A traditional Hong Kong cha chaan teng 茶餐廳 spread featuring Hong Kong style french toast, pineapple bun, milk tea, ice lemon tea, spam, satay beef instant noodles, baked pork chop rice, curry, borscht, and macaroni soup. The origins of these ingredients and flavours come from different places around the world such as from Russia, Malaysia, Britain, Chaozhou and Shunde. All of these foods have been adapted into the umbrella term of “Hong Kong food”. 

The Sinicization, or rather, adaptation and survival of diverse culinary cultures into the genre of Hong Kong food culture reflects the influence of colonialism, classism, and mass immigration. Hong Kong cuisine is not only the result of Westernization but also the effect of an intersection of core-national and periphery-local culture from within China; Colonialism and immigration created a distinct vogue of novelty foreign tastes signature to modern urban life, forging a lasting Hong Kong identity.