Currently working on A Series of Left Turns, an original work about a gym himbo taking way too long to fall in love with a chill ass toothy monster man.
“A slice of bread, a piece of cheese, piece of raw vegetable or fruit: you’re blasted by a cleansing gust of ascetic wind. This simple and flavorless pairing is actually the everyday lunch of some foreigners.”
Image text: “White people food”
中国网友还给这样的饮食方式起了一个名，叫做”白人饭“（white people food）。所谓的白人饭特点就是，“冷的“、”素的”、”分量少的“，基本上就是”花最少的功夫准备，仅仅能维系基本器官正常运作“的食物（require the least amount of effort to substain vital signs）。
“Chinese netizens have given this cuisine a name, ‘白人饭’ (white people food). "The characteristics of so-called white people food are 'cold,’ 'vegetarian,’ 'small portions,’ and truly 'requiring the least amount of effort to sustain vital signs’ food.”
“In other words, white people’s food is the kind that doesn’t involve cooking, with just one kind of seasoning, if not salt and pepper, then just the direct addition of mayonnaise or ketchup. "Originally, the concept of white people food started with Chinese netizens living overseas. It was because they used social media to expose their white coworkers’ lunches — a few carrots and some raw spinach.”
OP’s tweet reads: “This is my coworker’s lunch. A few carrots and some spinach. They already have the ability to produce their own energy without eating food.”
Comment 1: “I think since they like suntanning so much, they must be using photosynthesis”
Comment 2: “They depend on therapists to keep them alive”
“Unknowing spectators may mistakenly think that these are freshly washed vegetables about to be chopped and cooked. While Chinese netizens, accustomed to 'lunch means a hot meal’, view their white coworkers’ lunches as unimaginable.”
OP’s tweet reads: “My Danish coworker brought something new again. No spinach today, just two carrots and a pepper. They’re evolving.”
Comment: “Why do they eat like they’re putting gas in their cars. Pour it in to be able to go”
OP’s tweet reads: “my coworkers lunch is a whole cauliflower! First time I’ve seen a whole cauliflower eaten with a knife and fork after being cooked. He was even surprised that I’d never seen that before. These people haven’t lived”
OP’s tweet reads: “The simplicity of Australian white people food. Everyone knows that Australian white people food is super simple, but when I saw my coworker’s lunch I was still shocked. Mushrooms from the supermarket, straight from the box, added directly to a wrap. I asked him whether mushrooms can be eaten raw. He said he’d been eating them raw for years and was doing fine.”
Comment: “Pretty normal. They even eat green beans raw. 20 years ago, the people at my bro’s place even ate yuanxiao [glutinous rice dough dumplings] uncooked. Anyways, I feel like foreigners don’t like eating food unless they’re about to starve. If they could live on alcohol, they definitely wouldn’t eat at all”
Image text: “Lunch: a head of raw lettuce wrapped around some ham with mustard drizzled on top”
OP’s tweet reads: “I guess I’ve seen the pinnacle of white people food today. The locals always come up with new moves to surprise me”
而反过来，海外的中国网友只是把自己一份普通的午饭带到公司加热，都会引起外国同事的围观和震惊。
“On the other hand, Chinese people living overseas only have to heat up in a normal lunch at the office to invoke the shock and awe of their foreign coworkers.”
OP’s tweet reads: “Re: about my lunch shocking my white coworkers. Everyone knows that white people don’t have taste buds, they only eat to stay alive. "Coworker A: porridges. Oats + honey + milk + salt + microwave for 3 min. "Coworker B: some kind of canned rice + canned tuna, microwave for 2 min. "Coworker C: pita bread with dip; with a couple of cherry tomatoes/cucumber. "Coworker D: mini pizza: base + sauce + cheese, baked "I’ve been here for most of one year, these guys eat the same thing every day. But today was different, today everyone brought food, a boxed proper meal: pasta. But I’m the undefeated mystical Oriental lady, made a whole table [of food] appear in the blink of an eye.”
