Chinese Food in America: A Brief History

Who was General Tso? When did America become obsessed with Chinese takeout? And what's the difference between Chinese food in America and Chinese food in... China?
With unique insight from CEO of Xi'an Famous Foods, Jason Wang. Seriously, if you're in New York you have to try it, the food is unreal.
Food History is a show all about... well, the history of food. Join host Justin Dodd as he brings you the stories of how your favorite meals ended up on your plate. Today, we're talking about Americanized Chinese cuisine, from General Tso to crab rangoon.
Special thanks to Jason Wang and Xi'an Famous Foods.
To read Robert Sietsema's Tianjin cuisine article, click here:
ny.eater.com/2018/3/13/170859...
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Website: www.mentalfloss.com​
Twitter: / mental_floss​
Facebook: / mentalflossmagazine

[@angrynoodletwentyfive6463]

I think how a lot of people say americanized chinese foods are "not chinese" is a bit unfair. These foods were developed by chinese americans to be similar to what they knew back home while integrating elements of their new country and making it financially viable to make a living off of selling it. that is like calling those individuals "not chinese"

[@lifes40123]

Calling panda express chinese is like calling taco bell or chipotle mexican. Panda express and taco bell are american

[@angrynoodletwentyfive6463]

@@lifes40123 I didn't say "panda express" you absolute fucking idiot. I am talking about the family owned chinese resteraunts that there is atleast one of in pretty much every American town. If you hear "chinese food in america" and you think of panda express or PF Changs there is something wrong with you because there are far more Independent chinese american owned resteraunts in this country than Panda Express and PF Changs. I wonder if you would feel comfortable going up to your local chinese resteraunt and explaining to the owner that their food is "fake chinese"

[@RAM-im1xf]

You literally answered your own question, it can’t be considered Chinese because chefs had to make compromises whether the ingredients or customer base. This is how food branch out you dingus, instead of crying how American Chinese food isn’t considered a “Chinese” food, you should be celebrating it became part of American cuisine.

[@bigglypuff0420]

@@lifes40123 it's American Chinese food... Created by Chinese people... That's the point. No one is saying the Chinese food in china is the same, or vice versa.

[@lifes40123]

@@bigglypuff0420 is taco bell and chipotle mexican? No, its not

[@romulusnr]

Chinese broccoli and European broccoli, along with cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts, among others, are all actually the same plant, grown and bred differently -- Brassica oleracea.

[@HayTatsuko]

_B. oleoracea_ is clearly the best crucifer! The whole genus has a wealth of lovely food plants, though!

[@jkevin9049]

Thanks Hank.

[@salyluz6535]

My favorite is kohlrabi. 👍🏽

[@Keysame]

Super interesting, I love it! Often times we refer to Americanized foods as the "fake" versions of their country of origin But they're moreso an evolution of the original dish akin to regional species of animals They're not fake by any means, they're the result of adaptation and time

[@David-bg9od]

I call it Americanised

[@danidejaneiro8378]

@@David-bg9od- everyone cares what David Nobody thinks 😂

[@cloudkitt]

I've always been confused at the sneering about Americanized Chinese food as "inauthentic" even though it seemed to be exclusively made by Chinese people. So if it's not Chinese and not American, what is it? Fortunately people are finally starting to chill out about that.

[@tophers3756]

We have that in my city. There's an area where Italians settled ( "The Hill") and brought their food traditions with them. As will always happen, dishes were changed and adapted. Foodies are always complaining that the dishes aren't authentic and, therefore, are inferior to something that you'd get in Italy.

[@rparl]

Near San Jose State there was a restaurant called The Happy Burrito. As I expected, it was a Mexican restaurant, created and staffed by Chinese workers.

[@johnrotio3862]

@@rparl yup where I live in new jersey there a place called fresh tortillas and it's owned and ran by Chinese but it is really freaking good lol

[@dunnowy123]

It was a very 2010s thing. Second gen Americans wanting to connect with their roots and blasting "inauthentic" food, when in reality..Americanized versions of these foods is a reflection of our unique culture in the United States and Canada. It kinda feels like a reclamation and confidence in the identity coming back.

