# When Did Food Prepared by White People Become Synonymous With Bland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 27, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828 "2026-03-27T22:42:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/101 "2026-03-31T19:36:21Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > On the other hand the Scottish invented “deep fried Mars bar”, and I managed to locate on the Waitrose website “vegan haggis” so they are still fairly experimental. A local place here in Scotland sells vegan haggis sushi. Experimental, yes, but also a fine example of ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you _should_’.. It was actually very bland… Which is odd, as veggie haggis is normally pretty decent. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/102 "2026-03-31T19:39:14Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > But note that ketchup is a Chinese import from Southeast Asia. The word, perhaps; the etymology of the modern word isn’t definitively known, but the Southeast Asian sauces with similar names have little resemblance to American ketchup. Tomato-based “ketchup,” as modern Americans know it, appears to be an American creation, from the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/103 "2026-03-31T19:50:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > the Southeast Asian sauces with similar names have little resemblance to American ketchup. Banana ketchup (most popular brand is probably Jufran, such that ‘Jufran’ is almost always used to refer to banana ketchup) looks and tastes a lot like tomato ketchup. It does have a strangely rubbery consistency, but I’d bet most people wouldn’t think it was made with bananas and not tomatoes in a blind tasting. I’m pretty sure, though, that ketchup must be made from tomatoes by federal regulation to be called just “ketchup”. Similar sauces not made from tomatoes have to include a descriptor in the name, eg mushroom or banana. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/104 "2026-03-31T19:52:57Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I find the bits mildly amusing, but the Caucasian hot sauce got me to wondering when food prepared by white people got the reputation for being bland. I think food in hot weather countries became spicy out of necessity because the spices helped keep the food from spoiling as fast as it would otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/105 "2026-03-31T19:55:21Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > My first experience with _real_ American barbecue, at Stern’s on West Washington Boulevard, in Culver City. OMG, _Stern’s_??? That was a go-to place when I was growing up in Culver City. We used to get take-out a lot in high school (this was in the late 60s) when we had projects we were working on for student council. I liked it, but the place I mourn for the most is King’s Fried Chicken. The best I’ve _ever_ had. It was on the opposite side of Culver City on Washington Blvd. just east of La Cienaga. I also deeply miss Bit O’ Scotland (on Westwood between Olympic and Pico) and Webster’s Coffee shop (the world’s best cinnamon sweet rolls) on Pico just east of Overland. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/106 "2026-03-31T19:56:43Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Banana ketchup (most popular brand is probably Jufran, such that ‘Jufran’ is almost always used to refer to banana ketchup) looks and tastes a lot like tomato ketchup Wasn’t it specifically designed to taste and look like American ketchup when the Philippines were cut off from tomatoes in WWII? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/107 "2026-03-31T20:03:25Z")
Undercover Brother, 2002 - “If you’re going to pass in white America, you’re going to have to learn to like mayonnaise. If you’re ever faced with this situation, simply press the button on the side of this watch…” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hZlCYsFPyLY/maxresdefault.jpg "The Sandwich Scene | Undercover Brother | Screen Bites") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZlCYsFPyLY) ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/108 "2026-03-31T20:07:26Z")
Could be. I don’t know the history of banana ketchup. All I really know, other than the taste and rubbery texture, is that our son-in-law - born in the Philipines - loves Jufran, and prefers it over Heinz. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/109 "2026-03-31T20:15:35Z")
You can only go up from real haggis, which tastes like black pepper and guts. I imagine vegan haggis is a real improvement. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/110 "2026-03-31T20:15:44Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Banana ketchup (most popular brand is probably Jufran, such that ‘Jufran’ is almost always used to refer to banana ketchup) looks and tastes a lot like tomato ketchup. It does have a strangely rubbery consistency, but I’d bet most people wouldn’t think it was made with bananas and not tomatoes in a blind tasting. I had forgotten about [banana ketchup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_ketchup) – and, yes, it does look like it originated in WWII, and was made to at least resemble tomato ketchup, because it was created as a replacement for it. In my earlier post, I was referring to older Southeast Asian (Chinese, Indonesian, and Malaysian) sauces, which are variously believed to have donated at least their names to “ketchup”: nearly all of them appear to have been savory sauces, based on fish/shellfish and/or soy sauce. And, it appears that a British “ketchup” originated in the 1600s (and appears to have made it to the American colonies), but was based on mushrooms, not tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/111 "2026-03-31T20:48:41Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I’m not ever sure what’s meant by bland. Is it bland because it’s not spicy or is it bland because the flavors are dull? Different people mean different things by “bland”. Judging by this thread, a lot of posters think that anything that doesn’t have a lot of chili pepper in it is bland. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/112 "2026-03-31T20:50:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > a British “ketchup” originated in the 1600s (and appears to have made it to the American colonies), but was based on mushrooms, not tomatoes. As memorably depicted in Thomas Pynchon’s _Mason & Dixon_, where a group of 18th-century Brits use a bottle of “_katjap_” (brought back as a souvenir from Cape Town) to create England’s first pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/113 "2026-03-31T20:53:12Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > IMO, ‘ethnic food’ has always meant ‘food of non-European immigrants’, eg Mexican or from various Asian countries. So pierogi wouldn’t be “ethnic”? ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/114 "2026-03-31T21:13:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So pierogi wouldn’t be “ethnic”? No. And that’s why I say the thread is challenging my biases. I would objectively say that pierogis are absolutely ethnic, but it doesn’t fit in the boxes of my mind that way. Same for lutefisk. I’m sure there are a lot of other foods, too, that are similar in how I think about them. I need to rearrange the boxes in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/115 "2026-03-31T21:20:07Z")
MR. BURNS: Doughnuts?! I told you I don’t like ethnic food! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/116 "2026-03-31T21:23:42Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Different people mean different things by “bland”. Judging by this thread, a lot of posters think that anything that doesn’t have a lot of chili pepper in it is bland. 🤔 I tend to think of bland as lacking any distinct characteristics and being rather boring. Porridge, like Cream of Wheat, is pretty bland unless you season the hell out of it. A nice dinner consisting of pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, and a dinner roll might not be spicy, but I wouldn’t call it bland. Not unless the cook didn’t do a good job. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/117 "2026-03-31T22:01:09Z")
In other words, like spicy liverwurst. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/118 "2026-03-31T22:03:44Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > A nice dinner consisting of pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, and a dinner roll might not be spicy, but I wouldn’t call it bland. I’d call it “savory.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/119 "2026-03-31T22:13:39Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > As a side note, the Japanese navy picked it up from the Royal navy, put it over rice and it became a staple. Even today JNSDF ships each have their own recipe. From the navy it leaked out to civilians and curry rice is one of the main comfort foods there. After being filtered through two cultures though, your typical Indian would be hard to recognize it as curry. I’ve sampled such Japanese “curry” dishes, the kind you can buy at Walmart and microwave at home. I’m not even Indian, but I was underwhelmed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828/120 "2026-03-31T22:15:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve sampled such Japanese “curry” dishes, the kind you can buy at Walmart and microwave at home. I’m not even Indian, but I was underwhelmed. I love Japanese curry, but I guess it probably helps if you grow up eating it. I don’t think of it as anything near a real curry. Then again, “curry” is such a misnomer that it’s mind boggling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-food-prepared-by-white-people-become-synonymous-with-bland/1028828.md?page=7)