“In China, the concept of a filling lunch is deeply ingrained in people’s minds, as well as the habit of having a staple of rice or noodles etc. with every meal. But in Europe and the US, lunches are usually simple and light, and they don’t have the custom of taking a siesta, so eating lightly helps maintain focus, prevent drowsiness, and save time. And so, these dietary differences have led to culture shock. "What’s more interesting is, recently the phrase 'white people food’ has spread to become a style of cuisine that everyone is imitating. Netizens have begun a deep dive into all different kinds of white people food. It’s like a door has been opened into a new world.”
OP’s tweet reads: “After entering a state of 'eating to stay alive’, I found out white people food is actually good. Ate the same thing every day and didn’t puke. I just play on my phone a bit and the food is ready. It’s sustenance, that’s all.”
Commenter: “After you give up on the pursuit of flavor, the world will open up to you. Cold vegetables + chicken breast are so good.”
Following this trend going viral, “white people food” got spread to the foreign web. Foreign netizens’ reactions were too funny. One user tweets:
而外国网友不但没有感到被冒犯，反而是早已接受了“白人饭”这个设定，甚至有时候连自己都忍不住吐槽。
“Not only were foreigners not offended, they’ve long since accepted the designation of "white people food”, even going so far as to mock it themselves.
而听说中国网友也兴起了吃白人饭之后，白人网友也不吝赐教，开始分享地道的白人饭做法。
“After hearing about Chinese interest in white people food, white people didn’t hesitate to offer instruction and started sharing recipes for authentic white people food.”
ana mendieta “people looking at blood, moffit, iowa” 1973
“In this piece, Mendieta spilled a large amount of what appeared to be chunky blood over a doorway and sidewalk on an Iowa City street. Then she removed herself from the scene and, from a distance, photographed the reactions of various passersby. […] It intimates to passersby that a grievous and dramatic injury has taken place, but it gives no explanation and, more important, no recourse to action. It may incite horror, concern, compassion, and revulsion—in short, pity and fear—but it doesn’t offer anywhere for these feelings to go. […] Each pedestrian’s only real choice is to walk on by, which looks from the outside—and likely felt, on the inside—like an uncaring abandonment, even if of an indeterminate or imaginary entity. […] And somewhere out of sight lurks Mendieta, a voyeur of each passerby’s involuntary voyeurism. […] People Looking at Blood says, Look at this pile of carnage, with no clear story, source, assailant, or victim. Just look at it. Now look at others looking at it. (And I will be looking at you looking.)”
— The Art of Cruelty, Maggie Nelson
Ana Mendieta was murdered by her husband and fellow artist Carl Andre. This work became a self fulfilling prophecy and meditation on tragedy, the nature of violence, and peoples unwillingness to help.
But it’s NOT about unwillingness to help! It’s NOT about people not caring!! It’s so very explicitly the opposite!!!
I’ve BEEN in this situation. You walk past an old crime scene, or the place where an accident happened, and you see evidence of something terrible. If it’s old, maybe broken glass, or scuff marks.
But sometimes, you’re too late. Sometimes someone is on the ground, and EMTs are already helping, and the only helpful thing you can do you is move on, refuse to linger, refuse to form a crowd.
Sometimes there’s dried blood, or fresh blood, but when you look around you can’t find anyone hurt or needing help. Whatever happened, it has happened without you, and you can’t undo it or make it better. You could contact an authority, report what you’ve seen, but that’s just sharing information. It doesn’t FEEL like helping.
Humans are by nature incredibly compassionate creatures. What is more heartbreaking to an animal designed to bring comfort than a pain that cannot be comforted? A hurt that cannot be soothed?
You are confronted by this helplessness, and it looks you in the face and says, “It’s too late for you to fix this. You must move on, and hope that next time, you aren’t.” And then you do. You have to. There is no other choice.
Ana Mendieta’s piece is not condemning the observed- it’s mourning their directionless compassion, their grief, their uncertainty- their concern and hope offered to someone or something they will never know, never speak to, never be able to help.
It says that we love each other, that we care for one another, and that even if we are lost and no one ever finds us, we are cared for long after we are gone, and by people who never knew our names.
Our outrage at her death only proves this. Now that we know her life ended tragically, what will you do? What CAN you do? Nothing. You will observe the blood, experience something that cannot be captured on film, and move on.
“What CAN you do? Nothing. You will observe the blood, experience something that cannot be captured on film, and move on.
“
ALT
