[nichtich]

It's pretty weird when you consider how food trends go. In China, back in the 90s, my parents use a pressure cooker and a wok for everything. And it's the norm as for most families I know both parent work and they have to come home at 5:30 and put food on the table at 6:30, with no easy option like frozen pizza. Now with supermarkets and food delivery you don't need to cook if you don't want to, and if you do choose to cook it becomes much more fancy(and western) with more time consuming steps.

It seems the reverse in happening in us?

[dogruck]

I really liked this comparison. You might be right!

Can you say more? For example:

1. Back in the day, in the US, easy pre-made home meals were the rage. Frozen meals. Microwave dinners. Meals from a can. I don’t mean, “yeah, sure, we still have those today.” I mean, “This is the new society, this is the future, and this food is delicious and amazing!!!”

Was that ever a trend in China?

2. Is there a “Blue Apron China?” I don’t use Blue Apron, and personally think it’s silly — just wondering if there is something similar in China.

[nichtich]

So i think in both places cooking has become more of a hobby/status signaling thing.

In China there's something similar to blue apron in late 90s or early 2000s. But it kinda die out because it's offered more on the convenience side instead of healthy side.

Baking stuff becomes quite popular in recent years, because it's a western thing, and it's time consuming, good for share with friends in itself or as photos:good showoff material. Whereas the old method of finding whatever is fresh today at wet market and do a quick stir-fry becomes more and more reserved for older genration, and thus is not a fancy thing todo. Pressure cooking also is something you do when you don't have time and worry about fuel bill, not sexy.

Preprepared food is looked down upon in both us and china , it seems. In US i think people feel empowering by the idea of feeding your family in a healthy way without a stay at home mom; in China a stayed at home mom just recently becomes a thing to brag about, and cooking seems to be a important tool to do it.

[azurezyq]

(as a Chinese)

1. I don't think there was a trend like that except for instant noodle soups. Actually we are proud of being able to cook and generally frozen meals never worked well for Chinese stirfry things. After staying in US for several years I'm still not convinced those meals are "delicious".

2. Nothing I am aware of. At least noting at that scale. Premium food delivery is ubiquitous so you don't need blue apron for speed. Buying veggies is also not hard. Also be apron only saves you for preparation, which is the easiest part in Chinese cooking.