Chinese noodles?

I found myself very bored today so I began reading old blogs I have written. One entry was particularly entertaining but also introduced another duality of my life.

It seems humorous to me that at times people find it necessary to identify the nationality of food. In one of my old posts I spoke of Lt being sick. My good friend suggested I feed him Chinese noodles...... O_o ......

Chinese?... noodles? Wouldn't any noodle I prepare be a Chinese noodle? If a Chinese person prepares any food, does that not make it Chinese food? :-)

I believe that when someone speaks of food a natural thing is to think of what one knows of. I am of Chinese family so it is natural I would think of those noodles I know. I would not think of macaroni noodles. I do not even understand macaroni noodles. What is one to do with them? I have tried macaroni salad and am not fond of it. At the least the version I attempted to eat. Macaroni and cheese is acceptable I suppose. But not that detestable mess from a box! Even Lt says proper macaroni and cheese is from the oven!

I am of Chinese family but there are things I must speak of as being Chinese while making no sense to me. I am unable to ask simply for noodles. Even in China I must be specific since there are many kinds of noodles. But if I am among other Americans and I desire cho mein I must ask for Chinese noodles.

The duality then is while I am honored and proud to be an American citizen, my thinking remains Chinese. When someone is speaking of what is common to them, I often find my thoughts of it to be quite different from the intended idea.

I almost envy my son. He will not have these conflicting ideas running about in his head. He will know of his Chinese heritage but he will be a natural born American. If you ask him for Chinese noodles he will not need to wonder which kind.