--- title: "Chinese Students Repulsed by American School Lunches" description: "An early Sino-American trend among young RedNote users has Chinese students grossed out, and American students fed up with crappy lunches." date: "2025-01-16" modified: "2025-01-16" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-students-disgusted-american-school-food" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "china" - "rednote" - "school lunch" - "the digest" --- # Chinese Students Repulsed by American School Lunches ![Two mocking RedNote comments superimposed over an unappetizing American school lunch.]() *\Image: RedNotes / Futurism\* ## Phone Eats First As Westerners [flock to RedNote]() ahead of a looming "[TikTok ban]()," a large-scale Sino-American cultural exchange is off to the races — and taking some interesting turns. One particularly fruitful dialogue has been a lunch-sharing trend between high-school aged Chinese and American students across the digital divide, often to the horror of the latter. "In case anyone was curious what public school lunches often looked like," began an American's post, alongside a foul sampling of processed chicken nuggets, bland white bread, and scoop of plain mashed potatoes that looks a little too reminiscent of ice cream. "This was all of it. The juice and water cost extra money and the bread was very hard." ![Bland-looking American school lunch with processed nuggets, bread, plain mashed potato mound, and apple sauce.]() That particular post has since taken off, garnering copycats and over 6,000 comments from disgusted Chinese netizens. The prison-style food is "non human treatment" wrote one. "Your school is suspected of violating the Geneva treaty," pined another. Others replied by posting their own school lunches, like a user whose meal consisted of a splendid array of colorful fish, veggie rice, mushrooms, and dumplings. "Free lunch, not very good," they commented. That's a tough roll to swallow, because in contrast to the American equivalent, Chinese school lunches look like heaven on a tray. ![A colorful Chinese school lunch including beans, rice, noodles, carrots, fried chicken, and apples.]() ## Exchange Students The trend is a [fascinating look]() at what happens when insulated societies collide online. Where things will go next is anyone's guess; China has historically been [quick to ban foreign web services]() authorities don't approve of, but the scale of this influx of international visitors *to* a Chinese social network appears to be unprecedented. Chinese RedNoters — hailing from a society unabashedly conscious of issues like class, labor, and Western hegemony — aren't afraid to spell it all out for their American guests. When one American student posted a photo of an unflatteringly brown meal on a white Styrofoam tray with the caption "our Department of Agriculture calls this meal 'rich in whole grains,'" a Chinese user replied: "Whole grain is a term used by capitalists to deceive people. The skin of grains is called bran. It was previously fed to pigs, but now it is sold to humans at a higher price." One thing's for sure: [American school lunches suck](). If [overwhelming research]() linking free quality lunch to [student health and wellbeing]() isn't enough to compel us to change, some sarcastic Chinese teens probably won't move the needle — but at least we can hope. **More on RedNote:** [*Americans Flood Chinese Social App, Teach Users to 3D Print Guns*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()