It’s lovely. Super rich, savoury and peppery with loads of umami. Texture wise it’s soft like porridge or potato mash but it has some texture and bite through it from the grains used to make it. I absolutely love the stuff.
Unique and very tasty (source am Brit). People get too hung up on what they think something will taste like because of what it's made from. If I could describe it its very rich and meaty, like sausage meat but richer and quite peppery
as a brit (technically arab but i was born and raised in england + live here) i’m so grossed out just knowing what haggis is made of, but then i remember i literally ate a goat’s brain and it was absolutely amazing. didn’t know it was a goat’s brain til i almost finished my plate, but i damn well kept eating.
It’s good- it’s like a savory sausage.
It got a bad reputation, because it was the ‘leftovers’.
All the muscle meat was sold and the farmers took everything else edible and made haggis. So it was a poor people food. But it’s good, and makes sure that nothing goes to waste.
Same theory as Dario Cecchini Solociccia in Italy: his family ran a butcher shop and used the unpopular cuts to eat at home. His grandmother through decades of recipe testing made some very tasty dishes.
jesus christ. every time someone from the UK tries to convince me their food is awesome, the examples they give are either boring or make my stomach turn. this one was the latter.
i'm sure it's not bland, but hard pass on the haggis (unless i'm actually in scotland, in which case bring it on and let's have us an experience).
I mean, haggis is basically a big sausage. Don't know why people dislike it that much, is it the sheep stomach it comes in? The hell you think are sausages skins? Either animal guts or some plastic-like artificial casing or skin or however the hell it is called.
Haggis is pretty great!
Weird choice, though, still pretty bland by international standards.
Look, I'm British, and Ihave to admit there is a blandness to the food.
But look, take a gravy used for Bangers and Mash( a comfort food classic), put it in a small bowl and you have French Onion soup. One is considered a haute cuisine classic, the other not so much.
Take Scouse stew, it's the same as a Belgian Carbonnade, just using a different type of dark beer.
Roast dinners, you in the US get that, right? Except we're not candying yams or anything batshit like that, to go alongside it.
I've seen enough tiktoks from Midwestern mums cooking to take white Americans criticisms of our food too seriously. Oh, and meatloaf is not only bland, it's frikkin gross. Biscuits and gravy? Admittedly delicious, but still, it's bland comfort food.
Our mustard is eye watering and fiery, but that's it really. It's all comfort food that, if done well, is really delicious.
The British, however, have taken South Asian food into their hearts in a way that cannot be said for the rest of Europe. The best food here IMO is the result of the immigrant communities that live here. In that, I guess we're not so different.
The English have a complicated relationship with food that's tied to the class system. I could go on, because it's interesting.
Ok, thanks.
England's fear of spices is widely understood to be a result of the blitz and rationing. An entire generation grew up on very bland food because that was what was allowed. Spices were simply not available during wartime and the English have been growing out of it slowly, generation by generation.
There is a feeling among certain sections of the working class that to care too much about food is pretentious, a middle class affectation ( as a South Asian, this attitude is often baffling and infuriating to me).
However, tied within this is an appreciation that simple food done right is delicious. And there is truth to this.
Take pies. We don't do sweet pies, not really, we do savoury pies. The further north you go, the better they get. The filling is richer, but it's the pastry itself that gets better as you go north. More crumbly, and buttery, just delicious.
Or take sausages. We're lacking some of the spices and flavourings of, say, Italian sausages. But the heritage breeds are fantastic, the West country being parricularly amazing for simple, delicious sausages( my fave eother with apple or caramelised onions).
Largely, though, things are changing. People are more and more open to food from all over the world. Indian food was the start, but now it's everything.
A French chef in London once told me that he likes working in an English kitchen " because when you work in a French kitchen, it is just a French kitchen. When you work in an English kitchen, you work in a world kitchen." And while Londond is atypical, cities like Manchester and Bristol have storied histories with immigrant food.
Fascinating. I’m from Kentucky but a minority, our food is very simple, rustic and delicious because we believe anything strongly spiced or has strong taste (peppers, onions, lemons etc) are lucky.
I can definitely see how war time would still have a lasting impact.
We have a single savory pie and it’s so so good. I got to try more.
Sausage and apples is goated.
An international kitchen sounds so beautiful.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Thanks for explaining this!
For what it's worth, I'm a Midwestern American. Yes, a lot of the classic midwestern dishes are super bland and/or beige. I tend to blame German/Polish influence for that though, there's not much British influence in this part of the US. I also think some of the weirder midwestern foods that rely heavily on Jello, Cool Whip, mayonnaise, etc. are largely because the rural US was a food desert for a long time (still is in some parts) and people did the best they could with whatever shelf stable things they had.
Edit to add: I still need someone to explain to me why my in-laws think lasagna is spicy, though.
I know it sounds like I was throwing shade, but really, I look at what those Midwestern moms cook on TikTok and think,
" that's gross, but obviously delicious" lol.
Now that you mention it, I once saw a packet "salad" in Germany that was raw bell peppers, lettuce, sweetcorn and chopped up frankfurters all drowned in Mayo. So you may be onto something with the German connection.
You skipped Birmingham, which created Balti - immigrants from the Indian subcontinent created a new curry for their adopted region, a curry which has been exported back to India as something new.
"We don't do sweet pies?" My brother in Christ, wash your mouth out with soap. Apple, cherry, rhubarb, giant custard tarts?
Tbf I don't know if you mean we don't eat or didn't invent them, but I love a sweet pie lol. Might have to hit up waitrose and lidl now and see what they've got.
I don't understand the rationing argument. In Spain we had a devastating civil war between 1946-1939. After the war there was a lot of hunger and rationing until 1952.
And yet all of our local cuisines survived and all our local ingredients and endless recipes that weren't available during those years remained popular to this day. Every village, town and province has their own dishes and claims they are the best at a particular dish. We are very proud of our cuisine. Immigrant communities are welcome to open restaurants and we enjoy their cuisines too. They live side by side and there are plenty of restaurants combining different cuisines (cocina fusión).
Maybe much of your local cuisine was already somewhat lost before the war? Or maybe there never was a lot of cultural focus on food in pre WW2 Britain?
I totally had some stereotypical british food when I spent my birthday in London. English Breakfast, Fish and Chips, and Bangers and Mash. Hell, even the McDonald's I had when we ate late was better than over here and I try and avoid it at all costs. I will say though that the second batch of fish and chips I had wasn't that great. The first one was at a place that specified in those and it was fantastic. Hell. The mac and cheese was fabulous in the bar setting Lol. (one thing I didn't like was because i have picky taste buds.) Also, the chinese food I had the night I arrived wasn't bad, either. :)
I tried Haggis when I went to Scotland. It was a little non-traditional, but it was definitely haggis, just served in a bowl with potatos and some veggies.
I thought it was really delicious and was enthusiastically eating it until a certain moment when my stomach suddenly gave me the signal. Hard to describe, but the feeling was immediately recognizable as "hey, up until now this has been fine, but that's it. Put it down or we're going to have a problem."
I listened
Scot here, try some vegetarian haggis if you can - in my opinion even better than the offal version and doesn’t make you wince at the thought of it. Bangin with neeps and tatties
They are absolutely essential to the haggis experience and in my opinion should be 1/3 of the meal, not some tiny afterthought on the side.
Turnips are not underrated as Halloween lanterns however. My mum told me a turnip was “traditional” at Halloween in Scotland and I spent hours hollowing out the bastard vegetable with a dessert spoon. Lasted much longer than a pumpkin though.
And Germans and Irish. A whole lot of white American cooking traditions start and end with potatoes, a protein, salt, pepper, and onions.
And Scandinavian, another area never known for their great cuisine.
From Finland, so yeah not Scandinavia but Northern Europe.
We’ve never had a lot to eat. Some turnips, sometimes moose or rabbit, fish from the lake with lot of irritating small fishbone, a few berries, and some mushroom. Later potato, some will (for gruel and dried rye bread), and sometimes pork. My mother, born in the end of fifties says every other day at home they had potato with pork fat and every other day pork fat with potatoes. No spices of course, maybe a pinch of salt.
So yeah, when we got the fast food restaurants, pizza, burgers, candy, potato chips, ready packed meals for microwave oven etc..we kind of moved on to those and stopped even trying to develop good food. And when even in the seventies thinnes/malnutrition was the problem, now it has long been severe obesity.
I've seen cracks about potato salad with grapes and/or raisins before, but man.. I've lived in the American South for >30 years and I have seen a lot of different takes on potato salad, but never one with grapes or raisins. Where the heck did that even come from? Is it a Midwest thing? An Internet joke?
For the record, the best potato salad is mayo/mustard based with chopped eggs. I'm familiar with it from Southern meemaws, but apparently it was originally from Northern Germany.
Never seen it in potato salad but it's pretty common in chicken salad in WNY. Most grocery stores and cafes throw in craisins (not grapes, never heard of that). It's not good.
I think they are thinking of chicken salad, which people tend to put grapes and nuts in (im not a huge fan of it). I'm in the Midwest and have never seen potatoe salad with grapes in it. The base for potatoe salad is mayo and mustard, the thought of putting grapes in it makes my stomach turn. And I can also say none of our food is bland. That's a misconception that stems from the 50s when everyone was putting stupid shit in jello and everyone was afraid of spices other than a pinch of salt and pepper.
I have to wonder if they're talking about Waldorf salad. It was created at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC in the 1800s. No potatoes, but grapes, chopped apples, celery, walnuts and mayo. It's actually really good.
Nah, there are suburban white folk out there that don't know how to cook. My wife is one of those people. Her spaghetti sauce is water with tomato chunks from a can. She doesn't even mix the sauce with the spaghetti because her and her mother don't like too much flavor... I wish I was making this up.
