Chinesey food

One interesting aspect of living in China is observing how others adapt to it. The common response from people I know is that their English has worsened or that they slowly start thinking that Chinese fashion isn’t quite as bizarre as they once thought it was. There’s some people who turn a lot more Chinese than just wearing glasses with no lenses or mess up an English word here or there. Then there are others who start commenting on other people’s eating habits – a very Chinesey thing to do.
 
Over the course of several lunches with some of my foreign colleagues, I’ve come to realize just how easy it is to turn “Chinese” about food. One time I was at lunch with some male colleagues (one Chinese and one foreign) and after the meal the English guy remarks “Is that all you’re going to eat… it doesn’t seem like a lot” to my tofu dish and rice. I sheepishly said something along the lines of it was enough for me.
 
Then on a separate occasion with the other foreigner in the office I had the opposite experience. We were at a popular vegetarian restaurant seemed to order just a little too much food for two (keep in mind it was like some stir fried tofu, mixed veggies and some dumplings… not like we were eating steaks and potatoes). Afterward he goes “You really have an appetite.” I will never forget the look of annoyance I shot him after that and probably said something snide back.
 
Seriously though. Isn’t there like a written rule somewhere where a guy NEVER comments on how much a girl eats? To both experiences I just thought, “You are so Chinese” because I’ve only ever known Chinese people to make comments about peoples eating habits.
 
But then I had my own Chinesey “judge you about food” moment a while back in Beijing. I was visiting my brother with my dad, and he (Dad) treated my brother, some of brother’s friends and me to a nice dinner. As the other three and I were loading up our plates from the all-you-can-eat Teppenyaki, one of my brother’s friends, who I am also friends with, was barely eating. I knew he was a vegetarian but he was barely eating anything. On more than one occasion I said something about it. “Are you not hungry?” “Are you sure you’ve had enough?” and finally, the doozey, “You should eat more.”
 
Finally I realized what I was doing – being a typical Chinese person buggering him about eating. I quickly apologized and left him to his half eaten plate.