❘ Published: 2023-05-03T16:25:28
❘ Updated: 2023-05-03T16:25:36
The spotlight has been on the UK in recent weeks on TikTok as a new trend of Brits showing off their Chinese food orders is leaving people around the world confused.
Social media trends always come and go, but food trends tend to stick around for a while. Possibly inspired by muckbangs (people eating food for videos), a trend circulating on TikTok is people showing off their takeaways.
A subcategory of this new trend is Brits showing what their Chinese home is like. With dishes like chips (fries), salt and pepper chicken and curry sauce, it has left people around the world, but especially those of Chinese descent, confused.
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One of these TikTokers is Soogia, a Chinese-American content creator who makes cultural appreciation videos, who made a video about different food cultures.
What does a ‘British Chinese’ usually consist of?
Saying her For You page was full of videos of “British people eating Chinese food”, Sugia explained that the videos left her confused as she didn’t recognize any of the food.
“One interesting thing is that all their plates look pretty much the same and are full of things I don’t recognize as Chinese food, except for basic noodles.”
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She went on to explain, “Everyone has something called chicken balls. I don’t know what chicken balls are. And they all order fries or chips with their meal. I’ve never seen fries offered in an American Chinese restaurant, I don’t think ever. That’s so interesting to me.”
However, Sugia said the one thing he found most interesting was the choice of sauce.
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“Curry sauce. And like, lots of curry sauce, like pools and pools of curry sauce all over the Chinese food,” she explained
She went on to say that she was in no way trying to judge or criticize British people for their Chinese food ordering, but simply said that she was so shocked at how different it was from American Chinese food ordering.
“Maybe it’s just the algorithm, but I didn’t see any dumplings, no hot pot, no mapo tofu, no bao buns, no long beans. There are no American Chinese staples like Broccoli Beef or Kung Pao Chicken.
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She continued: “If they love him – fine! I just know that there is such a beautiful world of Chinese food beyond what they just have on their plates.
Britons are now protecting their takeaway orders
As Soogia’s video racked up 2.7 million views in just one day and had over 29.2 thousand comments at the same time, it got people all over the world discussing the culinary habits of Brits.
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However, one user named corysworldd decided to put together Soogia’s video to better explain what a British-Chinese takeaway is.
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“I never thought I would have to speak for Britain. I literally have half a GCSE and know nothing about anything really. But I will answer your questions as best I can,” Corey began the video
He went on to say that people do call their food ‘Chinese’ or ‘Italian’ which was something Sugia was also confused about, he went on to explain the meaning of the curry sauce.
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“Curry sauce is the best thing in the world. So it’s the texture of a gravy, but it tastes like curry. They even do it at McDonalds here,” he told viewers.
Viewers weren’t happy with the ‘British Chinese’ food
He also explained that he knows that the food Brits get at Chinese takeaways in the UK is not considered authentic Chinese food.
“The owner of my local Chinese shop is from China, but the food they eat is completely different from the food they serve us.”
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He continued: “Chicken balls are available in every Chinese store you go into. It’s basically boneless chicken but it’s deep fried. All the Chinese stores I’ve been to sell ribs as well as chips. They also do containers, it’s called half and half, where it’s half rice and half chips with curry sauce poured on top.’
After answering most of the questions people had from Soogia’s video, people were still not convinced.
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One person said: “Why are they dousing it with curry sauce??”
Another wrote: “Everything looks very ‘Putin’,” while a third said: “Hey! Are you kidding?”
“I find things like this so interesting – I want to know why or how they decided this was the way to do it,” said a fourth user.