AM

White people food is the latest social media trend in China, with posters presenting minimalist lunches of raw veggies, crackers, slices to cheese, cold cuts and other staples, as Chinese young people discover the "lunch of suffering."
posted by chrchr (90 comments total)

Indeed.
posted by Melismata at 10:23 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I had crackers and cheese and raisins and some Korean honey snacks for lunch at the stupid office today because I need to go grocery shopping and am indeed white and joyless this is hilarious 😂
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:25 AM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

many social media users continued to reveal the "rabbit food" lunches they were seeing daily.

I remember when I was little and some family friends had a Swedish exchange student who when confronted by the big bowl of salad they'd made for lunch was like "wait you eat COW FOOD?!"
posted by cortex at 10:27 AM on June 28, 2023 [14 favorites]

"It's not supposed to taste anything, it should be a disappointment when you open and eat it, and you are not supposed to look forward to your lunch."
posted by meowzilla at 10:27 AM on June 28, 2023 [16 favorites]

I was trying to remember matpakke! Thank you.
posted by chrchr at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2023

There's regional "stuff" that gets put sandwiches though. Mustards, pickled veg, canned fish, etc, which makes it more flavorful.

Thick cut bread, loads of butter, and marmite (or branston pickle) with some sides of cheese, good salami/spicy dry sausage of choice, and a load of cherry tomatoes (ploughmans style lunches).

And I'm sure outside the UK there are flavorful spreads for bread beyond the two listed above that I grew up on when it wasn't just butter and spicy mustard. Like, making it joyless is a bit of a choice here.
posted by Slackermagee at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2023 [8 favorites]

The other unfamiliar sandwich was marmite or vegemite, yeast spreads aren't really known in the US at all, even still.

Thank Christ.
posted by Melismata at 10:32 AM on June 28, 2023 [33 favorites]

I love this! I especially love it because you got white people out here vigorously defending that it's not true, and I am like, "oh my this is where you're going to clutch your pearls got it"

I am on Team Let the Chinese Folks Have This Cuz They Ain't Wrong.
posted by Kitteh at 10:36 AM on June 28, 2023 [18 favorites]

DISAGREE. Love me some salty funky yeasty goodness* and I wish it weren't such a niche product here!

*QUOTE ME
posted by obfuscation at 10:37 AM on June 28, 2023 [8 favorites]

wait until they discover crudités
posted by pyramid termite at 10:40 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yeah a better, less hasty post about this would highlight a number of interesting aspects of the story. There’s an element of people coming from a food tradition that emphasizes elaborate preparation discovering minimalist prep and raw ingredients. There’s also an aspect of workers newly encountering industrial schedules that disallow traditional preparation, and there’s a story here about disordered eating in the West as observed by Chinese emigres.
posted by chrchr at 10:42 AM on June 28, 2023 [39 favorites]

I remember when I was little and some family friends had a Swedish exchange student who when confronted by the big bowl of salad they'd made for lunch was like "wait you eat COW FOOD?!"

I had that conversation with an Argentinian friend once. "This... No. This is not food. This is what food eats."
posted by mhoye at 10:42 AM on June 28, 2023 [33 favorites]

I remember that for most or all of high school, my lunch was "health bread" (commercial whole wheat but still with a soft consistency), mayo, brown mustard, lettuce, and slices of salami and provolone, washed down by a half-pint of milk. I'm surprised that mom - a very picky eater who absolutely embraced for herself the kind of bland food mentioned in TFA - allowed such flavorful deli fare in the house.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:43 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

This reinforces my belief that we are not pandas or koalas: the human body is incredibly adaptable and can physically thrive on a huge variety of foods, prepared a variety of ways. (It's also true that many people in the modern world are consuming one of the few diets that is not healthy, structured around highly processed carbs and fats.) We can also adapt to the taste. I appreciate many Chinese dishes, but I also am thrilled by a meal of really good bread and cheese.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:43 AM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

I was expecting a Chinese government campaign against fast food and was pleased to find it was something more interesting.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 10:44 AM on June 28, 2023

>> I remember when I was little and some family friends had a Swedish exchange student who when confronted by the big bowl of salad they'd made for lunch was like "wait you eat COW FOOD?!"

