American Chinese cuisine
The restaurants in smaller towns (mostly owned by Chinese immigrants) served food based on what their customers requested, anything ranging from pork chop sandwiches and apple pie, to beans and eggs.
[5] Chinese restaurants in the United States began during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), which brought 20,000–30,000 immigrants across from the Canton (Guangdong) region of China.
The restaurants would operate as a partnership among many people, rotating different partners through the management responsibilities and establishing them as merchants to earn the exemption.
[11] By the early decades of the 20th century, Chinese restaurants had brought new culinary ingredients to towns and cities across the United States, including soy sauce, sesame oil, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, dried mushrooms, fried noodles, Oolong tea and almond cookies.
[12] In those years, it was commonplace for prosperous American families, especially on the West Coast, to employee Chinese cooks as domestic servants.
In New York City, delivery was pioneered in the 1970s by Empire Szechuan Gourmet Franchise, which hired Taiwanese students studying at Columbia University to do the work.
[28] An increasing number of American Chinese restaurants, including some upscale establishments, have started to offer these items in response to customer demand.
Chinese ingredients considered "exotic" in North America have become more available over time, including fresh fruits and vegetables which previously had been rare.
Some food styles, such as dim sum, were also modified to fit American palates, such as added batter for fried dishes and extra soy sauce.
Ming Tsai, the owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant[30] in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and host of PBS culinary show Simply Ming, said that American Chinese restaurants typically try to have food representing 3–5 regions of China at one time, have chop suey, or have "fried vegetables and some protein in a thick sauce", "eight different sweet and sour dishes", or "a whole page of 20 different chow meins or fried rice dishes".
If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature such items as liver, chicken feet, or other meat dishes that might deter American customers (such as offal).
In Chinatown, Manhattan, some restaurants are known for having a "phantom" menu with food preferred by ethnic Chinese, but believed to be disliked by non-Chinese Americans.
[51][52][53] The tradition may have arisen from the lack of other open restaurants on Christmas Day, the close proximity of Jewish and Chinese immigrants to each other in New York City, and the absence of dairy foods combined with meat.
[56] The valley has become a brand-name tourist destination in China, although droughts in California are creating a difficult impact upon its water security and existential viability.
[58] Some regional styles of Chinese cuisine include Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Hunan, Mongolian hot pot, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shanxi, Shenyang, Wuxi, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Wuhan.
[59] Food blogger David R. Chan has visited more than 8000 Chinese restaurants, including hundreds around his home in Los Angeles.
The trademark dishes of American Chinese cuisine remain on the menu, but there is more emphasis on fresh vegetables, and the selection is vegetarian-friendly.
In addition, innovative dishes incorporating chow mein and chop suey as well as locally farmed produce and regionally procured seafood are found in Chinese as well as non-Chinese food in and around Boston.
The selection of Chinese bakery products has increased markedly in the 21st century, although the range of choices in New York City remains supreme.
[63] Her restaurants were frequented by early pioneers of the ARPANET,[64] as well as celebrities such as John Kenneth Galbraith, James Beard, Julia Child, Henry Kissinger, Beverly Sills, and Danny Kaye.
[66] In addition, her single-season PBS national television series Joyce Chen Cooks popularized some dishes which could be made at home, and she often encouraged using substitute ingredients when necessary.
A popular dish localized in Chinese American carryouts across the DMV region consists of whole fried chicken wings served with mumbo sauce, a sweet, tangy ketchup-based condiment.
Many American films (for example: The Godfather; Ghostbusters; The Lost Boys; The Naked Gun; Crossing Delancey; Paid in Full; and Inside Out) involve scenes where Chinese take-out food is eaten from oyster pails.
A running gag in Dallas is Cliff Barnes' fondness for inexpensive Chinese take-out food, as opposed to his nemesis J. R. Ewing frequenting fine restaurants.
[72] Among the numerous American television series and films that feature Chinese restaurants as a setting include A Christmas Story, Seinfeld (particularly the episode "The Chinese Restaurant"), Sex and the City, Big Trouble in Little China, South Park, Year of the Dragon, Lethal Weapon 4, Mickey Blue Eyes, Booty Call, Rush Hour 2, and Men in Black 3.
[73][74] In most cases, it is not an actual restaurant but a movie set that typifies the stereotypical American Chinese eatery, featuring "paper lanterns and intricate woodwork", with "numerous fish tanks and detailed [red] wallpaper [with gold designs]" and "golden dragons", plus "hanging ducks in the window".
Through running their own restaurants or eateries, first-generation Chinese immigrants eliminated discrimination against them and gained sufficient income to send the next generations to universities or colleges.
In addition, American Chinese cuisine brought some new ingredients and cooking methods to the United States, such as stir-frying and steaming.
Thus, many restaurants in the United States started to combine existing dishes with Chinese cooking techniques and flavors, which promoted the development of fusion cuisine.
It offers similar menus in Japan compared to Panda Express restaurants in the United States, such as Orange Chicken, Beijing Beef, and Fortune cookies.
