weibo xiaohongsu white people food trend

White People Food (白人饭)

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Updated Jun 22, 2023 at 11:18AM EDT by Zach.

Added Jun 21, 2023 at 02:16PM EDT by Adam.

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About

White People Food (Mandarin 白人饭, pronounced "báirén fàn," which translates to "white people food") or Lunch of Suffering refers to a general trend from the spring of 2023 in which Chinese social media users mock bare and mildly flavored lunches stereotypically associated with white people, such as crackers and deli meat or vegetables and sandwiches without dressing. Commentaries from Chinese social media users on sites such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu amused many Western social media users as it spread online in June 2023 who typically tended to take the mockery of their food in good humor.

Origin

On May 5th, 2023, a Xiaohongshu user living in Denmark named "埃丽斯啦啦啦" posted a picture of their white colleague's lunch, which was a Tupperware container filled with some baby carrots and spinach. They joked, "Can they generate their own energy without eating?"[1]


小红书 The White Man's Lunch Evolves Lost Appetite This is a colleague's lunch. A few baby carrots and a few slices of spinach Can they generate their own energy without eating? 05-05 A total of 1k+ comments A Xuan Zi 1k+ 1k+ focus on 1k+ Login to comment Ľ

Spread

On May 23rd, 2023, a Chinese Xiaohongshu user in Switzerland posted a video of a white woman on a train constructing a lunch that included a head of lettuce.[2] The video appears to have been the catalyst for some Western publications taking note of the mockery supposed "white people food" was facing on Chinese social media. On June 2nd and June 6th, 2023, Chinese-Western publications Radii[3] and The China Project[4] covered the developing trend.

On June 7th, SCMP[5] covered the trend, highlighting the phrase "Lunch of Suffering" from a commenter. Some Chinese social media users expressed that they enjoyed the low-effort preparation of so-called "white people food," and expressed it was a good way to maintain energy in the middle of a workday as opposed to carb-heavy Chinese food.[4]

On June 13th, 2023, Twitter user @TheCartelDel[6] posted screenshots of a NextShark[7] article about the trend, gaining over 25,000 retweets and 169,000 likes in a week (shown below).


Del Walker @TheCartelDel There's a new trend in China where people make and eat spiceless "white people lunch", as form of self torture. And their commentary has me crying REVE 2:56 AM Jun 13, 2023 lacke Havui allu LUUK away the joy UI eating. : 'White people food' is "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 trending among Chinese bad it made me realize how alive I am," workers a Weibo user wrote.

The tweet caught the attention of more Western publications, and websites including The Guardian[8] and BuzzFeed[9] posted about the trend over the following week.

The developing trend was also noticed by some TikTok users. For example, on June 7th, TikToker girlwithadoge posted a summary of the trend up to that point, gaining over 124,000 likes in two weeks (shown below, left). On June 5th, TikToker @Marcelowang0547 posted a similar video, gaining over 18,000 likes in the same time frame (shown below, right).

@girlwithadoge “White People Food Trend” #asian #chinese #whitepeople #yt #food #trend #whitepeoplefood #american #diet #china #omg #pov #makethisviral #storytime #foryou #fyp ♬ original sound – girlwithadoge

@marcelowang0527 White people meal on Chinese social media #chinesetiktok #chinesefood #whitefood #chinesepeople #cooking #marcelowang ♬ original sound – Marcelo Wang

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Top Comments

Peanut970
Peanut970

The inability to eat bland food speaks more of weakness to me. Sometimes you gotta eat what's there even if it tastes bland or even bad. Every student I know has had a few toast sandwiches in their day, because that's just how the situation was.

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