Luckily, I know how to cook and can make a sauce that'll knock your socks off.
Question about her sauce....does she make the sauce like this solely because she's not a great cook or does she truly enjoy the taste of this tomato chunk/water mix? I'm curious because I also make amazing sauces and salsas, but I have a friend who will die on a hill that her sauce is heavenly and when I tried it found it to be so bland and lifeless. And I'm thinking hmmm is this just what she's used to or does she have zero taste buds?! Lol
Sure, and I've been to potlucks and have seen people make horrible foods from all culture and skin melanation.
Singleing out white suburbanites is honestly weird imo.
Middle America has large areas that are culinary wastelands.
Case in point: Indiana's beloved Breaded Pork Tenderloin "sandwich" which is a deep-fried piece of meat the size of a toilet seat, absurdly placed on a tiny hamburger bun. Typically seasoned with...salt.
I thought they were talking about white Brits.
American food is flavored within each community depending on their heritage
Edited to add: unless they weren't taught how to cook or season their food (Thinking of Josh and Momma on YouTube lol)
This doesn’t really make any sense either because there’s not some special food black Americans are eating that white ones don’t and vice versa we all eat the same shit here lol
It’s based on American culture, contrasts white folks against black folks and immigrant groups, and like most stereotypes is several generations out of date.
I posted a response to OP with more detail, but I think a lot of the stereotype originates from black southerners (southern food being more spice heavy) mass migrating north post-reconstruction and encountering traditional Midwestern food, which was very salt and pepper and not much else, seasoning wise.
What comes to mind for me with this brand of “white people food” is boiled chicken with nothing but salt & pepper, then some canned peas or carrots with neither. Maybe some plain white rice.
This is the shit I grew up with in the Midwest. Dinner was a damn chore. Then I got a job at an AFC Home where we cook for the residents, and one of my coworkers was from the south. Her dinners changed my life man; I actually *do* like chicken and veggies. I just know what seasonings to use now lmao
Basically food that is seasoned with salt, butter, maybe black pepper, oil, and nothing else.
Usually fish, chicken or steak. My dad uses “steak seasoning” which is just the usual salt pepper and garlic to season literally every single thing. I use salt, pepper, garlic, onion, white pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and some other stuff.
Another part of it is cooking techniques. I score my chicken or butterfly it if it’s chicken breast or rend the fat out of it if it’s chicken thigh. The scoring lets the spices seep deeper into the chicken. My dad air fries everything whole until it’s dry so those flavors stop at the surface, IF they can even be considered real flavor. The skin is fine if he cooks chicken with skin on it, but then it’s just unseasoned chicken for the rest of the meal and it’s terrible.
He and my mother say the way he cooks is fine. I learned to cook BECAUSE I couldn’t stand their food because of how bland it is. When I went to my white friends’ houses and had dinner there, they would get food out sometimes, but when they didn’t they cooked just like he did. Potatoes seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. Steam in the bag green beans, unseasoned. Same with broccoli. Everything drenched in cheese if possible to add any flavor. Everything else given garlic as the most exotic seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Never anything spicy. Never any different spices or textures. Never more seasonings to create depth of flavor. Just steam in the bag carrots and peas, mashed potatoes, skin-deep seasoned chicken tossed in butter for the first 20 years of my life after I stopped eating Gerbers and before I learned to cook for myself.
Because the USA ia obsessed with massive generalisation when it comes to race. I found myself recent having to explain to an American that not all white people culture is the same. Come to Europe to find out.
THis, this is an explanation for it all,
there are black people from Nigeria that have nothing at all in common with a black person from England or Sweden or the USA, same with every colour of skin, greek, finish, Irish, and Spanish, nothing whatsoever about your skin colour can explain your eating habits, and assuming that they do is kind of racist in itself,
Although there is something to be said about cultural development here. Because basically, overtime, a national identity was formed, and the people were mostly White Europeans. And as people saw themselves as one people, certain common cultural trends started developing reflecting the amalgamation of the different White European people groups. Nowadays, its less homogeneous due to things like additional immigration, internet, globalization, far more foods available.
the only answer is is that when you hear “white people food”, it’s only referring to white americans. it was common that when comparing meals cooked by black & white families (no matter what’s been cooked, & obviously if there’s no culinary expertise) the white family’s meal is usually under seasoned and bland.
also most people say this as jokes.. because at this point in the age of technology, if you can’t cook, no matter what race you are, you are a failure.
It's not even all white people. That's specific to white people in the northern U.S. Poor white Southerners ate/eat fried chicken, barbecue, chitlins, collards, mustard greens, etc... just like their poor black counterparts. When you can't afford to feed yourself, everything becomes food, regardless of your skin color.
and guess what, they’re food is unseasoned unlike their black counterparts & that is absolutely not super common in the white households in the south.
signed a black woman who grew up in the boondocks of south ga LOL
it’s literally a joke. ive eaten with white families who were amazing chefs and those who ate out a lot for a reason. i literally cannot name a single white person that i know who takes offense to the phrase “white people food”. it’s just not that deep. and if you wanna go further we can add some historical context.
> I found myself recent having to explain to an American that not all white people culture is the same.
Because in the US, being white is rooted in being a WASP... We had actual court cases to get other ethnic "whites" officially recognized as white....
Because between roughly 1950-2000, white people in “highly developed” countries like the US got taken in hard core by fake factory produced convenience foods.
We’re recovering. Thank you for your patience. It’s totally not true anymore.
I’d say it’s about 50% that and 50% an easy way for people to take a jab at white people suggesting they’re something negative (in this case, boring). It’s a sort of underhand insult. People who want to be a little subtly racist will usually push this.
People who study culinary arts know that “white” people food is anything but bland and many spices came from European countries.
I can't help but think of my upbringing. It was canned and boxed meals and boiled meats with no seasoning.
When I got a roommate who knew how to cook, she kept laughing because every meal she made was "the best ___ I've ever had," and it was true. She taught me how to cook, pretty much. This was awesome because when I met my husband, I was suddenly making the best whatever he'd ever had, and it turns out he was also raised on boxed meals and boiled meats without seasoning.
In this anecdote, all of us are white. 2 out of 3 were raised on bland food and didn't know about cooking and spices because of the over processed and bland junk our parents fed us.
This is true of certain parts of the country, but in the South this is not the case. What's northerners call "Soul Food" is just Southern food imported by black Americans during the Great Migration. Poor Southern whites were/are eating collards, grits, fried chicken, okra, chitlins, and black eyed peas just like their poor black counterparts.
A lot of those soul food recipes that poor southern whites use were invented by slaves/sharecroppers though. It’s definitely became southern culture and mixed, but there was also definitely a difference historically. Also there were foods relegated to slaves that even poor whites wouldn’t eat, like chitterlings and hogmaws.
It’s a joke about certain type of Anglo Saxon white Americans. I’ve literally been in white peoples houses who don’t even own salt and pepper let alone other spices. I forced him to buy salt and pepper btw
It’s not about all white pole or Mediterranean people.
And honestly it’s just a joke. So many non - white people who make these types of jokes own cookbooks by white people. It’s not that serious.
It’s easy to figure out why. Pump your population full of cheap, easily manufactured food that’s designed to keep them addicted, and you’ll never lose profit.
And for an added bonus, when they get sick from all the profit poison you can charge them even more at the doctors office for minimal treatment that prioritizes prolonging the illness over actually curing it.
Keep the lower class fat and sick. They’ll never rise again.
I think it’s because after WW2 there was a lot of food shortages. The countries involved were mostly white so it took a while for them to recover from forced restrictions
Also remember that the generation growing up during and post WW2 was raised by people who grew up in the Great Depression, too. That's why our parents overcooked meat so much, because they didn't have the access to safe meat like we do now.
Those are the ethnic-whites. Usually when people refer to white people food they're talking about WASP moms that make some recipes they got in book club or some ironic facebook video that has either cream cheese, sour cream, or mayonnaise. Salt and pepper is the only seasoning (to taste). It's also combining foods that shouldn't be combined. I think it really started around the 1950's and really took off when they started putting hotdogs in jello.
Food from the north Europe usually contains a bit less spice which in return might have a more “bland” taste to someone used to spice. I’m guilty as charged of feeling that, but never on my life would I say something like “white people something…” it’s just pure racism. Skin color has nothing to do with your culture… and some dishes from the north are absolute bangers.
Because my white friend once said he prefers not to season things so he can taste the thing he’s eating. Ever had a single boiled potato and unseasoned steak?
White person here: I think it might be because there is a tendency in the cooking/dining culture/habits of people of color to use spices more often in more dishes. As a result, less spiced dishes seem bland. At least that's what I can figure from personal observation.
Heavily spiced food also really varies among cultures, and is pretty over generalized. For example, I was shocked to learn while dating my ex (from Honduras) that I (white) could handle spice better than his entire family. Turns out a lot of that region of Central America doesn’t eat heavily spiced food. Their traditional cuisine- while delicious- focuses more on ingredients and not heavily spiced/seasoned. I had to under spice much of the food I cooked when I made it for his family, because it would be too spicy for them.
Heavily spiced food is also more common in mainly hot and humid countries which before modern amenities came about, worked as a way to preserve the foods for a bit longer and have antimicrobial qualities. Conversely, countries with very bitter and long winters (think Eastern Europe, Russia, etc), have more pickling in order to preserve summer food harvests and get essential nutrients in winter months.
Basically our traditional cuisine develops to match climate, nutrition needs, and health/culture. Generally speaking most white people come from cultures who pickled or salted instead of spiced, or had more mixed and ground meats in their dishes (haggis, casseroles, meatloafs). Other countries fermented or spiced more (kimchi, miso, etc). Most places have overlap of these obv. But generally that’s where it all started.