> I had that conversation with an Argentinian friend once. "This... No. This is not food. This is what food eats."

Yeah, my maternal grandfather was a butcher and he used to call salad "food for the cows" I suppose there was some karmic justice when my mom married a vegetarian.

Anyway, it's mostly dumb to make fun of people's food choices.
posted by gwint at 10:53 AM on June 28, 2023 [13 favorites]

This is old stuff too, the Romans would (iirc) use garum (a fermented fish sauce/paste) to make meals more appealing, since they were used to the stuff. There has to be a spread, dip, table sauce, oil, or something appealing in that vein locally that can punch up a deli meat and veg sandwich.

And that's before we get into melts. I don't super care what the meat and veg filling is, get some melt-able cheese in there and let's go.
posted by Slackermagee at 10:56 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

I lived with some Chinese postdocs at an American university. At lunch time they would come back to the house (across the street from the department building) and cook and eat lunch, then go back to work within an hour, every single weekday. I was impressed by that as a norm and part of their work ethic.

An Asian Westernized acquaintance instead had for lunch a Tupperware box of strawberries and a block of raw tofu.

I'm Asian American so I did a different thing, I paid and ate at the cafeterias/cafes and had hot lunches (delicious) or sandwiches.
posted by polymodus at 10:57 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

When I worked in Shanghai and Beijing, there was relatively good cheese availability but it was expensive - Laughing Cow and Laughing Cow-like cheeses were popular and widely available, pizza was just beginning to be a big thing, you could get other cheeses at fancier stores. I imagine that by now cheese is a bit of a specialty food but more in a "nutella is not as common or cheap as peanut butter" way. You could get really very, very good imported cheese if you had the time and money to seek it out - there were several German-run stores that I knew of.

People ate lots of ice cream bars and milk chocolate.

There was a specialty cheese from Tibet that was, to me, pretty awful - sort of like if you could have flat dry parmesan that tasted like a really powerful french cheese. It was one of those things that was something people grew up with, like Swedish sausages.

Interesting to be on the receiving end of food-as-culture-as-morality stuff since white people and Americans generally are so often on the dish-it-out side where China is concerned. (MSG panics, being weird about spicy food just because you don't like it, etc.)

The thing about "bland" white people food is that (where it's not sheer commercial junk) a lot of the time its origin was where food was really high-quality itself. You might prefer a lot of seasoning on your food, but it's not weird that someone might think "this incredibly good fresh bread is delicious with just a little butter" or "this high-quality roast chicken is delicious just from being cooked well and only needs a little salt and pepper". I have some old California vegetarian cookbooks and even when I was young and midwestern the recipes seemed bland - then I went out to California and had some incredible vegetables and it all started to make a bit more sense.
posted by Frowner at 10:57 AM on June 28, 2023 [39 favorites]

Hah, spotted my actual lunch (an apple, cheese, and a bit of sausage) in one of the posts. Definitely can't argue that this is neither an enjoyable nor preferable way for me to live; it sucks. But I can't just snap my fingers and shake off 40 years of diet culture. And at any rate, at least this way I don't have to cook, which ALSO sucks.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

Is China one of the cultures where lunch is typically the largest meal of the day?

In general I've seen this sort of breakdown around mealtimes and amount of food. For example, Mexicans generally eat a large lunch and then have what we in the United States would eat as lunch as dinner.

I think a lot of the shock around this is people from other cultures thinking that Americans are eating this as their largest meal of the day. We are not.
posted by rhymedirective at 11:10 AM on June 28, 2023

I’ve never been formally diagnosed with autism, but as a kid I had Serious Food Issues. With texture particularly. Lunch, for me, all the way until 7th grade, was peanut butter sandwiches on Butternut white bread. Nothing else. The only change was when I got big enough to get two of them for lunch instead of just one.

There’s a family story of one time where we ran out of peanut butter and my mom packed me baloney sandwiches instead. When I discovered the betrayal, I flipped my shit.

