'The Asian Kid With The Stinky Lunch' Narrative Is A Pop Culture Trope, But It's Still Worth Telling

If you’re part of the Asian American community and very online, you’re no doubt familiar with the “ethnic stinky lunch” narrative.

If you’re not familiar, the “stinky lunch” trope goes a little something like this: A kid brings something into the cafeteria that’s a different than the standard PB&J or ham sandwich ― beef bulgogi in Tupperware, for instance, or Spam musubi ― and is met with quizzical stares from classmates.

Sometimes the stares are accompanied by mean comments: “That stinks,” someone will mutter under their breath. “Gross.” Other kids will go straight for the jugular and say something, “Ugh, looks like you’re eating dog food.”

Reflecting on the experience years later, stories about stinky lunches usually end with the writer reclaiming the narrative and saying that now they’re proud of their cultural dishes: Sure, the smell was pungent, but their lunch tasted loads better than Kyle’s turkey and cheese Lunchable. Plus, in these post-Anthony Bourdain “No Reservations”-days, beef bulgogi is trendy and as commonplace as a Big Mac.

Many a personal essay has been written about overcoming the trauma of being the Asian kid with the stinky lunch. Eddie Huang devoted a whole episode of his sitcom “Fresh off the Boat” to the lead character wanting to bring in “white people lunch.”

Food-shaming along these lines is so common for Asian kids growing up in the U.S., that even homeschooled kids can’t escape it.

Jennifer LeMesurier is a Korean American who was adopted by white parents and was homeschooled most of her life, and shestill has a story.

LeMesurier ― an associate professor of writing and rhetoric at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and the author of “Inscrutable Eating: Asian Appetites and the