A new trend is booming in China, where people eat what they describe as “white people food.”
This type of cuisine is apparently an imitation of what Europeans eat for lunch and isn't meant to be offensive, necessarily. A lot of the meals consist of salads, boiled eggs, chicken breast, sliced ham, and fruit, per the South China Morning Post.
However, these kinds of lunches have proven to be torturous for people in China. And apparently, the trend is connected to the country’s “996” work culture, where employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for six days a week. That’s a 72-hour work week.
People have been sharing photos of their meals on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, where one user wrote, “It’s so confusing and outrageous to eat, it’s so lawless and outrageous.” They also called “white people food” the “lunch of suffering.”
Another user wrote while trying crackers, cheese, and ham—which was very much giving Lunchables—“The point of the white people’s meal is to learn what it feels like to be dead, but I’ve taken two bites and it was so bad it made me realize how alive I am.”
TikTok user @li2dog described the trend as having three parts: The first is to, “give zero feeling to your food, which means you put zero spice. ‘White people food’ is supposed to be not enjoyable, but it’s important for you to get your nutrition and energy to get the work done in the afternoon.”
She continued, “Get rid of the processing of your food. Eat it raw, eat it as a whole piece.” And finally, “white people food” is “only for work days during lunch, so having this tasteless food helps you to separate work from life. The idea is when you get off work, you go back to eat your normal food and you feel the life back.”
Some posters highlighted that the lighter meals allow them to focus on nutrition, and save them money and time. The “white people food” trend apparently stems from a video shared by a Chinese woman on May 28 that shows a European woman in Switzerland making her lunch, which consisted of a bag of lettuce and slices of ham.
It seems that many Chinese expatriates living in Europe have become fascinated by the lunch food that locals eat. “My colleague’s lunch has not changed for more than 10 years, which is a handful of oatmeal mixed with low-fat yogurt, with half an apple and a carrot,” one user wrote.
Another comment really tugged at the existential heartstrings: “If such a meal is to extend life, what is the meaning of life?”
