I think what has been a trend and shift particular to the Chinese mainland right now is this move towards a more nationalistic identity (almost a MAGA like shift to the political right, less some of the more obvious circus like scandals).
For decades, it was believed that Western technology, economy, products, etc was better, more advanced, or more prosperous, more refined. As they have stepped up in the economy, there is a message to counter this idea of “idolizing” Western standards, and that Chinese ideas, food, culture, is just as good if not better. This post may not be an extreme example of that, but there are a lot of voices out there who espouse those views. And just like these views in other countries, at least half of it or driven by ignorance, misinformation, or BS.
I don’ think the fault lies at the writer. This “white people meals ( 白人餐)” phenomena is widely mentioned in the Chinese internet bloggers/writers, and these posts come from all angles, so I don’t think we can blame the writer Lyric Li for reporting about this trend. It seems all over the place because it is all over the place, not because Lyric Li defines it all over the place. I don’t know if I makes sense here.
Sorry if I am not explaining my view well. My point is that the phenomena itself is very loose.
Interesting. When I went to medical school the hot/cold food idea was something we were taught as frequently encountered in African and Caribbean populations with different hot/cool things used for different ailments, and it didn’t correspond with what you’d necessarily expect would be “hot” or “cold”. I suppose there being a yin/yang element in Chinese culture makes sense as well, but didn’t consider it. I always just figured the Chinese and less westernized Chinese abroad in the US and Canada at least thought our stuff was too sweet. That’s usually the Asian complaint. If I heard someone Chinese talking about “white people food”, I’d honestly assume they’d just gotten the high carb calorie bomb at Panda Express.
There’s been a lot of reportage on this trend. And as with a lot of mainstream reportage of internet phenomena, it’s limited with a framing designed for their audiences. (As most of you continue to respond to the WaPo article, I think it would be useful to reflect on the article and its framing v the phenomenon, which has other factors-- as Chemicalkinetics seems also to be suggesting.)
A less doctrinaire or culturally slanted explanation would be that a time-worn pragmatic observation turned into an everyday safety practice of cooking vegetables to sterilize them for safe consumption. The same advice frequently obtains when Westerners tour non-Western locales – never order salad and put the holiday at risk; never drink anything that isn’t made from boiled water, or from a bottle.
Right, and it’s probably also why people used to overcook vegetables and meat (in Western locales as well as elsewhere). But in this article (and you’d think if I remember this much about it, I could find the damn thing, but no), the chefs didn’t seem to be worried about safety. They just didn’t eat salad because they didn’t eat salad.
The widely popular “lettuce wrap” in American Chinese restaurants seems to recognize the safety of our produce, as well as play on the hot-cold contrast that we’ve experienced from some avant Western menus.
Nowhere do I claim that the negative attitude toward raw stuff is universal within a given population. Just that there seems to be some overlap between what my OP article discusses about cold meals, and this older example. We both agree that the safety thing is no longer a factor, but those lettuce wraps are not exactly a traditional food, right? I don’t remember seeing them on any menus until PF Chang’s came along.
We’d credit American Chinese restaurants with adapting to local host culture. We know little about PF Chang other than its credible restaurateur pedigree, and we’d venture that lettuce wraps derive from another American Chinese creation moo shu pork/chicken being wrapped in a thin pancake, mimicking a soft taco.
I have seen these lettuce wraps since childhood in East Asia. It has an origin in Asia actually.
Wikipedia has a passange:
" 生菜包源自广州市芳村的坑口生菜会" → The lettuce wrap comes from the Hangkou Lettuce Club in Fangcun, Guangzhou 生菜包 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 (wikipedia.org)
Here is another post from sina.com.cn
" 广东生菜包这样做食欲大增，已有300多年历史！" ← Guangdong lettuce wraps have a history of more than 300 years, which greatly increases the appetite! 广东生菜包这样做食欲大增，已有300多年历史！|食欲|历史|生菜包_新浪新闻 (sina.com.cn)
I am sure the PF Chang version may be slightly different, but more or less this dish has some history (if it is really 300 years).
Anyway, the cooling and heating (yin and yang) idea is not quite the reason of the “white people meal”
I think you are correct in the statement about the salad. Apology if I read the above exchange incorrectly.
