4 ms·
Not disagreeing with you but I think it's important to point out that the whole notion of "Chinese food" is a very western idea. China is a huge country with v
by tmalsburg2 10y ago
Not disagreeing with you but I think it's important to point out that the whole notion of "Chinese food" is a very western idea. China is a huge country with very different cuisines depending on where you are in the country. Referring to all of that as "Chinese food" doesn't do justice to the complexity and history of the phenomenon.
- echevil 10y agoNah we use the word "Chinese food" in China too when we need to distinguish from other cuisines. We also use "western food" a lot when we talk about any European or American food.
- tmalsburg2 10y agoIf you want to distinguish food from within China from food from outside China, then the term "Chinese food" is of course perfectly fine -- no disagreement about that. But I never hear my Chinese friends in the US or Europe say "I had Chinese food the other day". They are always more specific unless they are talking to non-Chinese people who are not familiar with Chinese cuisines (which lends further support to the idea that it's mainly a western concept). Compared to that it's not strange at all to hear a person from Bulgaria say "I had Bulgarian food the other day". Why? Because Bulgaria is a small country and "Bulgarian food" is reasonably specific whereas "Chinese food" tends not to be.