Enshrining food as bland versus seasoned, mild versus spicy, white versus...not—this has become a signifier, a shorthand, even a way to perform the very self.

A new trend has been sweeping across China’s social media platforms, with people sharing images of bland, cold foods, all unified by a single hashtag: #whitepeoplemeals.

China’s upwardly mobile middle classes have consumed Western food regularly since the late 1990s, when international travel took off and people began taking pride in being worldly.

The comment clung to me like the smell in my home. My embarrassment hit a peak when my father installed a 5-foot-long fish tank in our family room so he could steam fish at home — extra fresh.

Chinese bloggers are shocked at what they call ’white people food’: raw vegetables, fruit, boiled eggs, ham, cheese and crackers – an absolute misery to most of them.