If 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 abou

If 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.