 Editor in Chief Bill   | 06 Jan 2023 1:57 p.m. PST |
Believe it or not, General Tso's chicken, found on probably every Chinese food restaurant menu in America, isn't really a Chinese dish -- a more accurate description would be "Chinese inspired." It was also not created by a Chinese general, but rather named for the general by the chef who created it… Military: link |
 Stosstruppen  | 06 Jan 2023 3:48 p.m. PST |
Most things on menus in American Chinese restaurants are not Chinese dishes… |
| 79thPA | 06 Jan 2023 4:48 p.m. PST |
A local Chinese restaurant has an American Chinese menu, and a Chinese Chinese menu if you want delicacies such as pig intestine soup. |
| Mr Elmo | 06 Jan 2023 5:26 p.m. PST |
Chinese Chinese menu Yes but they are usually in Chinese as well |
| 79thPA | 06 Jan 2023 6:23 p.m. PST |
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 Mister Tibbles | 06 Jan 2023 6:25 p.m. PST |
Who cares? The food tastes great. There is a great scene of Anthony Bourdain regretting that he shunned American Chinese food all his life because it wasn't authentic. Late in life, he came to the same conclusion. Who cares? It tastes great! |
| Frederick | 06 Jan 2023 8:14 p.m. PST |
Having traveled to China a lot there are more than a few authentic Chinese dishes that probably would have trouble catching on in the West – for example while I like congee the same cannot be said for most of my family Good to know about General Tso's chicken – thanks for posting |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 06 Jan 2023 8:47 p.m. PST |
Crab Rangoon is an American invention, and originally part of pseudo-Polynesian cuisine (tiki bars). |
| Zephyr1 | 06 Jan 2023 10:19 p.m. PST |
"Believe it or not, General Tso's chicken, found on probably every Chinese food restaurant menu in America," And probably not a few unsuspecting people have tattoos of the name in Chinese characters on them because they thought it looked "mystical and cool!" ;-) |
| Cerdic | 07 Jan 2023 12:07 p.m. PST |
My daughter recently visited her friend who lives near Boston. She ordered the same Chinese stuff that she normally has in Britain, but when it turned up the food was all different! Odd… |
| GamesPoet | 07 Jan 2023 7:32 p.m. PST |
Unfortunately I couldn't read the whole article, some sort of having to sign up for the site covered most of it. |
| Eclectic Wave | 09 Jan 2023 8:33 a.m. PST |
For a lot of "Americanized" Chinese food, it's more of trying to recreate the authentic dishes with the foods they found available in America. |
| Ed Mohrmann | 09 Jan 2023 1:40 p.m. PST |
I've yet to find a replacement for the authentic
Chinese (not Cantonese) restaurant which used to be
in Raleigh, NC. Granted, Cantonese IS Chinese cuisine but the cuisine
of the Chinese culture is far more and much subtler than
what Cantonese fare offers. Short of in country, the absolute best Chinese food I've
ever found in the US was in New Haven Connecticut, the
Blessings Restaurant operated by a couple who came to the US
in the very early 1950's. |
| emckinney | 10 Jan 2023 2:18 p.m. PST |
Yes but they are usually in Chinese as well That's what the Google Translate app and its camera function are for. They're amazing. |
| gregmita2 | 11 Jan 2023 12:20 p.m. PST |
The article is quite bizarre. The dish was created by a Chinese chef, in the Republic of China, and then adopted in variants by ethnic Chinese chefs in North America. Yet the claim is that it's "not really a Chinese dish"? Do we need Nuremburg laws to determine if a dish is "authentically" of a particular ethnic or racial origin? Like any cuisine, Chinese food changes from adaptation, local materials, and the intended customer base. So much the better, since we get diversity. |