I’m better about food now, but as a child? 100% Team White People Food.
posted by notoriety public at 11:13 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

OK but-
The point of the white people's meal is to learn what it feels like to be dead, but I've taken two bites and it was so bad it made me realize how alive I am.
This is directed at a Lunchables plate and makes perfect sense.

The trouble is some of these white people food pics are fresh and nice! And other ones have sad terrible processed meats. Not the same! Though, I guess they are the same in that they are quick to prep.
posted by Glinn at 11:23 AM on June 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

and there’s a story here about disordered eating in the West as observed by Chinese emigres.

and it gets into how some of them kind of appreciate this "white people" approach.

For many of these young professionals, preparing "white people's food" was a welcome change of pace when cooking after a long day. A Chinese blogger wrote that they "used to love watching cooking videos and trying out new recipes," but eventually found it too tiring. "As a laborer, I don't have much free time after work," they added. It actually speaks to a more significant movement of young people fighting back against China's "996" work culture, where people work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.
posted by philip-random at 11:29 AM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: making it joyless is a bit of a choice here
posted by JohnFromGR at 11:38 AM on June 28, 2023 [21 favorites]

Not in this listicle, but a different source I saw a few days ago...one of the Western commenters doubled down and gave his Chinese comrades the recipe for a fluffernutter sandwich.

I still can't imagine the cruelty of introducing someone to marshmallow creme.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:40 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

When I was a kid I was used to eating a lot more than you could get from a cafeteria meal even when second helpings were available, which wasn’t all the time.

Up until mid third grade, I walked six blocks home and six blocks back for lunch, but that meant I didn’t get to play the games I liked such as tetherball and 'ten steps', so I started taking a lunch my mother packed and eating the cafeteria lunch first and then the packed lunch.

It was kind of embarrassing, but I had done so many embarrassing things in grade school I was hardened by that point.
posted by jamjam at 11:54 AM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

I still can't imagine the cruelty of introducing someone to marshmallow creme.

Yeah - something something Geneva Convention...
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:56 AM on June 28, 2023

I was listening to NPR about this this week. Super interesting
posted by inflatablekiwi at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I always go home for lunch, partly to take care of the dog, partly to just get away from the office, and sometimes I make good food, but like today it was a can of Boyardee raviolis, yesterday was a few slices of french bread with butter and chunks of sharp cheddar cheese. It helps that I have a whole kitchen to pick from, because I don't know how to predict what I'll be hungry for at lunch all the way at breakfast time. The big thing is to not give in and buy a 1200 calorie fast food meal.

My favorite quick cheap sloppy lunch is a cup of instant white rice, a can of tuna, and some asian sauce, usually either yum-yum sauce (I think that's it's real name) or something hotter/spicier.

I have cousins who when young insisted that margarine was "real butter" and refused, um, real butter when eating at Grandma's house so she for years always had to have a tiny bucket of Country Crock on hand for them.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:11 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I feel like there’s some overlap between this and the Ingredients Home conversation from a couple of months ago
posted by Mchelly at 12:20 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm currently off my regular schedule for various reasons and I've added a new med to the mix of my prescriptions: one that affects my digestive system strongly. I have a very nervous stomach right now. So I'm living on HEB's faux-charcuterie lunch kits, which are the grown-up version of lunchables (nice cheeses, deli-quality meats, fancy crackers; today I had prosciutto and asiago for lunch).

I am not joyless when I eat, but if I had an infinite amount of money and time (not to cook so much as to not feel nauseated), I would probably make different food choices. Add me to the list of people who can't hate over this.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 12:24 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I still can't imagine the cruelty of introducing someone to marshmallow creme.

oddly, i see it as something more magical and kind.
posted by rude.boy at 12:37 PM on June 28, 2023 [13 favorites]

This is hilarious and also familiar and upsetting because I've had family/friends/acquaintances/coworkers give me crap about what I eat for more than 50 years now.
posted by JanetLand at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

While Pret often has decent/at least tolerable options for a quick lunch even in the U.S., I've always been puzzled by the "spinach pot," which seems to be just...a hardboiled egg nestled in spinach. No dressing or anything!

