Where there are people, there are Chinese; where there are Chinese, there are Chinese restaurants. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States alone, exceeding the number of McDonald's restaurants and the total number of Japanese restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Indian restaurants and other national flavor restaurants combined. From the menus of those most ordinary Chinese restaurants, we can see Chinese familiar dishes: spring rolls, dumplings, egg flower soup, wonton soup, sour and spicy soup... However, every Chinese restaurant, no matter the size, age, flavor, and where the operator comes from, what you see from the menu is not only the name of the dish, but also the history of Chinese immigrants, those long legends, those struggles and struggles.
Low-end Chinese restaurant
Almost all Chinese restaurants have a dish: stir-fried offal, written in English as chop suey. Offal, a not-so-elegant word, is the name of a Chinese dish that has long been famous in the United States. For more than 100 years, many Chinese restaurants have been called "offal restaurants", and Americans have called eating Chinese food "eating offal". However, the Americans did not know that China originally did not have this dish, and it was invented by Chinese workers after they came to the United States.
In the mid-19th century, with the gold rush in the western United States, the first Batch of Chinese workers came to the San Francisco area of the United States, and Chinese food appeared on the world stage. How can you spend the least amount of money in a harsh environment to make the dishes that best satisfy the Chinese stomach? The clever Chinese workers used the animal offal that Americans do not eat, such as chicken hearts, duck hearts, chicken gizzards, duck gizzards, and some vegetable corners, a little celery, a little onion, a little cabbage, stir-fried together, and then put some garlic, put some peppers, and made this dish with the taste of hometown that chinese workers who are far away from their homeland. Because this dish is made of offal, it is "offal", so this dish is called "stir-fried offal".
This is just one version of the origin of "stir-fried chowder". There are many more versions, one of which is widely circulated and famous, and is related to Li Hongzhang, a minister of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that when Li Hongzhang visited the United States at the end of the 19th century, one day, an American guest came to visit. Li Hongzhang kept the guests to eat, so he asked the accompanying cooks to cook Chinese food. But it was too late, there were no ingredients in the kitchen, the store was closed, and the cook fried the various minced meat left in the kitchen into a pot. After eating, the guests praised the delicious taste and asked Li Hongzhang what the name of this dish was, and Li Hongzhang casually said that it was "offal", so this dish was called "Li Hongzhang offal". At that time, Li Hongzhang's visit to the United States was very sensational, and the name of Li Hongzhang was probably to attract customers, in fact, fried miscellaneous pieces had been popular in the United States as early as before Li Hongzhang's visit to the United States.
Chicken offal
Once upon a time, because of the anti-Chinese exclusion, fried offal was also criticized and reprimanded by the Americans, alarmist propaganda, Chinese stir-fried vegetables with rat meat. However, Chinese food has shown strong vitality in the face of adversity. After more than 100 years of evolution, chinese restaurant chefs in order to cater to the preferences and tastes of Americans, in order to cook stir-fried offal, no longer use animal offal and vegetable scraps, but use fresh and high-quality vegetables, chicken, pork, beef and seafood. Some guests do not eat spicy, so unless the guest specifically asks, do not put chili peppers. Because it is highly sought after by the majority of americans, stir-fried offal has become a symbol and a symbol of Chinese food. Many American diners order stir-fried offal as soon as they enter a Chinese restaurant, just like when they arrive in Beijing, they have to eat Roast Duck, when they arrive in Shanghai, they have to eat Nanxiang Xiaolong, when they arrive in Nanjing, they have to eat duck blood vermicelli soup, and when they arrive in Xi'an, they have to eat lamb steamed buns...
A small stir-fried chop, from a low-cost street snack that was once disdained by Americans, has developed into an indispensable dish in almost every Chinese restaurant, turned gorgeously, entered the room, become the darling of the table, and often appears in many American movies and television series. This is mostly like the Chinese workers who have left their hometowns, although they once had a humble status, they can make fun in the harsh environment, heat up and shine, give full play to their wisdom and wisdom, take root in a strange foreign land, multiply and thrive, and gradually enter the mainstream society from the bottom of society through the efforts of generations of people.
American Chinese restaurant menu
It can be said that the history of the development and evolution of Chinese food in the United States is a history of Chinese immigration. Every Chinese character and every picture on the Chinese restaurant menu tells the story of the Chinese people's hard-working, strong patience and indomitable perseverance. What rolls in the soup pot is not chicken soup and fish soup, but the blood and tears of countless Chinese; what flutters up and down in the wok is not vegetables and meat, but the Chinese people's vision and hope for the future; the spice jar is not filled with oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, but the sour, sweet, bitter and spicy in the hearts of the Chinese; the dishes placed in front of the guests like a hundred flowers blooming are dazzling and fragrant, because they are brewed from the suffering of the Chinese.
With the popularity of Chinese food in the United States, many English words originating from Chinese have appeared in English. Ramen, pronounced exactly like Chinese "ramen". Indeed, this word is the meaning of "ramen, noodles", on the american instant noodle packaging bags, the use of this word; Tofu, pronounced exactly like "tofu", but also the meaning of "tofu", on the tofu box sold in American stores, the word is impressive...
Instant noodles bought in American stores, the English word ramen can be seen
Tofu bought in American stores, you can see the English word tofu
Caption: Old Chinese restaurant "Miscellaneous Restaurant" from 100 years ago
(Zhu Rui, editor of this article, image provided by the author)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Wu Bin Cao Jing Text Editor: Zhu Rui