Is ‘White People’ Cuisine Really That Bland?

Don't mess with a classic. Aimee Lee Studios/Shutterstock

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Alright, buckle up because we’re diving into some controversial territory here. Someone’s gotta ask the question, right?

In an age where debating any culture without being labelled racist is like trampling on eggshells, it seems dissing “white” culture is still fair game.

As someone of European descent, I’m ready to tackle the task and see if it’s really as bad as they say.

Now we could delve into culture as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary which says it’s all about the unique features of everyday life shared by folks in a specific place or era—you know, the daily grind, quirks, and lifestyle choices that make a group tick.

If we zoom in and also look at what is white, we see that Caucasians, by the dictionary’s standards, are a bunch with European roots. But we’re not diving into a thesis here—we’re on an article journey.

So let’s really narrow our focus to the one thing we all care about and that is food.

‘Lunch of Suffering’

“White people’s food,” was been trending in the latter part of 2023 in China. And it’s not good.

One user on Chinese social media platform Weibo described ham, cheese, and crackers as learning “what it feels like to be dead.”

Weibo and Xiaohongshu are getting flooded with snaps and reviews of what they’re calling “white food lunches”—think cold sandwiches, raw carrots, and canned tuna.

Turns out, loads of Chinese international students are shaken by the basic lunches their mates abroad are chowing down on.

According to one blogger, these lunches are basically the “lunch of suffering.” Another blogger dropped the truth bomb that these meals aren’t about enjoyment but more like a guilt trip waiting to happen.

Over in Germany, a blogger reported that there’s a poor soul whose colleague has been smashing the same sad lunch for a solid decade—a handful of oatmeal mixed with low-fat yoghurt, plus half an apple and a carrot.

Bircher muesli with blueberries and apples. Nina Firsova/Shutterstock

They said, “If such a meal is to extend life, what is the meaning of life?”

Huang Jinglan, a 29-year-old student studying in St. Gallen, Switzerland told the Washington Post her thoughts on white people’s food.

She says that while this food is there for sustenance, you need to beware because too much might just suck the soul and human warmth right out of you. To combat the flavour void, she’s on a hot sauce mission.

Her golden nugget of wisdom is that “White people food” is not for sharing. Why? Because, in her words, “we shall not punish others with our self-torture.”

Talk about a culinary code.

Roots of ‘White People Food’

Now, unlike the OG adopters, the younger crowd doesn’t see “White people food” as some fancy status symbol. Nope, it’s just easy grub.

Wei Shuihua, a food writer from Hangzhou, spills the beans to the Washington Post, on how for the newer converts, food isn’t just about survival—it’s a cultural identity and a social glue for those with a Chinese background.

And here’s a deep dive into the psyche: Mr. Wei says “For burned-out urban professionals, the removal of pleasure from a work lunch” symbolizes how they merely “eat to work.”

To cut the white food movement some slack, there’s a little history lesson to chew on. The poor food reputation has a backstory.

Blame it on the fact that Britain wasn’t really rocking a home-cooking vibe back in the day.

Why? Well, the Industrial Revolution kicked off super early, and only about 20 percent of folks were farming it up 200 years ago.

A new portrait bench celebrating three local icons Kitty Wilkinson, Molly Bushell and a dock worker overlooks the city of Liverpool from Everton Park, in Liverpool, England, on Oct. 18, 2012. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The rest? Picture this: men, women, and even children pulling 12-15 hour shifts as servants or in industrial gigs—think factories and mines.

In the urban jungle, people were crammed into tiny houses with zilch space to grow grub or time to whip up anything fancy.

Ingredients? Limited. For the brokest of the broke, bread was the MVP.

Now, while the middle and upper-class crew could flex with a global feast thanks to trade routes stretching across the British Empire, they never got their hands dirty in the kitchen. Nope, they had cooks for that.

So, next time you’re side-eyeing British nosh, give them a break—history’s got a lot to say about it.

More Than a Ham Cheese Sandwich

While food trends will bring a whirlwind of flavours in 2024, surprise surprise, they’re not all white—thank goodness!

Buckle up for buckwheat, pickles, caramelized bananas, cinnamon sugar, spruced-up ramen, grilled halloumi cheese, and a Korean cuisine fiesta, all washed down with a tall, cool glass of camel milk.

But to revert to the million-dollar question: Is white culture on the trash heap?

If we are purely looking at food as our gauge, when we navigate the cosmic menu of existence, perhaps we should just do a U-turn and collectively ponder the age-old question of, “Do you want fries with that?”

I mean, who needs philosophical quandaries when you’ve got a side of crispy goodness, am I right?

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.