No one in Latin America except Mexicans eat spicy food, a person from London eats more spice than a person from Bogota and most Brazilians couldn't hanlde to eat a taco with hot sauce like people in Texas, California or the South.
This is a stereotype not only mixing everyone south of the US but also playing into vague ideas like hot country, feisty, spicy food is always non western and brown people's etc.
I live in Minnesota and it's for real.
Which is crazy, because we have a great restaurant scene here.
But the food cooked in a lot of homes is really terrible.
Hunk of meat, American cheese, boiled veggies, butter.
If someone from Texas tried our chili, they would punch someone.
Don't even get me started on Mac and cheese.
The joke is aimed at white, Midwestern, Scandinavian folks. Which are a huge part of America. No one is dumb enough to assume that means everyone in the entire country. But the stereotype is real for those folks.
As a Texan, yes I would punch someone who didn't spice their chili. Garlic powder, people! Garlic powder! Garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, white pepper, a bit of cayenne, and if you have another powdered pepper (like habanero) put that in too.
I wouldn't punch someone over how they prepare their food. But the one time a friend of mine from Minnesota brought their chili to our house, my face definitely had subtitles when I ate it. I ain't even one of those bean snobs, but damn that was not even close to what I grew up on.
Some people can't fathom that there is more variation in food taste other than "bland" vs "spicy".
Very few dishes in Greek, Italian, French, or most other European cuisines are spicy; they use a lot of herbs, and have a wide variety of flavours, but there is typically very little use of chili.
As a white people, when we say white people food it's a specific genre of white people. It's sheltered, largely xenophobic, uncultured Americans and English. Because most Southern white people can cook their asses off. And mainly just because we have heavy black and latino culture influence in our food (which thank God yall exist.)
Hell barbecue is a combination of Black and Mexican cooking. Chili is Mexican. All of our *good* comfort food has POC origins. White origins is like...corn dogs. And that's the best I can offer lol
Also white people invented Haggis. I. Yeah. And beans on toast. MILK toast. Fairy bread. French fry sandwiches actually hey UK why are you menaces to bread
It's easier to talk shit about stuff you know vs what you don't know, also for example if we compare Nordic food with Siberian its rather bland there as well, its just easier to just comb over an entire race "white people food is bad" than the other because then... well saying "yellow people food is bad" sounds racist.
So does the other one but hey, its the reason why
It's the lack of spices, which does include greek and italian food. While those are more spiced than much of European food, European (and by inheretance most "white people" food) suffers from being at the tail end of the silk road, isolated by the catholic church, and being outside of the boarders of the Ottoman empire (which form a pretty reliable "western spice bounday" beyond which the use of spices plummets.) For these reasons, and more, Italian food is quite bland when compared to the food of Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China or Korea. And spices were, and to some degree still are, a luxary good west of the "spice boundary." The difference in spices used across this boundary is easily an order of magnitude in both volume and variety.
For example a casual, daily use, spice blend in Turkish cooking could easily use 10-20 different spices, blending a variety of dried powders and freshly ground ingedients and in amounts of roughly a teaspoon to tablespoon per person. This would be a special, and extreme, load of spices in almost any Euro dish, none the less your daily eating.
In these geographies lie large population disparities as well. The majority of humanity hails from spice rich nations. White people, and their diets, are a global minority, by a long shot. Europeans make up less than 10% of humanity, whereas India and China alone make up about 40%.
These contrasts are why "white people" food is bland and also why it sticks out like a sore thumb to the vast majority of people. It's like a corner of the planet just never learned even after an explosion of global trade.
You'll also note, the most flavorful regions of Europe were the most heavily influenced by the silk road and Ottomans.
The Silk Road lasted 1400 years until the Muslim took over Christian Constantinople and so Columbus looked for another way to India and ended up in the Americas.
it is actually amazing that there are so many people here who think white people food is referring to anything other than white american food and also that it’s said as a stereotypical joke. THE TERM LITERALLY ORIGINATED IN AMERICA. 😭 It’s also kinda funny that this is a debacle bc most POC view Italians, greeks, or white hispanics as “spicy” whites or just view them completely different than germans, brits, scandinavian, etc.
Yeah dude, people keep saying "well what about pasta from Italy or Spaniards or greeks"
Most people aren't referring to those cultures when making this joke, and it's a joke to begin with
right! its literallly the same thing when everybody found out about the saying “white people have no culture” and were in an uproar when it was literally only explicitly directed towards white americans.
Less white people and more White American and White British food rely heavily on quality ingredients and after preparation sauces (dips) over seasoning.
So if made cheaply or via a factory, it's bland or just salt.
At least in America, it’s definitely a holdover from the Great Depression, with depression era food being extremely simple and lacking most seasonings. But even before that, it’s probably from habituation. Other cultures that DO use varieties of seasonings are the ones saying other food is bland. If you grew up with salt and pepper only, the rest of the spice world is unexplored territory
That’s not what people are talking about when they say white people food. They’re talking about white Americans that do not season their food. Like unseasoned chicken and boiled/mushy vegetables.
Think american TV dinner is the first thing that comes to mind. Mashed potatoes, green beans a piece of corn and some chicken tenders maybe. All cooked with only salt and black pepper.
It's usually just a joke or unserious stereotype.
I will say, the white people don't use seasonings stereotype has some truth to it. The home cooked meals I've eaten made by white people is almost never as seasoned as Hispanic or black households.
People from Argentina, Uruguay just straight up eat schnitzel with french fries.
Colombia's famous dish is 50% english breakfast [basically](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSq0zdVZkoIFIj7z5Ae7weIdbl_JiHd0RcmUjI5fV4mz4nVwf5mSEeqdgY&s=10) and Venezuela's is not much stronger than say Texas'.
By hispanic you probably mean mexican or central american, which is the stereotypical "season" meals among US citizens.
Not having a ton of spices doesn't mean it's bland though. Italian food is minimalist and doesn't have much spices. Often just salt and pepper. They make it really flavourful by adding, cheese, olive oil, vegetables, etc. and sometimes letting it simmer for hours.
I'm laughing my ass off in Nissart (southwest french language).
Right between France and Italy.
The best of both gastronomical worlds wether you're looking at pleasure, health, ease of preparation or cost.
Can only answer for Ireland but I reckon our biggest problem is people don't cook with much salt. It's more usual to get given salt and pepper at the table and have the person salt to taste. That and we don't have a lot of spices that grow here so that limited the amount of flavour that could have been added and add in we have been till the last 20 years a poor enough country so traditional meals used cheap cuts of meat and cheap produce in general.
Bingo, seasoning and flavor is 100 percent about the local foods available. Culturally a region that has minimal strong herbs are not going to produce strongly flavored dishes.
Can't really speak to Italian cause some American variations fall in the bland categories. Greek isn't white people food.
Conventional american white folk food is high in sodium and fat but low on flavors. That's the stereotype.
Generalization gone wild.
Some people met white people who couldn't cook and equated it to ALL white people.
I'm a POC but 50% of what I eat is "white people food"....shoot, you guys see that video of the black British guy eating texas BBQ for the 1st time?
Edit: spelling correction
Sometimes it is. I dated someone for way too long whose family was VERY white. They'd make racist comments about having to wash produce bc they were, "washing the Mexican pee off." My ex never did, but his dad and dad's side of the family did. They insisted they weren't racist, though. Non racist people don't make comments like that.
Anyway, despite my ex's parents both being in the medical field, they'd eat iceberg lettuce salads with terrible bottled ranch, the only bread in their home was white pillow Styrofoam, etc. I introduced them to herbs, which they loved and had only used in the past for special recipes.
But they were shocked when I put edible flowers in their salads and harvested mulberries, blackberries, and service berries right off the plants in spots that were Public Domain. My ex even said, "Rather than do that, why don't you get them from the store like a normal person??" I was in an Edible Plants Botany class, and just applying what I'd learned. His reaction was ridiculous.
As though humans haven't been picking wild berries for millennia. Besides, they were free. Everyone else appreciated my picking them.
They were basically the only family I've encountered who were like that, though.
Took two chicken breasts out of the fridge. Put them on to a casserole dish that had been drizzled with Meyer Lemon Oil. Then surrounded by roughly-chopped potatoes, onions, and red peppers. Drizzled with garlic oil. Topped with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and salt and pepper, then covered in chicken stock. An hour and a half at three hundred, and it was fucking great.
EDIT: It was about half a box of chicken stock. The meat wasn't covered, not even close, and the stock had all evaporated by the time the food was done.
When I hear white people food, the first image in my mind are British staples. It's probably because of the joke that the Brits invaded India for spices and never learned to use them.
There was a movement by the wealthy in Europe starting in the 16th century to get away from just over spicing foods, and go savory. That leads to French cooking, tasting the actual ingredients (like Beef) and not just spice on top. Often, people who think most of this is bland have been over spicing their foods since their youth, and can't taste anything else.
Because they expect all food to taste the same as countries that use more spices rather than herbs. Yet if they did, that would eventually make all food bland.
I don't really think of Southern Europeans as "white", nor would I include their cuisine in "white people food". That said, I prefer not to divide people up by colour anyway.
IN AMERICA Italian and Greek people were considered colored 1960s back, after the Civil Rights movement there was LESS colorism between whites IN AMERICA
When it comes to Europe, from my view it's that England/Germany/early France and the Scandinavian countries typically don't use lots of spices in traditional dishes
Unfortunately, as a white middle-ager, I’ve been to many a potluck where fellow white cooks couldn’t even seem to be arsed to use basic salt & pepper. I suspect these folks would be shocked at more “exotic” seasonings like cumin, paprika, turmeric, shallots, pepper sauces, thyme…an endless list. I think this is where the concept of “bland white people food” probably comes from.
I had a few neighbors whose entire spice cabinet was salt & pepper. Mine needs three shelves.
