>>21446624
Flat-bottomed woks aren’t a meme, but they’re a bit of a compromise. Traditional woks have rounded bottoms, designed for high-heat cooking over open flames, allowing even heat distribution and easy tossing of ingredients. Flat-bottomed woks were created to work on modern stovetops, especially electric or induction, where a rounded bottom would wobble or lose contact with the heat source.
The "meme" perception comes from purists who argue flat-bottomed woks sacrifice some functionality—like less surface area for heat exposure and trickier tossing—making them less "authentic." On X, you’ll see cooks and enthusiasts dunking on them as a Westernized dilution of a classic tool, sometimes with exaggerated disdain for clout. But plenty of home cooks and even pros use flat-bottomed woks effectively; they’re practical for most modern kitchens.
It’s not a meme in the sense of being a joke—they’re legit tools with a purpose. The ridicule is more about culinary gatekeeping than the woks themselves being inherently bad. If you’re cooking on a standard stovetop, they’re often the better choice.