Anyway, if you have time to cook a hot lunch, bless you, but I just made a super-quick fried rice and it still took ~15 minutes. I have other things to do at lunchtime!
posted by praemunire at 12:43 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I find this blindingly hilarious because this white lady's lunch has been cup ramen faaaar more often than it was something vaguely healthy like a salad. Although today it was Salad Nicose from home because I needed to eat the damn salmon.
posted by teleri025 at 12:44 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

At a former company my Chinese emigre coworkers would take me to their favorite Chinese places and order in differing local dialects for me. If I asked what I was getting, they would tell me, “Don’t worry it’s the white boy special.” The waiter would invariably put a single fork down by my plate and sneer.

I asked them to dial up the heat at least a notch once. And only once. Jesus god, please, no more suffering, only once.

They would occasionally have what I can only describe as “try to gross each other out” lunches with the Koreans on another team. I would be invited as a neutral arbiter, and I think the look on my face trying to keep up was their real joy.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:53 PM on June 28, 2023 [8 favorites]

That was really fascinating.

I've personally never cared for hot lunches. Give me a nice cold lunch -- sandwiches, good cheese and sausage, nice bread, hardboiled eggs, tin of sardines, fresh fruit, veg, pickles, olives, etc. -- and I'm happy. Even if I'm at home and have loads of time that is what I eat for lunch. The only hot lunch I have on a regular basis are grilled cheese sandwiches. My wife and kids don't get it, as they prefer cooked lunches whenever possible.

Chacun à son goût.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:01 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

they would occasionally have what I can only describe as “try to gross each other out” lunches

Heh, a top executive Chinese emigre at a global multinational bank with a software development office near Vancouver, once 'threatened' me with taking us out for Dim Sum and that I would have some Pork Bung. I was like... dude, you cannot possibly find food that I will not eat - once at least...
posted by rozcakj at 1:24 PM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

I'm ethnically Chinese and the main thing that stands out to me about "white people food" is that it's uncooked. Spice and seasoning levels differ across regional Chinese cuisines, but raw food is traditionally avoided. My parents still have an aversion to raw vegetables for hygiene and TCM reasons.
posted by airmail at 1:26 PM on June 28, 2023 [31 favorites]

I'm ethnically Chinese and the main thing that stands out to me about "white people food" is that it's uncooked.

This is totally fascinating and maybe confirms some random thoughts or questions about whatever little I know about Chinese food from over here, like how I've never really seen or heard about some kind of Western style leafy raw veggie salad or raw veggies at all.

Which I always found odd and paradoxical because of how Chinese cuisine highly values fresh, live, and seasonal food - but then everything is cooked, and often elaborately or at a minimum very high temps

I'm also wondering if this is why even in Americanized "Chinese" or even American Thai food where you might be able to get something resembling a salad it's almost always some sad little pile chips of of iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots and maybe some sprouts, herbs or onions, and there's only one salad dressing and it's usually a mild and pleasant sweet sesame vinegar kind of thing.

The other random thought II had was how it seems like there's a huge range of contrast about raw vs cooked in general when comparing Chinese cuisine to Japanese or say Thai or Vietnamese especially when it comes to vegetables.

I would guess that Japan shares at least some of these sentiments about raw vegetables, because I'm searching my memory for whatever I know that is loosely traditional or might be not Americanized Japanese food and the closest thing I can think of is maybe a kelp salad, but I think those are often pickled. Pickled veggies, yes. Lightly cooked veggies, roasted, deep fried, stewed, grilled, all yes. And in contrast then you have raw/fresh fish and other meats and proteins.