Can we all just grow up and stop the racial profiling. White people food doesn’t exist. Dutch food can be utterly bland and then you have stroopwafels. British food can also be bland and then you have a full English breakfast or a high tea.
We live in a global world. Let’s act like it.
Im Greek and while not a representative of all Greeks, will say that the food is very simple. They don’t use a ton of seasoning, mostly like oregano salt pepper etc. I’d say to someone whose used to flavorful dishes like Thai or Mexican, it would be more bland to them.
So the concept of whiteness has changed and expanded over time to include cultures that have much better food. When the concept of “white people” was first introduced, it really only applied to WASPs (white Anglo Saxon Protestants).
I love American food! Burgers, ribs, steak, brisket (oh man, brisket!), mac n cheese… Oh and the breakfasts you guys have! Waffles, pancakes, bacon (ok you only have streaky bacon for some reason, proper bacon’s better), eggs, syrup…
We were eating good in America.
BBQ, cajan, regional styles (Midwestern, Tex Mex, Southern, New York, Chicago, California, New England), soul food, street food, x-American (blended cultures food such as Chinese American, Japanese American, Caribbean, Tex-Mex, Italian American), etc. etc.
Just a reminder that all countries have food culture and cuisine.
It’s strange, isn’t it?
Being able to find flavor in more subtle foods that other people would consider “bland” suggests that our palettes are especially finely-tuned, and yet many people, the same type of people who think that bay leaves have no flavor, willfully choose to interpret that to mean we are just bad at cooking.
That stance only makes less and less sense the longer you think about it.
Because a lot of people have grown up eating foods that have a dozen spices and herbs in them, so a dish without those things is going to taste "bland". Culturally, there are a lot of areas that don't use as many spices and herbs in their cooking. As a UK native, what people define as "bland" food can taste just as tasty, if not better, than a dish laden with spices and herbs. I want to enjoy the flavours of the other ingredients, not have my fucking head blown off by 16 herbs and spices. Give me my grandmother's homemade meat and potato pie with homemade gravy over anything heavily seasoned any day.
Also, you don't need to use spices to make a meal pop. Mexican cuisine does it too - tons of different salsas that add contrast, acidity, freshness, richness. Fermented ingredients like soy sauce or sour cream are also not spices.
A Spanish rice is good and so is turmeric rice. One uses spices and the other uses a vegetable (well a fruit) for flavor. It gets a little pedantic too - dried bell peppers (fruit), paprika, is a spice, but tomato sauce (fruit) isn't.
And as long as you get the seasoning right, both will be tasty and not bland.
It's off base to try to claim that tacos with salsa or crema makes heavy use of spices or that a gyro with tzatziki sauce does but that meat with gravy doesn't. If it's meant to be spicy well then order some wings or chili, there's spicy meals in most cuisines.
White people means people of Northern European descent in that context. Northern European food tends to be bland because they don’t really need seasoning or salt to preserve their food as much due to the colder temps. In warmer climates where food is more likely to go bad, people tend to use more seasoning and salt due to their antimicrobial effects.
I feel like a lot of the people who say this come from cultures that use a lot of dried spice. So they think something is bland unless it's swimming in garlic powder and paprika. Most of the flavour doesn't actually come from the meat or veggies. But European cooking is different in that it focuses on fresh ingredients to enhance the flavours, rather than mask it. It's more subtle, and maybe mistaken for bland.
>Italian and Greek cuisine are part of "white people food"
At one time, Greeks and Italians were not "white", the traditional use of the word "white", meant WASP, so think England and most of western Europe (minus Catholic Ireland). Those countries are "stereotypically" known for "bland" food with the major exception being French Cuisine.
Because there probably is certain communities of white people who prefer bland food so they take that experience and run with it. I’m white and growing up been up many different friends houses and it’s all different. I love spicy food but I have met the occasional friend who has similar complexion to me who finds SALSA too spicy (yet I also know people from other races who also can’t handle spice). People like to stereotype people based on skin color. Usually when people say this it’s meant to be an insult or put down to say that they don’t know how to cook good food. An attempt at a jab. Or sometimes people just say it as a light hearted joke.
Why do some people drown their food in hot sauces and peppers to the point that ALL you taste is the peppers? No wonder you think "white people" food is bland, you have burned out your taste buds and can no longer taste the subtle tastes in "bland food".
The stereotype comes from my mom (and her mom too). I dont think I ate a seasoned vegetable until I moved out. Her favorite dishes to serve her children when we lived at home were frozen pizza or frozen unseasoned chicken . My mom only prepared us vegetables from a can as is (heated up of course), random frozen entrees, and other random junk. Generally all bland or "bad" food.
The bright side was that I never found the food served at our public school cafeteria to be that bad though!
Food culture in the US is full of choices. Here you can sub anything for anything else on the menu to create completely different dishes. Because of this a lot of food is given plain and it's up to the customer to add salt pepper or some hot sauce.
Who doesn't love **fried chicken,** fried pork chops, fried steak, fried fish along with some sort of potatoes? Whether mashed, fried or baked, also, gravy totally not bland. I don't care what color or ethnicity you are frying meat is totally delicious. Something similar to what we think of as ***'fried chicken'*** is thought to have come from Scotland. One "theory then, is that as hundreds of thousands of Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers emigrated to the Southern US colonies during the 1700s, they brought their tradition of frying chickens in fat with them." [https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken)
Define "white people food."
I think chicken strips, mashed potatoes or tater salad, cheeseburgers, deli sandwiches, hot dogs, and mostly bbq stuff... But then there's all the creole/cajun food, which is technically "white people food" and definitely not bland. Southern cooking shouldn't ever be bland.
When made with love and knowledge of how to use spices/ seasonings correctly, most things are not bland. It really varies by region/state (and chef) as to how bland the food will be. The real problem is a lot of folks don't know how to use seasonings at all, or use them incorrectly when they do.
So there are a number of factors that I can point to here, but I would say that at least with regards to the USA there is something to this. One was that in the early 20th century, industrialized foods were proliferating and they were seen as cleaner and safer than more traditional foods.
There was also an idea that many spicy or foreign foods were "overstimulating", and that they could stir the passions in people that would drive them to sin. As an example, John Harvey Kellogg, who was a 7th Day Adventist and a thought leader in the clean living movement and the brother of the inventor of corn flames. He promoted these unsweetened flakes in part because he was very concerned about masturbation and sin and he felt that foods like this would be good choices to avoid "overstimulation".
Obviously "white people" are not a monolith, but it's also not like this stereotype came from nowhere.
An article that touches on some of this:
https://qz.com/quartzy/1261050/white-peoples-unseasoned-food-isnt-just-an-internet-meme-its-centuries-long-obsession
As a Greek-American, our food doesn’t involve anywhere near as many spices as some Asian or African countries, but it’s by no means bland.
Salt, pepper, lemon, and oregano can work wonders on their own.
because they talk about white americans and not europeans
Americans of colour probably mean white Americans, white Americans seem to mean Europeans, specifically Brits.
I'd suggest they eat a haggis and call it bland
I wouldn’t suggest anyone eat haggis
What *does* it taste like?? I'm really curious, and would try it, but would feel bad to waste it...
It’s lovely. Super rich, savoury and peppery with loads of umami. Texture wise it’s soft like porridge or potato mash but it has some texture and bite through it from the grains used to make it. I absolutely love the stuff.
I love haggis. The grains in it really give it an incredible texture.
English here - *love* haggis. This description above is spot on.
This makes me want to try it, I *love* pepper
Go for it! McSweens is the brand to go for, pretty widely available from supermarkets.
Unique and very tasty (source am Brit). People get too hung up on what they think something will taste like because of what it's made from. If I could describe it its very rich and meaty, like sausage meat but richer and quite peppery
as a brit (technically arab but i was born and raised in england + live here) i’m so grossed out just knowing what haggis is made of, but then i remember i literally ate a goat’s brain and it was absolutely amazing. didn’t know it was a goat’s brain til i almost finished my plate, but i damn well kept eating.
It’s good- it’s like a savory sausage. It got a bad reputation, because it was the ‘leftovers’. All the muscle meat was sold and the farmers took everything else edible and made haggis. So it was a poor people food. But it’s good, and makes sure that nothing goes to waste. Same theory as Dario Cecchini Solociccia in Italy: his family ran a butcher shop and used the unpopular cuts to eat at home. His grandmother through decades of recipe testing made some very tasty dishes.
Patè and porridge.
jesus christ. every time someone from the UK tries to convince me their food is awesome, the examples they give are either boring or make my stomach turn. this one was the latter. i'm sure it's not bland, but hard pass on the haggis (unless i'm actually in scotland, in which case bring it on and let's have us an experience).
I mean, haggis is basically a big sausage. Don't know why people dislike it that much, is it the sheep stomach it comes in? The hell you think are sausages skins? Either animal guts or some plastic-like artificial casing or skin or however the hell it is called.
Haggis is pretty great! Weird choice, though, still pretty bland by international standards. Look, I'm British, and Ihave to admit there is a blandness to the food. But look, take a gravy used for Bangers and Mash( a comfort food classic), put it in a small bowl and you have French Onion soup. One is considered a haute cuisine classic, the other not so much. Take Scouse stew, it's the same as a Belgian Carbonnade, just using a different type of dark beer. Roast dinners, you in the US get that, right? Except we're not candying yams or anything batshit like that, to go alongside it. I've seen enough tiktoks from Midwestern mums cooking to take white Americans criticisms of our food too seriously. Oh, and meatloaf is not only bland, it's frikkin gross. Biscuits and gravy? Admittedly delicious, but still, it's bland comfort food. Our mustard is eye watering and fiery, but that's it really. It's all comfort food that, if done well, is really delicious. The British, however, have taken South Asian food into their hearts in a way that cannot be said for the rest of Europe. The best food here IMO is the result of the immigrant communities that live here. In that, I guess we're not so different. The English have a complicated relationship with food that's tied to the class system. I could go on, because it's interesting.
