Ethnic. Spicy. Oriental, esp. Chinese and most esp. Szechuan,
Hunan, and Mandarin (hackers consider Cantonese vaguely
_déclassé_). Hackers prefer the exotic; for
example, the Japanese-food fans among them will eat with gusto
such delicacies as fugu (poisonous pufferfish) and whale. Thai
food has experienced flurries of popularity. Where available,
high-quality Jewish delicatessen food is much esteemed. A visible
minority of Southwestern and Pacific Coast hackers prefers
Mexican.
For those all-night hacks, pizza and microwaved burritos are
big. Interestingly, though the mainstream culture has tended to
think of hackers as incorrigible junk-food junkies, many have at
least mildly health-foodist attitudes and are fairly
discriminating about what they eat. This may be generational;
anecdotal evidence suggests that the stereotype was more on the
mark before the early 1980s.