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Nah 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 Europea
by echevil 9y ago
Nah 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 9y 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.