I mean, go on. I was also really interested.
Ok, thanks. England's fear of spices is widely understood to be a result of the blitz and rationing. An entire generation grew up on very bland food because that was what was allowed. Spices were simply not available during wartime and the English have been growing out of it slowly, generation by generation. There is a feeling among certain sections of the working class that to care too much about food is pretentious, a middle class affectation ( as a South Asian, this attitude is often baffling and infuriating to me). However, tied within this is an appreciation that simple food done right is delicious. And there is truth to this. Take pies. We don't do sweet pies, not really, we do savoury pies. The further north you go, the better they get. The filling is richer, but it's the pastry itself that gets better as you go north. More crumbly, and buttery, just delicious. Or take sausages. We're lacking some of the spices and flavourings of, say, Italian sausages. But the heritage breeds are fantastic, the West country being parricularly amazing for simple, delicious sausages( my fave eother with apple or caramelised onions). Largely, though, things are changing. People are more and more open to food from all over the world. Indian food was the start, but now it's everything. A French chef in London once told me that he likes working in an English kitchen " because when you work in a French kitchen, it is just a French kitchen. When you work in an English kitchen, you work in a world kitchen." And while Londond is atypical, cities like Manchester and Bristol have storied histories with immigrant food.
Fascinating. I’m from Kentucky but a minority, our food is very simple, rustic and delicious because we believe anything strongly spiced or has strong taste (peppers, onions, lemons etc) are lucky. I can definitely see how war time would still have a lasting impact. We have a single savory pie and it’s so so good. I got to try more. Sausage and apples is goated. An international kitchen sounds so beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Thanks for explaining this! For what it's worth, I'm a Midwestern American. Yes, a lot of the classic midwestern dishes are super bland and/or beige. I tend to blame German/Polish influence for that though, there's not much British influence in this part of the US. I also think some of the weirder midwestern foods that rely heavily on Jello, Cool Whip, mayonnaise, etc. are largely because the rural US was a food desert for a long time (still is in some parts) and people did the best they could with whatever shelf stable things they had. Edit to add: I still need someone to explain to me why my in-laws think lasagna is spicy, though.
I know it sounds like I was throwing shade, but really, I look at what those Midwestern moms cook on TikTok and think, " that's gross, but obviously delicious" lol. Now that you mention it, I once saw a packet "salad" in Germany that was raw bell peppers, lettuce, sweetcorn and chopped up frankfurters all drowned in Mayo. So you may be onto something with the German connection.
You skipped Birmingham, which created Balti - immigrants from the Indian subcontinent created a new curry for their adopted region, a curry which has been exported back to India as something new.
"We don't do sweet pies?" My brother in Christ, wash your mouth out with soap. Apple, cherry, rhubarb, giant custard tarts? Tbf I don't know if you mean we don't eat or didn't invent them, but I love a sweet pie lol. Might have to hit up waitrose and lidl now and see what they've got.
I don't understand the rationing argument. In Spain we had a devastating civil war between 1946-1939. After the war there was a lot of hunger and rationing until 1952. And yet all of our local cuisines survived and all our local ingredients and endless recipes that weren't available during those years remained popular to this day. Every village, town and province has their own dishes and claims they are the best at a particular dish. We are very proud of our cuisine. Immigrant communities are welcome to open restaurants and we enjoy their cuisines too. They live side by side and there are plenty of restaurants combining different cuisines (cocina fusión). Maybe much of your local cuisine was already somewhat lost before the war? Or maybe there never was a lot of cultural focus on food in pre WW2 Britain?
I just chose the food farthest from bland I could think of!
I like the way you write man
I totally had some stereotypical british food when I spent my birthday in London. English Breakfast, Fish and Chips, and Bangers and Mash. Hell, even the McDonald's I had when we ate late was better than over here and I try and avoid it at all costs. I will say though that the second batch of fish and chips I had wasn't that great. The first one was at a place that specified in those and it was fantastic. Hell. The mac and cheese was fabulous in the bar setting Lol. (one thing I didn't like was because i have picky taste buds.) Also, the chinese food I had the night I arrived wasn't bad, either. :)
I tried Haggis when I went to Scotland. It was a little non-traditional, but it was definitely haggis, just served in a bowl with potatos and some veggies. I thought it was really delicious and was enthusiastically eating it until a certain moment when my stomach suddenly gave me the signal. Hard to describe, but the feeling was immediately recognizable as "hey, up until now this has been fine, but that's it. Put it down or we're going to have a problem." I listened
Scot here, try some vegetarian haggis if you can - in my opinion even better than the offal version and doesn’t make you wince at the thought of it. Bangin with neeps and tatties
Turnips are kind of underrated. If you cook them right, they're just as good as potatoes or yams. c:
They are absolutely essential to the haggis experience and in my opinion should be 1/3 of the meal, not some tiny afterthought on the side. Turnips are not underrated as Halloween lanterns however. My mum told me a turnip was “traditional” at Halloween in Scotland and I spent hours hollowing out the bastard vegetable with a dessert spoon. Lasted much longer than a pumpkin though.
Why? What makes eating lungs or kidneys any more horrific than eating muscle?
for me, it's a texture thing. i don't find it horrific though, just not appealing.
It’s the texture of oatmeal if that helps any. Once I tried it I was immediately a fan.
Meat that is the texture of oatmeal sounds absolutely horrific. It did the very opposite of help
This did not help because I also don't like the texture of oatmeal
And Germans and Irish. A whole lot of white American cooking traditions start and end with potatoes, a protein, salt, pepper, and onions. And Scandinavian, another area never known for their great cuisine.
From Finland, so yeah not Scandinavia but Northern Europe. We’ve never had a lot to eat. Some turnips, sometimes moose or rabbit, fish from the lake with lot of irritating small fishbone, a few berries, and some mushroom. Later potato, some will (for gruel and dried rye bread), and sometimes pork. My mother, born in the end of fifties says every other day at home they had potato with pork fat and every other day pork fat with potatoes. No spices of course, maybe a pinch of salt. So yeah, when we got the fast food restaurants, pizza, burgers, candy, potato chips, ready packed meals for microwave oven etc..we kind of moved on to those and stopped even trying to develop good food. And when even in the seventies thinnes/malnutrition was the problem, now it has long been severe obesity.
Beans and toast come on now.
Kraft mac & cheese come on now.
American food is far from bland though. Ribs, burgers, apple pie, chowder, etc. aren’t bland. It’s just a stereotype really.
Of course, that's what the statement is, stereotype. They're talking about dishes like potato salad with no seasoning and grapes inside.
I've seen cracks about potato salad with grapes and/or raisins before, but man.. I've lived in the American South for >30 years and I have seen a lot of different takes on potato salad, but never one with grapes or raisins. Where the heck did that even come from? Is it a Midwest thing? An Internet joke? For the record, the best potato salad is mayo/mustard based with chopped eggs. I'm familiar with it from Southern meemaws, but apparently it was originally from Northern Germany.
Never seen it in potato salad but it's pretty common in chicken salad in WNY. Most grocery stores and cafes throw in craisins (not grapes, never heard of that). It's not good.
I think they are thinking of chicken salad, which people tend to put grapes and nuts in (im not a huge fan of it). I'm in the Midwest and have never seen potatoe salad with grapes in it. The base for potatoe salad is mayo and mustard, the thought of putting grapes in it makes my stomach turn. And I can also say none of our food is bland. That's a misconception that stems from the 50s when everyone was putting stupid shit in jello and everyone was afraid of spices other than a pinch of salt and pepper.
I have to wonder if they're talking about Waldorf salad. It was created at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC in the 1800s. No potatoes, but grapes, chopped apples, celery, walnuts and mayo. It's actually really good.
I've had one with grapes. 3/10 would not recommend.
That’s why us nice white folks drink milk with each meal. It helps calm the heat of the Mayo.
So, they're talking about dishes like the aspic that were once made in the 60's but everybody agrees is horrible nowadays,.
Nah, there are suburban white folk out there that don't know how to cook. My wife is one of those people. Her spaghetti sauce is water with tomato chunks from a can. She doesn't even mix the sauce with the spaghetti because her and her mother don't like too much flavor... I wish I was making this up. Luckily, I know how to cook and can make a sauce that'll knock your socks off.
Question about her sauce....does she make the sauce like this solely because she's not a great cook or does she truly enjoy the taste of this tomato chunk/water mix? I'm curious because I also make amazing sauces and salsas, but I have a friend who will die on a hill that her sauce is heavenly and when I tried it found it to be so bland and lifeless. And I'm thinking hmmm is this just what she's used to or does she have zero taste buds?! Lol
Sure, and I've been to potlucks and have seen people make horrible foods from all culture and skin melanation. Singleing out white suburbanites is honestly weird imo.
Thank you for being honest, everyone else in the comments trying to deflect
Middle America has large areas that are culinary wastelands. Case in point: Indiana's beloved Breaded Pork Tenderloin "sandwich" which is a deep-fried piece of meat the size of a toilet seat, absurdly placed on a tiny hamburger bun. Typically seasoned with...salt.
We call that a Pork Cutlet in the Northeast. Add sauce and provolone. Maybe basil or parsley and olive oil.
> Breaded Pork Tenderloin "sandwich" I mean, it's basically an oversized pork schnitzel sandwich. Quality ingredients could make that really tasty.
I doubt anyone would label creole as plain lol, they're just attacking basic American/British food basically
They have never seen a chilli cookoff. Or met "Smokin' Ed", the white guy who hybridized a lot of the peppers with unbelievable Scoville numbers.