[@PungiFungi]

It probably have to do with the ingredients involved...many of which at the time were not available so there were substitutes used. So the dishes do not tasted as they were supposed to.

[@puppies.and.pumpkin]

I have never had a craving for my local Chinese restaurant like I did watching this video

[@nBasedAce]

I know! It's freezing outside here in Massachusetts but I am still gonna walk my ass down to the closest Chinese restaurant, The Eastern Pearl, and order a bunch of appetizers. Crab rangoon, here I come!

[@dt5092]

Saaaaame I want to feel that full sinus burn from some hot and sour noodles.

[@HayTatsuko]

This here is my favorite Food History episode, ever! I love that General Tso's Chicken was a legitimate ROC dish before it crossed the pond. For more information, I highly recommend the documentary _The Search for General Tso_ -- it touches on a lot of the same subjects in this video, with some extra interesting bits (I love the Chinese menu collector!) and insight on why most every decent sized town in the US has a Chinese-American restaurant. Though... that may be becoming a thing of the past, as old proprietors pass away and their children decline to keep the family businesses going.

[@kimandre336]

I kinda want to have authentic Macanese delicacy after watching this. In Macau, there are Portuguese and Indian dishes made with Chinese ingredients and methods.

[@damondefranco]

That sounds delicious!!

[@patriciaaturner289]

Back when I was in college, I had an acquaintance whose parents were refugees from Myanmar. A group of us were invited to her house for dinner; her parents wanted to meet her American friends. We expected, I’m sure, some version of Chinese food. While we ended up with a stir-fry of chicken, veggies, and noodles, it was nothing like chow mein. It was exceptionally yummy, nonetheless.

[@razonpsu9361]

Me thinks Sum Ting Wong needs to be investigated a BIT more. Punked?

[@MentalFloss]

Here's their obituary, Razon! www.nytimes.com/1983/02/19/obituaries/tt-wang-influential-master-of-chinese-kitchen-dies-at-55.html

[@razonpsu9361]

@@MentalFloss I stand corrected. LOL Though I was thinking of the Americanized spelling and sound and that is phonetic Chinese. Looking at the spelling though..... I still love it!

[@StopFear]

As a white person I don’t know how many times I heard this stupid play on Chinese names, I feel bad for all the Chinese Americans and elsewhere having to hear this stupid shit

[@UniqueornBacon]

I used to love that TV show American Eats. The history of food is very fascinating because it's almost always a history of culture as well.

[@ChainsGoldMask]

Peanut butter chicken, coconut shrimp, and crab Rangoon is all I need to survive.

[@bennypoon1506]

I was travelling in Northern BC near Prince Rupert, and even in small drive through towns there’s 1, 2 or even 3 Chinese restaurants. Looking through the yelp photos, I learned that these restaurants serve as places for the local First Nations to celebrate birthdays and other family events. It was so heartening to know this food brings so much happiness to people in all corners of the world.

[@grahamrankin4725]

A KZbin channel "Chinese Cooking Demystified" had a segment on "American Chinese" restaurants in China serving what they believe Chinese-American cuisine is like.

[@davefreier7738]

They have one of the better channels for those interested in learning about Chinese cooking.

[@davidelliott3930]

Love this one. It helps that I am famished and eating! I love the way food is being reclaimed for the right reason. Well done.

[@maddiejoy6619]

I've always wondered about the history of Americanized "Chinese" food. This video was very interesting!

[@jeffmatson2046]

I do like the youngmans narration of his visions of foods of Chinese food . This was a wonderful program. Thank yu !

[@romulusnr]

"I can't believe we're eating Cantonese. Is there no Szechuan up here?" -- Delia Deets, 1988 I never understood that line at all. Of course, it was *meant* to sound pedantically yuppie.

[@julienielsen3746]

The fortune cookie I got yesterday said " It's a good time to buy new shoes." I had the lunch special. Sesame Chicken, Pork Chow Mien, and Pork fried Rice.

[@sockmonkey22]

I wish he’d have mentioned Danny Wong-Tam, the owner of America's “longest running” Chinese restaurant, the Butte (Montana) Pekin Noodles Parlor made famous by local patron, Evel Knievel.