California rolls and wraps and other "sushi" spring to mind, but that totally doesn't count. Fresh rolls/spring rolls? Do they have anything like that in Japan or is that a SEA or American thing?
posted by loquacious at 2:04 PM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

For me the problem with just veggies for lunch is the lack of protein. I can do without carbs--in fact I probably should. But without protein I will just stay hungry no matter how many veggies I can eat.
posted by zardoz at 2:23 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

a better, less hasty post about this would highlight a number of interesting aspects of the story

I don’t think it’s necessary for a post to point out “interesting aspects” of an article that is interesting itself. People can bring them out in the discussion if they want, but I don’t need a crib sheet. I think this is sufficient; it doesn’t need a bunch more research and links.
posted by Hypatia at 2:29 PM on June 28, 2023 [15 favorites]

I've heard they not only don't have cheese, they are more likely lactose intolerant as a people?

I used to hear both Japanese and Chinese complaints about Westerners' "butter smell" but not so much recently, maybe because there's more dairy in the East Asian diet now?

I still can't imagine the cruelty of introducing someone to marshmallow creme.

Ever seen The Stuff, from 1985?
posted by Rash at 2:40 PM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

I've never really seen or heard about some kind of Western-style leafy raw veggie salad or raw veggies at all.

My Chinese spouse would agree with airmail on this; it's about hygiene. She's fine with a salad in a restaurant, but any leafy greens purchased for home consumption are generally boiled in water with a bit of oil added, or for salad, rinsed vigorously in the salad-spinner (that step skipped if the greens come in a sealed plastic bag).

She also favors lunch being the biggest meal of the day.
posted by Rash at 2:55 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

I had done so many embarrassing things in grade school I was hardened by that point.

Amen friend.
posted by ovvl at 2:57 PM on June 28, 2023

Read this over a straight up bowl of cereal for dinner.
posted by joeyh at 3:18 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

bowl of cereal for dinner.

If one wants sad white people food there is this way to end your day. Starting the day that way means you have a problem or just turned 21 and are in a frat house.
posted by rough ashlar at 3:48 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm white enough to admit all those are fine and some even look appealing. the only bad one was the cut up hotdog. The only good thing about a hot dog is you can eat it without cutting it up.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:51 PM on June 28, 2023

I'm embarrassed for these Chinese people that they haven't uncovered for mockery my personal most shameful meal; some brown mustard on a slice of cheese. It's a great step up from 30-40 olives but it can still be eaten while standing up right next to a refrigerator!
posted by midmarch snowman at 4:08 PM on June 28, 2023 [9 favorites]

Ok, but on closer inspection of that TikTok video... is that a 1/4 lb ball of burrata on grapes?? Why am I now intrigued? Has anyone tried this?? Should I try it?
posted by midmarch snowman at 4:10 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

> DISAGREE. Love me some salty funky yeasty goodness* and I wish it weren't such a niche product here!

*takes jar of Better than Bouillon paste out of fridge, reads ingredients* Well now I need to buy some fancy crackers for a snack experiment.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 4:30 PM on June 28, 2023

Rash: My local supermarket has taken to selling Marshmallow Fluff in the International foods section, but every time I look at it, I see The Stuff. Cracks me up every time. Had the joy of introducing my husband to that movie for the first time just recently, too.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:33 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

*takes jar of Better than Bouillon paste out of fridge, reads ingredients* Well now I need to buy some fancy crackers for a snack experiment.

Yeah I think Vegemite just tastes like really salty bullion...spread?
posted by zardoz at 4:41 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another thing to try for that super salty flavor we all crave is the Knorr powdered bullion, available in both green (chicken) and red (tomato chicken) varieties. I see a lot of people on tiktok use it as a seasoning in recipes. Could you sprinkle some on some buttered bread? Who knows? I wouldn’t know.

But also if you’re going to do that maaaybe just get some MSG, because that’s what it’s made of. Once you’ve tasted plain MSG it becomes really obvious what the special something is that makes lots of snack foods and fast food items work.
posted by chrchr at 5:09 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another thing to try for that super salty flavor we all crave is the Knorr powdered bullion

Or Australian chicken salt! Ho-leeeeee shiiiiiiit.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:15 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I reserve 'lunch of suffering' as my next Emo band name.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:45 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

*takes jar of Better than Bouillon paste out of fridge, reads ingredients* Well now I need to buy some fancy crackers for a snack experiment.