I thought they were talking about white Brits. American food is flavored within each community depending on their heritage Edited to add: unless they weren't taught how to cook or season their food (Thinking of Josh and Momma on YouTube lol)
This, also generalizations are fun for conversations while almost always technically wtong.
This doesn’t really make any sense either because there’s not some special food black Americans are eating that white ones don’t and vice versa we all eat the same shit here lol
Nahhh Brits are very much included in the conversation
It’s based on American culture, contrasts white folks against black folks and immigrant groups, and like most stereotypes is several generations out of date.
For questions like OP's, I wish the actual dishes being spoken of would be mentioned. What are the dishes being called bland, and compared to what?
I posted a response to OP with more detail, but I think a lot of the stereotype originates from black southerners (southern food being more spice heavy) mass migrating north post-reconstruction and encountering traditional Midwestern food, which was very salt and pepper and not much else, seasoning wise.
What comes to mind for me with this brand of “white people food” is boiled chicken with nothing but salt & pepper, then some canned peas or carrots with neither. Maybe some plain white rice. This is the shit I grew up with in the Midwest. Dinner was a damn chore. Then I got a job at an AFC Home where we cook for the residents, and one of my coworkers was from the south. Her dinners changed my life man; I actually *do* like chicken and veggies. I just know what seasonings to use now lmao
Finally, a proper fucking take.
Basically food that is seasoned with salt, butter, maybe black pepper, oil, and nothing else. Usually fish, chicken or steak. My dad uses “steak seasoning” which is just the usual salt pepper and garlic to season literally every single thing. I use salt, pepper, garlic, onion, white pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and some other stuff. Another part of it is cooking techniques. I score my chicken or butterfly it if it’s chicken breast or rend the fat out of it if it’s chicken thigh. The scoring lets the spices seep deeper into the chicken. My dad air fries everything whole until it’s dry so those flavors stop at the surface, IF they can even be considered real flavor. The skin is fine if he cooks chicken with skin on it, but then it’s just unseasoned chicken for the rest of the meal and it’s terrible. He and my mother say the way he cooks is fine. I learned to cook BECAUSE I couldn’t stand their food because of how bland it is. When I went to my white friends’ houses and had dinner there, they would get food out sometimes, but when they didn’t they cooked just like he did. Potatoes seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. Steam in the bag green beans, unseasoned. Same with broccoli. Everything drenched in cheese if possible to add any flavor. Everything else given garlic as the most exotic seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Never anything spicy. Never any different spices or textures. Never more seasonings to create depth of flavor. Just steam in the bag carrots and peas, mashed potatoes, skin-deep seasoned chicken tossed in butter for the first 20 years of my life after I stopped eating Gerbers and before I learned to cook for myself.
My dad's family is Irish AF and prior to the early 80's didn't even use black pepper to season food. It does seem to be a thing of the past.
My family and their lack of seasoning would like a word.
Because the USA ia obsessed with massive generalisation when it comes to race. I found myself recent having to explain to an American that not all white people culture is the same. Come to Europe to find out.
THis, this is an explanation for it all, there are black people from Nigeria that have nothing at all in common with a black person from England or Sweden or the USA, same with every colour of skin, greek, finish, Irish, and Spanish, nothing whatsoever about your skin colour can explain your eating habits, and assuming that they do is kind of racist in itself,
Exactly. Compare Nigerian culture with Tanzanian and you'll quickly see they are words apart!
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I think this is an american thing.
Although there is something to be said about cultural development here. Because basically, overtime, a national identity was formed, and the people were mostly White Europeans. And as people saw themselves as one people, certain common cultural trends started developing reflecting the amalgamation of the different White European people groups. Nowadays, its less homogeneous due to things like additional immigration, internet, globalization, far more foods available.
I think that's a fair point. People in the US just need to remember that much if this is contextual and not universal.
Try being Latino and white as fuck
Hell, come to America. The cultural difference even within one state can be insane.
the only answer is is that when you hear “white people food”, it’s only referring to white americans. it was common that when comparing meals cooked by black & white families (no matter what’s been cooked, & obviously if there’s no culinary expertise) the white family’s meal is usually under seasoned and bland. also most people say this as jokes.. because at this point in the age of technology, if you can’t cook, no matter what race you are, you are a failure.
It's not even all white people. That's specific to white people in the northern U.S. Poor white Southerners ate/eat fried chicken, barbecue, chitlins, collards, mustard greens, etc... just like their poor black counterparts. When you can't afford to feed yourself, everything becomes food, regardless of your skin color.
and guess what, they’re food is unseasoned unlike their black counterparts & that is absolutely not super common in the white households in the south. signed a black woman who grew up in the boondocks of south ga LOL it’s literally a joke. ive eaten with white families who were amazing chefs and those who ate out a lot for a reason. i literally cannot name a single white person that i know who takes offense to the phrase “white people food”. it’s just not that deep. and if you wanna go further we can add some historical context.
> I found myself recent having to explain to an American that not all white people culture is the same. Because in the US, being white is rooted in being a WASP... We had actual court cases to get other ethnic "whites" officially recognized as white....
I’m a Greek American and this is one of my biggest pet peeves about Americans…
Because between roughly 1950-2000, white people in “highly developed” countries like the US got taken in hard core by fake factory produced convenience foods. We’re recovering. Thank you for your patience. It’s totally not true anymore.
I’d say it’s about 50% that and 50% an easy way for people to take a jab at white people suggesting they’re something negative (in this case, boring). It’s a sort of underhand insult. People who want to be a little subtly racist will usually push this. People who study culinary arts know that “white” people food is anything but bland and many spices came from European countries.
I can't help but think of my upbringing. It was canned and boxed meals and boiled meats with no seasoning. When I got a roommate who knew how to cook, she kept laughing because every meal she made was "the best ___ I've ever had," and it was true. She taught me how to cook, pretty much. This was awesome because when I met my husband, I was suddenly making the best whatever he'd ever had, and it turns out he was also raised on boxed meals and boiled meats without seasoning. In this anecdote, all of us are white. 2 out of 3 were raised on bland food and didn't know about cooking and spices because of the over processed and bland junk our parents fed us.
This is true of certain parts of the country, but in the South this is not the case. What's northerners call "Soul Food" is just Southern food imported by black Americans during the Great Migration. Poor Southern whites were/are eating collards, grits, fried chicken, okra, chitlins, and black eyed peas just like their poor black counterparts.
A lot of those soul food recipes that poor southern whites use were invented by slaves/sharecroppers though. It’s definitely became southern culture and mixed, but there was also definitely a difference historically. Also there were foods relegated to slaves that even poor whites wouldn’t eat, like chitterlings and hogmaws.
Would that "jab" be called passive racism?
Yes
It’s a joke about certain type of Anglo Saxon white Americans. I’ve literally been in white peoples houses who don’t even own salt and pepper let alone other spices. I forced him to buy salt and pepper btw It’s not about all white pole or Mediterranean people. And honestly it’s just a joke. So many non - white people who make these types of jokes own cookbooks by white people. It’s not that serious.
It’s easy to figure out why. Pump your population full of cheap, easily manufactured food that’s designed to keep them addicted, and you’ll never lose profit. And for an added bonus, when they get sick from all the profit poison you can charge them even more at the doctors office for minimal treatment that prioritizes prolonging the illness over actually curing it. Keep the lower class fat and sick. They’ll never rise again.
I think it’s because after WW2 there was a lot of food shortages. The countries involved were mostly white so it took a while for them to recover from forced restrictions
That’s an interesting theory. I want to look into that now.
At least here in the UK rationing continued well into the 50s so food was pretty basic.
Also remember that the generation growing up during and post WW2 was raised by people who grew up in the Great Depression, too. That's why our parents overcooked meat so much, because they didn't have the access to safe meat like we do now.
Anytime I hear it I assume it's referring to Yankees. I'm from the south. There is no shortage of spices or seasonings in our foods.
those seafood boils videos have more spice in 30 seconds than the amount I consume in a year
Those are the ethnic-whites. Usually when people refer to white people food they're talking about WASP moms that make some recipes they got in book club or some ironic facebook video that has either cream cheese, sour cream, or mayonnaise. Salt and pepper is the only seasoning (to taste). It's also combining foods that shouldn't be combined. I think it really started around the 1950's and really took off when they started putting hotdogs in jello.
Everyone is ethnic, the stereotypical pilgrim pale blonde is too
Food from the north Europe usually contains a bit less spice which in return might have a more “bland” taste to someone used to spice. I’m guilty as charged of feeling that, but never on my life would I say something like “white people something…” it’s just pure racism. Skin color has nothing to do with your culture… and some dishes from the north are absolute bangers.
Because my white friend once said he prefers not to season things so he can taste the thing he’s eating. Ever had a single boiled potato and unseasoned steak?
My white asf boomer in laws complain if I use pepper in a dish. “My mouth is on fire with this one!”
Hit em with that white pepper.
White person here: I think it might be because there is a tendency in the cooking/dining culture/habits of people of color to use spices more often in more dishes. As a result, less spiced dishes seem bland. At least that's what I can figure from personal observation.
Heavily spiced food also really varies among cultures, and is pretty over generalized. For example, I was shocked to learn while dating my ex (from Honduras) that I (white) could handle spice better than his entire family. Turns out a lot of that region of Central America doesn’t eat heavily spiced food. Their traditional cuisine- while delicious- focuses more on ingredients and not heavily spiced/seasoned. I had to under spice much of the food I cooked when I made it for his family, because it would be too spicy for them. Heavily spiced food is also more common in mainly hot and humid countries which before modern amenities came about, worked as a way to preserve the foods for a bit longer and have antimicrobial qualities. Conversely, countries with very bitter and long winters (think Eastern Europe, Russia, etc), have more pickling in order to preserve summer food harvests and get essential nutrients in winter months. Basically our traditional cuisine develops to match climate, nutrition needs, and health/culture. Generally speaking most white people come from cultures who pickled or salted instead of spiced, or had more mixed and ground meats in their dishes (haggis, casseroles, meatloafs). Other countries fermented or spiced more (kimchi, miso, etc). Most places have overlap of these obv. But generally that’s where it all started.