[@johnjohnson8575]

There's a South Chinese/Taiwanese dish I wish was more popular in the US and it's called lu rou fan, braised pork belly rice. It's so delicious.

[@MadameSomnambule]

General tso's chicken is my mom and brother's fave when it comes to Chinese takeout. My faves are orange chicken and lo mein. It's really interesting how Chinese takeout evolved from their roots and that a lot of famous dishes were popularized in New York City.

[@franbalcal]

There has been a big chienese community in Peru for 150 years, they created Chinese-Peruvian food we call "Chifa", you can find Chifa restaurants everywhere, its delicious. Chaufa rice, friend wontons, chicharron, pickled turnip. But as per usual unless a country is an Anglo-Saxon or european country, India, China or Japan, good luck getting mentioned for anything. The rest of the world might as well not exist. Kinda like how Nobu gets praised as this amazing Japanese restaurant but its actually Japanese-Peruvian yet nobody knows about that part.

[@cwctlh]

The diversity of Peru and its cuisine gets far, far too little recognition.

[@KarenRaren]

Woowwww I love how food makes part of culture and how we can know history through it!

[@usernameed]

There is no chef named sum ting Wong. That name even sounds fake (something’s wrong). Someone was just trolling. It was Peng Chang-kuei

[@machism.a]

Yes, that seemed a bit suspect to me too.

[@MentalFloss]

Howdy, sorry for the confusion! There IS a chef named Tsung Ting Wang, feel free to check out their obituary here. We mention Peng Chang-Kuei in this video as well. www.nytimes.com/1983/02/19/obituaries/tt-wang-influential-master-of-chinese-kitchen-dies-at-55.html

[@missheadbanger]

Im canadian and my city has a lot of Asian immigrants, It's not very hard to find great restaurants. It's also easy to find Asian food in the grocery stores, there's usually a whole aisle dedicated to Asian cuisine. I sometimes live off of dumplings or vegetable stir fry, with rice or ramen, Because meat is so expensive nowadays, I've also grown to love lentils.

[@adilmahgoub9739]

My father took us out to dinner mainly to chinese restaurants through my life and I always knew it must be for a reason. This video just made me realize general tso is alex jones, general jones, the sudanese generals, the mahgoub & son farmers, Texas instruments, chinese generals, etc..

[@DeathlyQuietVA]

I legit asked myself this question. I was wondering if there was a video for this.

[@LPTheGas]

My big unanswered question about Americanized Chinese food is, what's the deal with Chinese buffets? You almost never hear of a buffet for any other ethnic cuisine popular in the US - Mexican, Italian, Indian, etc - just generic/Southern American buffets like Golden Corral and Old Country Buffet (and local mom'n'pops in the same style), and then Chinese buffets, which might actually be the more prevalent type now, since OCB and Ryan's collapsed. So why is Chinese the one Americanized ethnic cuisine for which the buffet format took off?

[@kimandre336]

My understanding is that the whole concept of Chinese buffet in the Anglo-Saxon North America came from the late 19th and early 20th century when Chinese railway workers in the Pacific part of Canada provided Scandinavian forestry workers with food usually in a form of buffet. That caught on as the Chinese restaurant industry boomed all over the continent with some features of buffet style meals despite the racism they encountered for decades.

[@LPTheGas]

@@kimandre336 So it sprang from the intersection of Chinese food and the Scandinavian tradition of the smorgasbord? That's actually really cool.

[@robinsmith5442]

One of my all time favorite foods in college was Springfield style cashew chicken. It's basically deep fried chicken covered in brown sauce, green onions and cashews then served over rice. I think the place we went to used gizzards but it was so good!!!

[@catherinesanchez1185]

This sounds very similar to a dish found at some Chinese restaurants in Ohio/michigan called Wor Su Gai . Chicken fried , flattened , with gravy , green onions, over rice and some lettuce thrown on top too . I moved away years ago and couldn’t find out why it wasn’t served in my locals . Turns out it was a made up dish that was started in a restaurant in Ohio 😅

[@robinsmith5442]

@@catherinesanchez1185 There was a restaurant owner in Springfield that came up with this and their business did much better. I think his name was David Leong.

