Most Chinese food is actually a lie as well.

This will be my second post tonight relating to food. I really just thought of my ideas for what to write about to tonight while eating dinner. My family brought home Chinese from HyVee. ( often referred to as HyChi by us youngsters) My very plain tastes forced me to order sesame chicken and a side of rice. While I was eating I noticed that my chicken was basically standard chicken strips like any restaurant sells dipped in some sort of fattening and kind of sugary paste-sauce. It made me wonder how accurate this was to what actual Chinese cuisine contains.


In the nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants emigrated from their homes in mostly southern China to California. San Francisco became a prominent place for the immigrants. Soon after the population grew, Chinese in San Francisco operated sophisticated and sometimes luxurious restaurants patronized mainly by Chinese. These places became popular with upper-class whites who saw it as a novelty place to go. However, the upper class were not used to the very foreign tastes brought over by the immigrants. To accommodate to their tastes, the restaurants adjusted their menus to suit them. One of the most notable creation from this time is Chop Suey, which is really any type of noodles with any type of meat. And people ate it.

Today, most "Chinese Food" is sold with some a panda or a Chinese character on its packaging. Everything on the modern Chinese restaurant menu has been created to suit the tastes of the fast food hungry American. Every item is very similar to every other item available. Chicken is prepared the exact same way, it just all depends on what kind of sauce it is coated in and then suddenly you have a "whole new dish." It's all a lie if you think about it. What we consider Chinese food is no more ethnic than Burger King or McDonald's. It is our own creation, not some kind of foreign delicacy. I'm not saying traditional Chinese restaurants can't be found in the United States, but I'm sure you would be hard pressed to find a restaurant that doesn't cater to the modern customers wants. This is good business practice though, just for the reason that not everyone wants to eat true traditional Chinese food.

Neither do I though, I had the sesame chicken.