I mean, now you're just thinking of Bovril, aren't you? Both it and Marmite are delicious, but they are definitely different.
posted by DingoMutt at 6:59 PM on June 28, 2023

I'm ethnically Chinese and the main thing that stands out to me about "white people food" is that it's uncooked. Spice and seasoning levels differ across regional Chinese cuisines, but raw food is traditionally avoided. My parents still have an aversion to raw vegetables for hygiene and TCM reasons.

Yes, my Chinese partner really had a hard time dealing with the fact that in the US, an 'Asian' salad had raw snow peas in it. Who eats raw snow peas? Obviously it's Americans, because they would never eat it.
posted by Quonab at 7:29 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Honest question: is it only vegetable-like things (snow peas, salad fixings) that are unacceptable raw to Chinese people? My standard lunch is a nuts.com assortment of nuts and dried fruit. Would that be totally fine, weird but okay, or "hell no, wtf is wrong with Americans"?
posted by humbug at 7:59 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I too am curious about the (aversion? taboo?) toward raw vegetables that people have mentioned above. Does anyone know how it arose?
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:03 PM on June 28, 2023

on non-preview...Why/how is "hygiene" a reason? I assume TCM is "traditional Chinese medicine"; how does that come into play in this context?
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:06 PM on June 28, 2023

on non-preview...Why/how is "hygiene" a reason? I assume TCM is "traditional Chinese medicine"; how does that come into play in this context?

Cooking kills parasites, bacteria, etc.

As far as Traditional Chinese Medicine goes, raw foods are considered "cooling," which is usually bad because you want a healthy inner "heat." Also raw food is generally seen as harder on your digestive system, which has to do more work to break down the food and absorb the nutrients.
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:13 PM on June 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

In particular, norovirus on leafy greens is a top cause of foodborne illness in the US.

My god, it was gratifying to slowly realize that there were whole cultures - probably the vast majority of cultures in history, frankly - where raw vegetables just weren't a thing.
posted by McBearclaw at 9:11 PM on June 28, 2023 [8 favorites]

My standard lunch is a nuts.com assortment of nuts and dried fruit. Would that be totally fine, weird but okay, or "hell no, wtf is wrong with Americans"?

Chinese people eat nuts and dried fruit all the time, but they're considered snacks, not meals.

Lunchables contain no raw vegetables, but they're a "white people meal" because they involve no cooking.

IMO unseasoned chicken breast and steamed veggies would not be a "white people meal" because even though they're bland, they resemble a normal Chinese meal. You could consume the same number of calories in cheese and crackers but to me it just feels like something's missing.
posted by airmail at 10:46 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

My lunch culture is sandwiches. I suppose that this squarely falls under 'white people meals'. That's fine, it's probably simply true.

I don't really understand US American lunch culture. I see people on AskMefi wondering what to eat for lunch, or worried about not being able to spare the time to cook a hot meal for lunch...
what's so bad about bread with the toppings of your choice? It's not a shortcut or an emergency option. It's a fully valid lunch and many people eat it every day. And it can be as healthy as you make it.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:01 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I see stirfry with nuts as fairly common in Chinese restaurants. Is that something that doesn't happen in China, or was the point about nuts just about eating nuts by the handful?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 11:09 PM on June 28, 2023

Kind of surprised a PB&J wasn’t in the mix. I mean, you can’t get much more ur-white-people-meal than that.

.........
I still can't imagine the cruelty of introducing someone to marshmallow creme.

I know, right? What else would they have to live for once they taste heaven?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:41 AM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Raw snow peas are fucking wonderful.

On the twice a week when I'm in the office, I can go out to lunch or get takeaway, thus blowing my entire day's calorie budget before sitting in a chair all afternoon, or just bring some cheese/crackers, an apple, snow peas and eat light and not feel bloated. To be fair, what I'd WANT is a delicious hot Chinese meal, but my waistline says no.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:57 AM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I don't really understand US American lunch culture.

