‘You guys are ordering six different things, and you’re just dumping it all onto a plate’
People from the culinary epicentre of the world known as America have started to get a bit judgy about how folk on the other side of the pond are consuming food.
Home to such gastronomic delights as Twinkies, cheese in a can and cut-up hot dogs on spaghetti, the US has certainly carved out a niche in the gastronomic tapestry of the world by bastardising traditional cuisines.
And now they’ve started throwing their weight around by putting the spotlight on how other countries do it.
A new viral trend has seen people from the US upload their horror and fascination with British takeaways.
Just found out what the british call chinese food, at a loss for words pic.twitter.com/zxNDqudbFy
— dandy (@daxdives) May 1, 2023
Search for the hashtag “chinesetakeaway” and you’ll be greeted by mounds of noodles, fried rice, spring rolls and, of course, the obligatory prawn crackers, all bundled up in a steaming heap ready to be devoured.
The trend has provoked mockery from our American friends, who can’t fathom how chips, curry sauce and chow mein could be considered a legitimate Chinese meal.
One TikToker issued an excoriating critique of the craze, saying: “I don’t want to judge any culture’s cuisine, I don’t want to shame anybody for the food that they eat, but British people need to stop with the Chinese food.
“Oh my God, what are you doing? What is that? You guys are ordering six different things, that’s got to be so expensive – or is it? I don’t know – and you’re just dumping it all onto a plate.”
In a questionable attempt at an English accent, she continued: “You’re like, ‘Let’s plate up a Chinese.’ You always say ‘a Chinese’ you don’t say Chinese food.”
She went on: “You’re not getting kung pao chicken or anything normal – beef and broccoli, God forbid. It’s always like, ‘I’m going to get […] chips,’ and then they just smother it in curry sauce, egg fried rice, salt and pepper, chicken and chow mein. Then they take a bite and they’re like, ‘Gorgeous’.”
Meanwhile, on Twitter, the horrorshow continued, with one user posting a series of screengrabs alongside the caption: “Just found out what the British call Chinese food, at a loss for words.”
The post racked up more than 580,000 views in two days, as UK commentators jumped to defend the country’s culinary honour.
“Absolutely nobody in the UK thinks that this is authentic Chinese food,” one wrote. “We know it was made up especially for us to eat when we’re absolutely hammered because we have four-year-olds’ palettes.”
“This is mainly ‘Chinese Takeaway’ food not proper Chinese food, “ another pointed out. “Orders normally consist of salt and pepper chips, egg fried rice, noodles and some form of protein in a ‘Chinese style’ sauce, don’t think anyone is proclaiming this as proper Chinese food.”
But the comment that should really put this all to be is: “Americans don’t get to diss anyone else’s food.”
Correct. Period.
This article originally appeared on JOE UK
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