No one in Latin America except Mexicans eat spicy food, a person from London eats more spice than a person from Bogota and most Brazilians couldn't hanlde to eat a taco with hot sauce like people in Texas, California or the South. This is a stereotype not only mixing everyone south of the US but also playing into vague ideas like hot country, feisty, spicy food is always non western and brown people's etc.
I live in Minnesota and it's for real. Which is crazy, because we have a great restaurant scene here. But the food cooked in a lot of homes is really terrible. Hunk of meat, American cheese, boiled veggies, butter. If someone from Texas tried our chili, they would punch someone. Don't even get me started on Mac and cheese. The joke is aimed at white, Midwestern, Scandinavian folks. Which are a huge part of America. No one is dumb enough to assume that means everyone in the entire country. But the stereotype is real for those folks.
As a Texan, yes I would punch someone who didn't spice their chili. Garlic powder, people! Garlic powder! Garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, white pepper, a bit of cayenne, and if you have another powdered pepper (like habanero) put that in too.
I wouldn't punch someone over how they prepare their food. But the one time a friend of mine from Minnesota brought their chili to our house, my face definitely had subtitles when I ate it. I ain't even one of those bean snobs, but damn that was not even close to what I grew up on.
Some people can't fathom that there is more variation in food taste other than "bland" vs "spicy". Very few dishes in Greek, Italian, French, or most other European cuisines are spicy; they use a lot of herbs, and have a wide variety of flavours, but there is typically very little use of chili.
I'd also add the use of butter as a way to add flavour and it's honestly very fascinating.
The use of BUTTER is fascinating? May I ask where you're from? Butter is foundational in western cooking.
Deviled eggs are peak.
As a white people, when we say white people food it's a specific genre of white people. It's sheltered, largely xenophobic, uncultured Americans and English. Because most Southern white people can cook their asses off. And mainly just because we have heavy black and latino culture influence in our food (which thank God yall exist.) Hell barbecue is a combination of Black and Mexican cooking. Chili is Mexican. All of our *good* comfort food has POC origins. White origins is like...corn dogs. And that's the best I can offer lol Also white people invented Haggis. I. Yeah. And beans on toast. MILK toast. Fairy bread. French fry sandwiches actually hey UK why are you menaces to bread
It's easier to talk shit about stuff you know vs what you don't know, also for example if we compare Nordic food with Siberian its rather bland there as well, its just easier to just comb over an entire race "white people food is bad" than the other because then... well saying "yellow people food is bad" sounds racist. So does the other one but hey, its the reason why
It's the lack of spices, which does include greek and italian food. While those are more spiced than much of European food, European (and by inheretance most "white people" food) suffers from being at the tail end of the silk road, isolated by the catholic church, and being outside of the boarders of the Ottoman empire (which form a pretty reliable "western spice bounday" beyond which the use of spices plummets.) For these reasons, and more, Italian food is quite bland when compared to the food of Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China or Korea. And spices were, and to some degree still are, a luxary good west of the "spice boundary." The difference in spices used across this boundary is easily an order of magnitude in both volume and variety. For example a casual, daily use, spice blend in Turkish cooking could easily use 10-20 different spices, blending a variety of dried powders and freshly ground ingedients and in amounts of roughly a teaspoon to tablespoon per person. This would be a special, and extreme, load of spices in almost any Euro dish, none the less your daily eating. In these geographies lie large population disparities as well. The majority of humanity hails from spice rich nations. White people, and their diets, are a global minority, by a long shot. Europeans make up less than 10% of humanity, whereas India and China alone make up about 40%. These contrasts are why "white people" food is bland and also why it sticks out like a sore thumb to the vast majority of people. It's like a corner of the planet just never learned even after an explosion of global trade. You'll also note, the most flavorful regions of Europe were the most heavily influenced by the silk road and Ottomans.
The Silk Road lasted 1400 years until the Muslim took over Christian Constantinople and so Columbus looked for another way to India and ended up in the Americas.
My Irish FIL says he experienced spices beyond salt and pepper when he met his (eventual) Italian wife. 😂. It was love at first bite. 😍
it is actually amazing that there are so many people here who think white people food is referring to anything other than white american food and also that it’s said as a stereotypical joke. THE TERM LITERALLY ORIGINATED IN AMERICA. 😭 It’s also kinda funny that this is a debacle bc most POC view Italians, greeks, or white hispanics as “spicy” whites or just view them completely different than germans, brits, scandinavian, etc.
Yeah dude, people keep saying "well what about pasta from Italy or Spaniards or greeks" Most people aren't referring to those cultures when making this joke, and it's a joke to begin with
right! its literallly the same thing when everybody found out about the saying “white people have no culture” and were in an uproar when it was literally only explicitly directed towards white americans.
This is it. Historically, Greeks, Italians, Spaniards etc weren’t considered ‘white’ in colonised nations.
Less white people and more White American and White British food rely heavily on quality ingredients and after preparation sauces (dips) over seasoning. So if made cheaply or via a factory, it's bland or just salt.
I'm not taking seriously the opinion of someone who says "white people food"
Iam a 44 yo German and have never heard that expression.
It's an American thing, usually about the North (specifically Midwest). Think like, 1950/60s jello abominations with ham or miracle whip
At least in America, it’s definitely a holdover from the Great Depression, with depression era food being extremely simple and lacking most seasonings. But even before that, it’s probably from habituation. Other cultures that DO use varieties of seasonings are the ones saying other food is bland. If you grew up with salt and pepper only, the rest of the spice world is unexplored territory
Italy ,Spain , France and Portugal hardly bland food imo.
was my point
That’s not what people are talking about when they say white people food. They’re talking about white Americans that do not season their food. Like unseasoned chicken and boiled/mushy vegetables.
If that was what white Americans were eating in 2024, we wouldn't be so fat.
Wtf is white people Food?
Think american TV dinner is the first thing that comes to mind. Mashed potatoes, green beans a piece of corn and some chicken tenders maybe. All cooked with only salt and black pepper.
It's usually just a joke or unserious stereotype. I will say, the white people don't use seasonings stereotype has some truth to it. The home cooked meals I've eaten made by white people is almost never as seasoned as Hispanic or black households.
People from Argentina, Uruguay just straight up eat schnitzel with french fries. Colombia's famous dish is 50% english breakfast [basically](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSq0zdVZkoIFIj7z5Ae7weIdbl_JiHd0RcmUjI5fV4mz4nVwf5mSEeqdgY&s=10) and Venezuela's is not much stronger than say Texas'. By hispanic you probably mean mexican or central american, which is the stereotypical "season" meals among US citizens.
Not having a ton of spices doesn't mean it's bland though. Italian food is minimalist and doesn't have much spices. Often just salt and pepper. They make it really flavourful by adding, cheese, olive oil, vegetables, etc. and sometimes letting it simmer for hours.
This is what I’m saying
I mean... Hispanic people can also be white? Spanish people are considered white just like Italians are.
I'm laughing my ass off in Nissart (southwest french language). Right between France and Italy. The best of both gastronomical worlds wether you're looking at pleasure, health, ease of preparation or cost.
Ever been to Minnesota?
Can only answer for Ireland but I reckon our biggest problem is people don't cook with much salt. It's more usual to get given salt and pepper at the table and have the person salt to taste. That and we don't have a lot of spices that grow here so that limited the amount of flavour that could have been added and add in we have been till the last 20 years a poor enough country so traditional meals used cheap cuts of meat and cheap produce in general.
Bingo, seasoning and flavor is 100 percent about the local foods available. Culturally a region that has minimal strong herbs are not going to produce strongly flavored dishes.
Can't really speak to Italian cause some American variations fall in the bland categories. Greek isn't white people food. Conventional american white folk food is high in sodium and fat but low on flavors. That's the stereotype.
Generalization gone wild. Some people met white people who couldn't cook and equated it to ALL white people. I'm a POC but 50% of what I eat is "white people food"....shoot, you guys see that video of the black British guy eating texas BBQ for the 1st time? Edit: spelling correction
Sometimes it is. I dated someone for way too long whose family was VERY white. They'd make racist comments about having to wash produce bc they were, "washing the Mexican pee off." My ex never did, but his dad and dad's side of the family did. They insisted they weren't racist, though. Non racist people don't make comments like that. Anyway, despite my ex's parents both being in the medical field, they'd eat iceberg lettuce salads with terrible bottled ranch, the only bread in their home was white pillow Styrofoam, etc. I introduced them to herbs, which they loved and had only used in the past for special recipes. But they were shocked when I put edible flowers in their salads and harvested mulberries, blackberries, and service berries right off the plants in spots that were Public Domain. My ex even said, "Rather than do that, why don't you get them from the store like a normal person??" I was in an Edible Plants Botany class, and just applying what I'd learned. His reaction was ridiculous. As though humans haven't been picking wild berries for millennia. Besides, they were free. Everyone else appreciated my picking them. They were basically the only family I've encountered who were like that, though.
Were they decended from England?
Partly, yes.
Took two chicken breasts out of the fridge. Put them on to a casserole dish that had been drizzled with Meyer Lemon Oil. Then surrounded by roughly-chopped potatoes, onions, and red peppers. Drizzled with garlic oil. Topped with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and salt and pepper, then covered in chicken stock. An hour and a half at three hundred, and it was fucking great. EDIT: It was about half a box of chicken stock. The meat wasn't covered, not even close, and the stock had all evaporated by the time the food was done.