So, like...it's a big country. And we have descendants from many other countries who meld their customs into each other, or just keep their customs whole, or who adopt completely different customs altogether!

There isn't really a single "US American lunch culture." I, born and raised in the midwest, am perfectly happy with a sandwich for lunch, and so are PLENTY of my compatriots; the number and variety of chain and non-chain sandwich shops and delis in the US attests to this. My mother, born and raised in the south, prefers a cooked lunch of some sort, almost a small dinner really. Now, are those things universal to people raised in the midwest and the south? Maybe? Maybe not! I have co-workers, born and raised in the midwest, who never have sandwiches for lunch; they always have some sort of cooked protein and a couple of sides (usually rice or pasta or another carb, and veg). Some other co-workers have White People Food; others still skip lunch or get Thai takeout or snack on chips.

What I'm saying is, don't take AskMeFi as the End All Be All of US American lunch culture. We contain multitudes.
posted by cooker girl at 6:43 AM on June 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

So here in Singapore, I think most people would agree those lunches look horrible. Generally, a proper lunch should be either rice or noodles. I guess this is possible because we have a food culture and infrastructure where there's always a stall somewhere nearby that will sell you a plate of rice with assorted meats and veg to go with it (like this or this), for less than $5.

I suspect, though, that most Chinese people wouldn't think a lunch consisting of a few baos to be that depressing; but essentially, baos are the Chinese version of a sandwich.
posted by destrius at 9:10 AM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I don't really understand US American lunch culture.

At work, most have access to refrigerators and microwave ovens, and this lets them bring stuff from home in containers, so it is minimal, on the dry side for cleanup. There is usually no food vendor on the street corner, unless you live in a large city. So the alternative involves driving, waiting in line, even at drive thru chains.
posted by Brian B. at 9:29 AM on June 29, 2023

That said, I think Southeast Asian Chinese would absolutely tolerate even celebrate raw salad dishes because that's a pretty familiar item in their fellow people's cuisines. The mix and prep logic is a little different but kerabu and ulam (for the Malay- and Indonesian-dominant side of the region) is mainly raw vegetables, though some of it will be blanched (depending on taste), and we have our own tasty add-ons like toasted coconut bits and sambal etc.

But certainly western dishes is a starter bachelor cuisine for a lot of us, because "it's easy to make". Compared to what we're used to + making western food at home IS cheaper compared to local food when the hawker/street food ecosystem is right there (that should be the same in urban China especially).
posted by cendawanita at 10:51 AM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

The only US office food culture I still find conceptually foreign enough I can't find it in me yet to have sympathy for it: the utter terror of fish smells in the pantry that even tuna sandwiches seem to inspire enmity? Idek, it does clarify my internal map when recommending things to people.

(Narrator: cendawanita loves tuna sandwiches)
posted by cendawanita at 10:55 AM on June 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

Generally, a proper lunch should be either rice or noodles.

Rice and noodles everyday? that sounds depressing to me. Like what's the difference between plain noodles and plain white bread? Uncooked vegetables have more taste. Rice and noodles are fine, but they are really just a base for sauces and better food piled on top of them.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:58 AM on June 29, 2023

Ah, but that's because there's also... fried noodles and fried rice. Of which there are varieties (of course).
posted by cendawanita at 10:59 AM on June 29, 2023

Regarding the aversion to raw food, my parents were stationed in Taiwan before I was born. My mom said it was normal to use 'night soil' (human feces) for fertilizer, also that the irrigation ditch was an acceptable place to relieve ones-self. Customs like this would explain why cooking vegetables is the norm.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 11:04 AM on June 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

Generally, a proper lunch should be either rice or noodles.

Sorry, what I meant was: a proper lunch should contain either rice or noodles. Because of the centrality of the starch component to the dishes, I tend to think of them as a kind of rice, or a kind of noodle; e.g. chicken rice, char siew rice, mee goreng, mee siam, etc.
posted by destrius at 11:08 AM on June 29, 2023

I know, right? What else would they have to live for once they taste heaven?

