I assume most everyone is familiar with the stereotype of Chinese food that an hour after you eat, you’re hungry again.
Is there any physiological basis to that belief? Or is it an illusory correlation?
Just a WAG, but I’d say it’s a stereotype perpetuated by the joke. Someone said it, and it stuck in your mind. It’s probably true that a lot of Chinese dishes, say some stir-fried veggies and rice, are a pretty light meal to a person used to big meat-and-potatoes meals, but there’s nothing specifically about Chinese food that makes this true. You could have an Italian meal made of sauteed veggies and pasta with exactly the same caloric content. On the other hand, I’ve had a few dim sum binges that made me not want to eat for days.
I’ve heard claims that the hunger is due to the starchy nature of the food: the starch turns to sugar quickly, which floods into your bloodstream. The body rapidly removes this sugar from the blood, and the drop in blood sugar levels makes you feel hungry. I can’t find an authoritative cite for this though - just lots of dubious-looking diet webpages.
However, while the OP may be true after one or two courses of chinese food, I doubt that after eating a proper chinese banquet lasting a few hours anyone would still be hungry.
It’s purely psychological. I have (Asian) relatives who’ll say that Western food leaves them hungry. It’s not a proper meal if it has no rice!
Here in Japan they say that an hour after eating noodles (incl. Japanese noodles) you’re hungry again. So I’d go with the “starchy food turns to sugar quickly” theory. Chinese food itends to be strongly flavored, making you fill up with rice or noodles.
I’d heard it was because of the MSG, but I really suspect it’s that non-Chinese don’t eat it like the Chinese do. They tend to ignore the rice, and at a Chinese restaurant you will see big plates and bowls of it at abandoned tables. If you just eat the bits of shreaded meat and vegies, then of course you will still be hungry.
scr4: Rice is starchy, but I don’t think you’ll hear any Asian person complain about still being hungry after they’ve eaten a meal with rice.
El Smasho:
I have heard the same. The MSG make one feel full (don’t know if that is true) so the eating stops sooner than later thus making one hungry a short time after the meal.
The thing is that most Yankee Dogs don’t eat enough rice to fill them up.
Joyce Chen agrees with this.
But if true, then how come a similar Indian meal makes me full for days?
I would assume it was the MSG and the salt in the dishes. It forces you to consume more liquids making you feel full sooner.
That’s my guess and I am sticking with it.
I don’t know that it’s the stereotype. I had never heard that Chinese food didn’t keep you full until about a year after I’d noticed it myself, and thought it was strange in that the vegetables have a relatively high fiber content, which normally helps keep me full.
We Chinese folks know that the strongly flavored dishes at the restaurant are just a tool to eat a whole mess of rice. If you aren’t worried about appearances, you might even put rice in the empty dish to soak up all the sauce afterwards.
White folks, however, view rice as a side dish.
I’ve watched the phenomenon many times. Asian folks start with several scoops of rice and put their dishes on top of it. White folks tend to take a scoop from each of the dishes and add a scoop of rice on the side.
Rice is an integral part of the meal. Just imagine eating a bowl of pasta primavera with noodles on the side. Or your burger patty with a couple bites of bun. You’d be hungry too.
To sum up: don’t make jokes if you’re the one eating the food incorrectly. 
That’s my pet peeve with many Chinese restaurants here (or any Asian restaurant in general). They bring out huge platters of food, and all you get is a little bowl of rice. What’s the deal? I never got hungry from eating Chinese food until came here and didn’t get enough rice. Give me more rice, dammit! :mad:
And to all you people guessing salt or MSG or starch or sugar, you better have cites to back you up. (All of my cites, of course, are impeccable personal anecdotes.)