I’m curious what the history of this stereotype is. It’s definitely older than the Internet, and it’s a stereotype that exists beyond the US or Europe – I’ve heard it in personal conversations with South Asians and Central Asians.

Is it something that originated with European travelers but then spread to other countries and continents? Do we know if its spread is directly related to geopolitics (in the case of Central Asia, I have my suspicions it’s related to the Sino-Soviet split)?

I’ve also read that it comes from a popular confusion of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese cuisines, but if true it seems interesting that it’s specifically China that got this reputation (traditional European medicines seem to have not had the same impact on perceptions of what Europeans eat). And of course while China – the third biggest country with almost a fifth of the human population – does have certain people in certain places that eat something unusual compared to many other countries, it doesn’t seem unique in these tastes, and plenty of countries have their unusual dishes. No one says Mexicans eat everything because you can eat chapulinas there, or about Peruvians because of cuy. Or the French despite escargot and grenouille.

I’ve also read that this has some possible origins as an in-joke/point of pride among Cantonese, but Cantonese cuisine…doesn’t really seem that wildly unusual either, to be honest.