And if you really want to be hardcore you do peanut butter, Nutella and marshmallow creme on toasted white bread. And maybe some sliced bananas if you're in to bananas. Even better is if you lightly butter the bread with salted butter.
posted by loquacious at 11:30 AM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

The only US office food culture I still find conceptually foreign enough I can't find it in me yet to have sympathy for it: the utter terror of fish smells in the pantry that even tuna sandwiches seem to inspire enmity?

I think a huge part of this is how much of the US eats fish and what kind of fish they do eat and how they prepare it. Because it's usually both very blandly cooked and spiced and tends to be stinkier, less than fresh fish.

People don't get bent out of shape about cold grocery store sushi in an office. They usually get bent out of shape when someone brings in leftover fish or chowder or something and then microwaves it.

I love seafood and I'm really tolerant of stinky foods, but even I get a little upset when someone microwaves some stinky fish in an enclosed space where I can't escape.
posted by loquacious at 11:37 AM on June 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Uncooked vegetables have more taste. Rice and noodles are fine, but they are really just a base for sauces and better food piled on top of them.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:58 PM on June 29 [+] [!]

*ahem* You WOULD say that!

:)
posted by cooker girl at 12:44 PM on June 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

look who's talking
posted by cortex at 1:00 PM on June 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

(was my point all along!)
posted by cooker girl at 3:59 PM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

And this is a serious question -- what is the cheese availability in China? They don't use it at all in their own cuisine that I'm familiar with, admittedly a guy who lives in the US, but I've heard they not only don't have cheese, they are more likely lactose intolerant as a people?

I've heard this and I've never understood this (even though I am ironically a lactose intolerant Asian). I'm from a country with a significant Chinese population, grew up next to another country with an even more significant Chinese population, and cheese was pretty common. Maybe not so much the zillion varieties of cheese you'd see on a charcuterie board (those were special and pricey) but Kraft singles and Laughing Cow and mini edam wheels were staples. And you'd have milk with your Milo or tea or coffee! There wasn't any widespread concern about lactose intolerance, and I never saw any lactose-free alternatives there. This was in the 90s but it didn't feel super trendy then, it was just common.

Also look at Taiwanese food. Baked cheese things are pretty popular nowadays. Or Boba tea, which is largely milk!
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:40 PM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

There's also the fact that the northern part of China is closer to Central Asia and that's just dairy-heavy too. The opening up of the market to western tastes did lead to an explosion imo. Only Korean exposure to American naval bases gives SK a slight edge in how well-incorporated (ETA: American) cheese has been in local cuisine. (Cheese ramyeon anyone)

ETA #2: TLDR for as much the comments above are careful to distinguish the different food norms across a huge country like the US... Well, China is also huge. /understatement
posted by cendawanita at 7:56 PM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

The_Vegetables, rice in Asia has more gluten and is, I think, generally more flavorful. A lot of people like to let the bottom of the rice get slightly burned to develop the flavor and texture. And there are many different types of noodles, with different textures and grains.

In my family we call it playing "Here, Eat This" and it is totally a thing in all cultures I know. My weapon of choice is a block of Velveeta.
posted by Soliloquy at 8:41 PM on June 29, 2023

I think a sandwich is a sad lunch and I will try to have a hot lunch. One of the best perks of WFH is being able to cook lunch which can then also be had for dinner.

But if you were to offer me a sandwich at a picnic or a party gathering - even lunch! - I would consider it a real treat and genuinely enjoy it.
posted by pianissimo at 7:08 AM on June 30, 2023

Oh, a properly-made sandwich is a joy! Hot lunches are fine in cold weather, but in the summer I'd be perfectly happy with a sandwich (a pastrami Reuben, for instance) for lunch every day.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:24 AM on June 30, 2023

When White People Discovered China’s ‘White People Food’ Trend. A little commentary on the commentary.
posted by Nelson at 8:51 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

When White People Discovered China’s ‘White People Food’ Trend. A little commentary on the commentary.

Proving that while we may be divided by our lunch habits, we are all united in being way too online.
posted by Frowner at 9:29 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]