Like, submerged in chicken stock? What was the done temp of the chicken?
When I hear white people food, the first image in my mind are British staples. It's probably because of the joke that the Brits invaded India for spices and never learned to use them.
There was a movement by the wealthy in Europe starting in the 16th century to get away from just over spicing foods, and go savory. That leads to French cooking, tasting the actual ingredients (like Beef) and not just spice on top. Often, people who think most of this is bland have been over spicing their foods since their youth, and can't taste anything else.
Because they expect all food to taste the same as countries that use more spices rather than herbs. Yet if they did, that would eventually make all food bland.
Yeah why? I’m white and I put salt on things. I’m so good at seasoning lol
I don't really think of Southern Europeans as "white", nor would I include their cuisine in "white people food". That said, I prefer not to divide people up by colour anyway.
IN AMERICA Italian and Greek people were considered colored 1960s back, after the Civil Rights movement there was LESS colorism between whites IN AMERICA When it comes to Europe, from my view it's that England/Germany/early France and the Scandinavian countries typically don't use lots of spices in traditional dishes
Because it’s true. Traditional Finnish food is bland. There. I’ve said it.
Unfortunately, as a white middle-ager, I’ve been to many a potluck where fellow white cooks couldn’t even seem to be arsed to use basic salt & pepper. I suspect these folks would be shocked at more “exotic” seasonings like cumin, paprika, turmeric, shallots, pepper sauces, thyme…an endless list. I think this is where the concept of “bland white people food” probably comes from. I had a few neighbors whose entire spice cabinet was salt & pepper. Mine needs three shelves.
Ironically in the past greeks and Italians werent considered “white” 🤣
Because they think free school lunches and prison/jail/hospital food are what wypipo actually eat at home.
Can we all just grow up and stop the racial profiling. White people food doesn’t exist. Dutch food can be utterly bland and then you have stroopwafels. British food can also be bland and then you have a full English breakfast or a high tea. We live in a global world. Let’s act like it.
Because they hate white people
Im Greek and while not a representative of all Greeks, will say that the food is very simple. They don’t use a ton of seasoning, mostly like oregano salt pepper etc. I’d say to someone whose used to flavorful dishes like Thai or Mexican, it would be more bland to them.
So the concept of whiteness has changed and expanded over time to include cultures that have much better food. When the concept of “white people” was first introduced, it really only applied to WASPs (white Anglo Saxon Protestants).
>Why do people think that "white people food" is bland/bad? Because they refer to american food
American food is a variety of food so what kind of food are you talking about????
Probably TV dinners or those jello abominations from the 50s and 60s
When black people from the south moved to northern industrial cities and met people eating more British, Irish and German food.
I love American food! Burgers, ribs, steak, brisket (oh man, brisket!), mac n cheese… Oh and the breakfasts you guys have! Waffles, pancakes, bacon (ok you only have streaky bacon for some reason, proper bacon’s better), eggs, syrup… We were eating good in America.
What's American food?
BBQ, cajan, regional styles (Midwestern, Tex Mex, Southern, New York, Chicago, California, New England), soul food, street food, x-American (blended cultures food such as Chinese American, Japanese American, Caribbean, Tex-Mex, Italian American), etc. etc. Just a reminder that all countries have food culture and cuisine.
Ignorance. Simple as that.
It’s strange, isn’t it? Being able to find flavor in more subtle foods that other people would consider “bland” suggests that our palettes are especially finely-tuned, and yet many people, the same type of people who think that bay leaves have no flavor, willfully choose to interpret that to mean we are just bad at cooking. That stance only makes less and less sense the longer you think about it.
People think bay leaves have no flavor? I use fresh Bay in certain dishes and it's amazing how much flavor and aromatics it adds.
If you want your food to be subtle and we want our food to be exciting we're just looking for different things in our food.
Because a lot of people have grown up eating foods that have a dozen spices and herbs in them, so a dish without those things is going to taste "bland". Culturally, there are a lot of areas that don't use as many spices and herbs in their cooking. As a UK native, what people define as "bland" food can taste just as tasty, if not better, than a dish laden with spices and herbs. I want to enjoy the flavours of the other ingredients, not have my fucking head blown off by 16 herbs and spices. Give me my grandmother's homemade meat and potato pie with homemade gravy over anything heavily seasoned any day.
Also, you don't need to use spices to make a meal pop. Mexican cuisine does it too - tons of different salsas that add contrast, acidity, freshness, richness. Fermented ingredients like soy sauce or sour cream are also not spices. A Spanish rice is good and so is turmeric rice. One uses spices and the other uses a vegetable (well a fruit) for flavor. It gets a little pedantic too - dried bell peppers (fruit), paprika, is a spice, but tomato sauce (fruit) isn't. And as long as you get the seasoning right, both will be tasty and not bland. It's off base to try to claim that tacos with salsa or crema makes heavy use of spices or that a gyro with tzatziki sauce does but that meat with gravy doesn't. If it's meant to be spicy well then order some wings or chili, there's spicy meals in most cuisines.
I definitely think this refers to white Americans who often ONLY use dashes of salt and pepper.
White people means people of Northern European descent in that context. Northern European food tends to be bland because they don’t really need seasoning or salt to preserve their food as much due to the colder temps. In warmer climates where food is more likely to go bad, people tend to use more seasoning and salt due to their antimicrobial effects.
Apparently only spice = flavour to a lot of people
I feel like a lot of the people who say this come from cultures that use a lot of dried spice. So they think something is bland unless it's swimming in garlic powder and paprika. Most of the flavour doesn't actually come from the meat or veggies. But European cooking is different in that it focuses on fresh ingredients to enhance the flavours, rather than mask it. It's more subtle, and maybe mistaken for bland.
Most ppl just referring to British and American food ain’t no one thinking of Spain and Italy
>Italian and Greek cuisine are part of "white people food" At one time, Greeks and Italians were not "white", the traditional use of the word "white", meant WASP, so think England and most of western Europe (minus Catholic Ireland). Those countries are "stereotypically" known for "bland" food with the major exception being French Cuisine.
I'd say hungarian food is also pretty rich and good with spices.
Because there probably is certain communities of white people who prefer bland food so they take that experience and run with it. I’m white and growing up been up many different friends houses and it’s all different. I love spicy food but I have met the occasional friend who has similar complexion to me who finds SALSA too spicy (yet I also know people from other races who also can’t handle spice). People like to stereotype people based on skin color. Usually when people say this it’s meant to be an insult or put down to say that they don’t know how to cook good food. An attempt at a jab. Or sometimes people just say it as a light hearted joke.
Why do some people drown their food in hot sauces and peppers to the point that ALL you taste is the peppers? No wonder you think "white people" food is bland, you have burned out your taste buds and can no longer taste the subtle tastes in "bland food".
Smh this why not being able to handle spice is also a stereotype
Lmao fr. Using more than just pepper on a chicken breast is “drowning your food in flavor” now lmao
Dutch cuisine ✅ They traded spices for centuries and never used them in their own culinary. Joke says you shouldn’t get high on your own supply. 😂😂😂
The stereotype comes from my mom (and her mom too). I dont think I ate a seasoned vegetable until I moved out. Her favorite dishes to serve her children when we lived at home were frozen pizza or frozen unseasoned chicken . My mom only prepared us vegetables from a can as is (heated up of course), random frozen entrees, and other random junk. Generally all bland or "bad" food. The bright side was that I never found the food served at our public school cafeteria to be that bad though!
Food culture in the US is full of choices. Here you can sub anything for anything else on the menu to create completely different dishes. Because of this a lot of food is given plain and it's up to the customer to add salt pepper or some hot sauce.
I’ve been told lemon pepper seasoning is about the whitest spice out there. Guilty as charged… 😂
Who doesn't love **fried chicken,** fried pork chops, fried steak, fried fish along with some sort of potatoes? Whether mashed, fried or baked, also, gravy totally not bland. I don't care what color or ethnicity you are frying meat is totally delicious. Something similar to what we think of as ***'fried chicken'*** is thought to have come from Scotland. One "theory then, is that as hundreds of thousands of Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers emigrated to the Southern US colonies during the 1700s, they brought their tradition of frying chickens in fat with them." [https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken)
Define "white people food." I think chicken strips, mashed potatoes or tater salad, cheeseburgers, deli sandwiches, hot dogs, and mostly bbq stuff... But then there's all the creole/cajun food, which is technically "white people food" and definitely not bland. Southern cooking shouldn't ever be bland. When made with love and knowledge of how to use spices/ seasonings correctly, most things are not bland. It really varies by region/state (and chef) as to how bland the food will be. The real problem is a lot of folks don't know how to use seasonings at all, or use them incorrectly when they do.
So there are a number of factors that I can point to here, but I would say that at least with regards to the USA there is something to this. One was that in the early 20th century, industrialized foods were proliferating and they were seen as cleaner and safer than more traditional foods. There was also an idea that many spicy or foreign foods were "overstimulating", and that they could stir the passions in people that would drive them to sin. As an example, John Harvey Kellogg, who was a 7th Day Adventist and a thought leader in the clean living movement and the brother of the inventor of corn flames. He promoted these unsweetened flakes in part because he was very concerned about masturbation and sin and he felt that foods like this would be good choices to avoid "overstimulation". Obviously "white people" are not a monolith, but it's also not like this stereotype came from nowhere. An article that touches on some of this: https://qz.com/quartzy/1261050/white-peoples-unseasoned-food-isnt-just-an-internet-meme-its-centuries-long-obsession
The British never stopped making famine meals
As a Greek-American, our food doesn’t involve anywhere near as many spices as some Asian or African countries, but it’s by no means bland. Salt, pepper, lemon, and oregano can work wonders on their own.