[@Andrea-rw9tf]

I love Mala there is a restaurant in Charlotte NC that has a wide variety of delicious Mala dishes… I wish more restaurants cooked with them.

[@SanFranita]

Interesting vid! Surprised that there was no mention of Chicken Balls in Canada. When a Canadian thinks of Chinese food, that’s what comes to mind. I moved to the US 26 years ago and I still miss them. In college I had a friend from Hong Kong who told me “”I love Canadian Chinese food! I’ve never tasted anything g like it.” Lol.

[@anthonyrubino1831]

Such an awesome video.

[@LokianGOP]

Sum Ting Wong? Isn't there also an airline pilot with that name?

[@cloudkitt]

"This is a Korean airline, those are *Chinese* names!"

[@mikeoxbig6700]

Sum Ting Wong? Really?

[@Walawala459]

Very informative, fun to learn 👍

[@wandamedenwaldt8484]

Where herbs and spices used first for their taste and the medicinal properties were noted or were they used as medicines first and the flavors became a part of our cuisine?

[@billyheaning]

The thing about Americanized General Tso's chicken... When it's good, it's REALLY good, and when it's bad, it's REALLY bad. There's never really been an in-between for me. I'm usually only able to find one Chinese restaurant in my area that makes a good General Tso's: crispy outside yet soft and tender on the inside, fully cooked but not dry and chewy, pieces easily separate and aren't coagulated together, pepper flakes spread evenly throughout, broccoli hot and soft.

[@juliet1312]

Cool! I hope you do an episode on Indian food next!

[@HASHIRAMA1000]

I'm just chowing down on Chinese as I watch this and I love it. It taste so damn good. 💯🙏🏻

[@shdow14629]

I LOVE YOUR NAILS

[@iskandartaib]

Chop suey = chap chai? The latter is usually just braised. vegetables in a starchy sauce, usually containing some oyster sauce. In Holland they spell it "Tjap Tjai"... 😁

[@luv2sail66]

Thanks for an interesting video. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my wife, who grew up in China, shortly after we started dating: Her: Do you like Chinese food? Me: Yes, I love Chinese food! Her (excited): Really? Where do you eat Chinese food? Me: P.F. Chang’s. Her (disappointed): That’s not Chinese food.

[@ThatDonChannel]

4:12 Chef Sum Ting Wong? Any relation to the airline pilot?

[@danidejaneiro8378]

While walking around Amsterdam, I was fascinated to see that their Chinese restaurants are actually almost exclusively all signposted as _Surinamese Chinese_ restaurants because that’s how complex and layered the history of the Chinese diaspora’s food is.

[@erictaylor5462]

4:15 I hate to point out the obvious here, but I think this version, though popular, is apocryphal. There just seems to be something wrong (som ting wong really?) with it.

[@claredaiber]

At 3:15 please tell me someone also saw those two people in the back realizing their on camera

[@_ac_7649]

What did Chinese food use for cooking oil before vegetable oil?

[@JoeyXSmith]

4:11 Sum Ting Wong - Something wrong. Sorry, I laughed at this because it remind me of that prank on TV news report.

[@katayakisan]

Should crispy chow mein be considered as an arranged dish of chop suey? (In New York, it would have been called simply "chow mein" at the time.)

[@ericbosken3114]

The chef who popularized Gen Tso's Chicken was named... Sum Ting Wong??? Really?

[@crazyquilt]

Gailan is GREAT. If you ever get a chance to eat it, do so...I am an avowed opponent of broccoli, but I adore gailan. It's also good with chicken & bacon.

[@shawnmorris9803]

Did he say Sum Ting Wong?? About a quarter of the way in.

[@jamithornburg4571]

These people are culinary titans I couldn't imagine a life where i never tried Chinese food

[@anamorphicalan]

My birthday celebration! Time Watch all subscribed videos on 01/27!

[@stephaniegoodie8097]

Didn't include ginger beef from Calgary AB Canada =(

[@treblehead79]

A nice primer on American Chinese food. The pronunciation was "oof", but at least you said "Jow Jongtang" and "gay lohn", etc with authority, I guess.

