Can somebody explain to me the meaning of this idiom?

[Surili]

In China Chinese Food is Just Food

[SirWaik]

It's like saying in India, Indian Food is just food. This means that the only reason why we specify a certain type of food is because it is ethnic. In China all food is Chinese unless otherwise noted, so there is no need to call Chinese food in China "chinese food" that is just being redundant. It's like if we, here in the USA, called all the food we ate american food. To us it is simply food, the only time you need to specify is when you are not in the country of the food's origin.

Hope that's not too confusing.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Surili

I wouldn't call it an idiom; it seems more like a pithy quotation (or strapline) to me.

Look at it this way:

In China, it would not be unusual to eat fried diced chicken in a chilli sauce. You would be most likely to eat it at home. So it would just be "food".

In England, however, you would probably be more likely to eat it in a Chinese restaurant. So it would be "Chinese food".

Does that help you understand the meaning?

MrP

[mykwyner]

I think it means that things which are unusual or exotic to one group of people are commonplace or boring to another.

[Fazzu]

Originally Posted by SirWaik

In China all food is Chinese unless otherwise noted, so there is no need to call Chinese food in China "chinese food" that is just being redundant.

You can call it.Because, here, in Singapore,there are also many chinese food being sold in hawker centres.There are chinese food sold not only in Singapore but also in other countries if I am not wrong.So I think you can call it."In China,chinese food is just food".

[Surili]

Thank you all. I think I should have asked the meaning with context. I heard somebody saying that "from my past relationship I have learned that In china chinese is just a food." What does these mean? Can please somebody explain this to me?

[MrPedantic]

Hello Surili

Sometimes people use the word "Chinese" to mean "Chinese food".

So as others has mentioned, it seems to mean "what seems exotic here would seem ordinary in its native country".

I can't explain the "from my past relationship", though, without more context!

MrP