[@burningknuckle26]

I love American Chinese food and real Chinese food. Real Chinese is grand and is much better but the American Chinese food hits the spot too

[@killercaos123]

Oh god I love Szechuan food so much NOM

[@killercaos123]

Last I remembered China Panda opened up a store in China. Imagine eating food that went overseas only to be imported back to its nation of origin lol

[@gaywizard2000]

We have great Chinese food in Western Canada because of the large diaspora, when we pretty much enslaved them to build the railroad 140 years ago. Ginger Beef, invented in Calgary Alberta, is a crunchy fried beef in sweet sticky ginger sauce, it is amazing and something we should take more pride in as a regional food! You can probably find a recipie or just have it when you come here! We also invented the Caesar, it's like a bloody Mary but way better! Cheers!

[@venabre]

It might seem strange to you to lump bagles, bbq and lobster rolls into "american food" but as someone not from the US it makes absolutely perfect sense to me

[@MisterTengu]

my parents and I were born in the U.S. Yeah its all American food to me too. You wouldn't order them all at the same time, but still American.

[@erraticonteuse]

I'm American, born and raised, and I would absolutely eat barbecued pulled pork or lobster salad on a bagel. But no, not at the same time.

[@venabre]

@@erraticonteuse would you eat a spaghetti pizza?

[@erraticonteuse]

@@venabre No, but I'd eat a spaghetti taco.

[@balasuar]

Wait 4:10 Chef Sum Ting Wong? Did I hear that right?

[@erraticonteuse]

Tsung Ting Wang, apparently. They linked the guy's obit in another comment.

[@Hillers62]

Food is like language... it evolves...it creates new dishes and traditions...this is good, because if recipies became stagnant, then new recipes would have never been discovered...

[@CalvinLimuel]

this episode started with a surprise mispronunciation 😂😂 (you said jiao, not zuo, correct consonant, wrong vowels) But there are Americanized versions of so many things, and cultural adaptation happens everywhere. It's not fake, it's Chinese-American, Italian-American, etc.

[@katayakisan]

I love crispy chow mein!🥰

[@tacoscabeza4761]

I love Neapolitan pizza (the original pizza), but I also love New York style pizza and dare I say, Hawaiian pizza. I've seen how repulsed Italians (from Italy) feel about American pizza like Dominoes. I feel like there's less controversy for stuff like Chicago deep dish or some of the monstruous pizzas Dominoes makes, than Americanized Chinese food. In fact, I almost feel like Americanized Chinese food will get wiped out eventually. The descendants of the restauranteurs rarely go back into the same business due to the restrictions of the time mentioned in the video.

[@jujuchiu5603]

Bruh. Imagine doing research, coming across “Sum Ting Wong” part thinking that its real.

[@MentalFloss]

Feel free to check out their very real obituary here Juju! www.nytimes.com/1983/02/19/obituaries/tt-wang-influential-master-of-chinese-kitchen-dies-at-55.html

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

@@MentalFloss lol! I'll do that as soon as the video ends. I could have sworn it was a joke! Although a friend of mine back in the 80s had worked at an insurance agency, dealing with businesses. One was a Chinese restaurant in an area where (and when) that would have been an exotic thing. However the guy who owned it was Mr. Fuk Yu. I wish I was kidding. And yes, it was pronounced by her the way he told her it was said - exactly as you're thinking right now!

[@robvancamp2781]

All immigrants in all countries use more local ingredients to cook analogous foods to what they were used to. Indian food in England isn't really Indian. American food in France isn't American. It is what it is.

[@FisherKot11235]

I love Americanized Chinese food.

[@ElaineGreywalker]

What a sweater! Shades of “The Santa Clause.”

[@tava780]

4:10 Did he really say "something wrong"?

[@cassieoz1702]

I've never heard of mango pancakes or ham and chicken rolls😳

[@danidejaneiro8378]

Me neither but after years away from Australia, I’ve got a hankering for some Honey Chicken and Prawn Toast

[@cassieoz1702]

@@danidejaneiro8378 prawn toast us easy to make😉

[@dunnowy123]

Why is lumping bagels, cheese burgers and lobster rolls....not okay again? They are all examples of American cuisine. A more accurate description would be to call pizza, fish n chips, and ratatouille "European food" an apt description to how we talk about Chinese or Indian food. I'm Chinese food is also isn't a problem... There is a shared culinary heritage and philosophy behind Chinese food that all region share. It's it's a minor problem when people think that food from Guangdong is all that Chinese food is (for example)

[@KimiHayashi]

I'm chinese american and I love chinese takeout lol

[@TexRenner]

You don't need "air-quote" discover every time you say the word. The definition of discover has nothing to do with a thing being completely unknown to anybody else, only with that discovery.

[@NormalMadwoman]

I used to live in Tianjin and Gou Bu li is closer to "the dog won't get a share"

[@zhazhagab0r]

That makes so much more sense. Thank you for clarifying.

[@TonecrafteLuthiery]

Okay who hijacked the Wikipedia page for General Tso’s and got away with it 😂. Sum Ting Wong, indeed.

[@duncansmith86]

What about the uk?

[@julienielsen3746]

I saw a documentary on Chinese Restaurants in Canada the other day. I never heard of a Chow Mien Bun. Which turned out to be Chow Mien on a hamburger bun, with gravy on top.

[@mad_max21]

"GOOBOOLI BAUJI"

[@amypeters3960]

I love your nails 💅😻

[@bagboy8617]

Who else was eating Chinese food and decided to come watch this?🤣

[@MagdaleneDivine]

I'm leaving. My eyes can't handle anymore

[@danidejaneiro8378]

Hot take: I don’t give a flying fugg what some 19th century peasant across the globe ate. I care about what is on my plate and is it delicious? That’s it.

[@claysoggyfries]

American Chinese food is the best on earth 🥡

[@infin1ty850]

Associating the word "spicy" with General Tso almost seems insulting to the term spicy. Even if you eat the chilies they include, I don't think it would give even my wife heat in her mouth, and she can't handle things like "hot" flavor sauce from Taco Bell.

[@callmedavid9696]

I think you got trolled with the chef called Sum Ting Wong

[@toveryonder1115]

so THAT'S why all Chinese food places are covered in "gold"

[@DreamingIce]

wait. Americans don't have lemon chicken on chinese menus regularly? *confused Aussie*

[@alexchan4074]

Fushion cuisine?

[@ReeWebster]

Some ting seems wrong, I mean wang.

[@thepoopcast6609]

Sheesh!

[@trevvrun]

"sum ting wong" lmao sounds fictional. "Something wrong"

[@StopFear]

Advice to non Chinese, non Asian Americans, don’t try to use chopstick just because you think you are expected to if you eat food in America. Imagine Chinese Americans who make the food for you. Do you think they all eat with chopsticks, or with forks? They mostly use forks. So, in my subjective opinion, insisting on using chopsticks just because your food is “Chinese” is borderline insulting to the Chinese people. If they use chopsticks it’s probably because they are used to it, but what is your reason? Because you think the food tastes different depending on how you use it? Just a couple thoughts from a San Franciscan.

[@Hillers62]

OK...this video has made very hungry for real Chinese food...NOT Panda Express...

[@callmedavid9696]

You didn't even mention dim sims

[@kimandre336]

Dim sum is a late comer to America.

[@salyluz6535]

Dim sum?

[@josephsun2578]

goubuli baozi

[@chloeleau]

dang now i want a crab rangoon

[@erictaylor5462]

So what you are saying is, not only is it not his chicken, Gen. Tso probably never even ate it, and may never have even owned a chicken at all? Next thing you know, you are going to say fortune cookies aren't Chinese.

[@mfrenchcazenovia]

They aren't.

[@erraticonteuse]

No, but funnily enough they're not American either. They're Japanese.

[@genki_stars3992]

Vishnu Mr toilet running water No inventions envy bru

[@20subschallengewith0video2]

One of the best things about dude is that he never takes credit for himself when he achieves something. He always respect us, the audience, and his team, and hi is always polite in all of his videos We congratulate ourselves on this achievement it's make Different From Other KZbinr 's.. More to come and everything to come.......♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️😀😀

[@valentinursu1747]

The presenter is trying to parody Alec Baldwin's parody of Trump at SNL right?