Chinese Take Out

American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those found in China.

History

Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States seeking employment as miners and railroad workers. As larger groups arrived, laws were put in place preventing them from owning land. They mostly lived together in ghettos, individually referred to as " Chinatown". Here the immigrants started their own small businesses, including restaurants and laundry services.

By the 19th century, the Chinese community in San Francisco operated sophisticated and sometimes luxurious restaurants patronized mainly by Chinese. 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. Many of these small-town restaurant owners were self-taught family cooks who improvised on different cooking methods using whatever ingredients were available.

These smaller restaurants were responsible for developing American Chinese cuisine, where the food was modified to suit a more American palate. First catering to miners and railroad workers, they established new eateries in towns where Chinese food was completely unknown, adapting local ingredients and catering to their customers' tastes. Even though the new flavors and dishes meant they were not strictly Chinese cuisine, these Chinese restaurants have been cultural ambassadors to Americans.

Chinese restaurants in the United States began during the California Gold Rush, which brought 20,000–30,000 immigrants across from the Canton (Guangdong) region of China. The first Chinese restaurant in America is debated. Some say it was Macau and Woosung, while others cite Canton Restaurant. Both unphotographed establishments were founded in 1849 in San Francisco. Either way, these and other such restaurants were central features in the daily lives of immigrants. They provided a connection to home, particularly for the many bachelors who did not have the resources or knowledge to cook for themselves. In 1852, the ratio of male to female Chinese immigrants was a 18:1. These restaurants served as gathering places and cultural centers for the Chinese community. By 1850, there were five Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. Soon after, significant amounts of food were being imported from China to America's west coast.

The trend spread steadily eastward with the growth of the American railways, particularly to New York City. The Chinese Exclusion Act allowed merchants to enter the country, and in 1915, restaurant owners became eligible for merchant visas. This fueled the opening of Chinese restaurants as an immigration vehicle. Pekin Noodle Parlor, established in 1911, is the oldest operating Chinese restaurant in the country. , the United States had 46,700 Chinese restaurants.

Along the way, cooks adapted southern Chinese dishes and developed a style of Chinese food not found in China, such as chop suey. Restaurants (along with Chinese laundries) provided an ethnic niche for small businesses at a time when Chinese people were excluded from most jobs in the wage economy by ethnic discrimination or lack of language fluency.Andrew Coe ''Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). By the 1920s, this cuisine, particularly chop suey, became popular among middle-class Americans. However, after World War II it began to be dismissed for not being "authentic".

Late 20th-century tastes have been more accommodating. By this time it had become evident that Chinese restaurants no longer catered mainly to Chinese customers. Chinese-American restaurants played a key role in ushering in the era of take-out and delivery food in America.

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. Chinese American restaurants were among the first restaurants to use picture menus in the US.

Beginning in the 1950s, Taiwanese immigrants replaced Cantonese immigrants as the primary labor force in American Chinese restaurants. These immigrants expanded American-Chinese cuisine beyond Cantonese cuisine to encompass dishes from many different regions of China as well as Japanese-inspired dishes.

In 1955, the Republic of China evacuated the Dachen Islands in the face of the encroaching Communists. Many who evacuated to Taiwan later moved to the United States as they lacked strong social networks and access to opportunity in Taiwan. Chefs from the Dachen Islands had a strong influence on American Chinese food.

Taiwanese immigration largely ended in the 1990s due to an economic boom and democratization in Taiwan. From the 1990s onward immigrants from China once again made up the majority of cooks in American Chinese restaurants. There has been a consequential component of Chinese emigration of illegal origin, most notably Fuzhou people from Fujian Province and Wenzhounese from Zhejiang Province in Mainland China, specifically destined to work in Chinese restaurants in New York City, beginning in the 1980s.

Adapting Chinese cooking techniques to local produce and tastes has led to the development of American Chinese cuisine. Many of the Chinese restaurant menus in the U.S. are printed in Chinatown, Manhattan, which has a strong Chinese-American demographic.

In 2011, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History displayed some of the historical background and cultural artifacts of American Chinese cuisine in its exhibit entitled, ''Sweet & Sour: A Look at the History of Chinese Food in the United States''.

Differences from other regional cuisines in China

American Chinese food builds from styles and food habits brought from the southern province of Guangdong, often from the Toisan district of Toisan, the origin of most Chinese immigration before the closure of immigration from China in 1924. These Chinese families developed new styles and used readily available ingredients, especially in California. The type of Chinese-American cooking served in restaurants was different from the foods eaten in Chinese-American homes. Of the various regional cuisines in China, Cantonese cuisine has been the most influential in the development of American Chinese food.

One major difference between Chinese and American-Chinese cuisine is in the use of vegetables. Salads containing raw or uncooked ingredients are rare in traditional Chinese cuisine. However, an increasing number of American Chinese restaurants, including some upscale establishments, have started to offer these items in response to customer demand. While Cuisine in China makes frequent use of Asian leaf vegetables like bok choy and kai-lan, American Chinese cuisine makes use of ingredients not native to and very rarely used in China, for example, Western broccoli () instead of Chinese broccoli ( Gai-lan, ). (Occasionally, Western broccoli is also referred to as ' in Cantonese () in order to distinguish the two.)

American-Chinese food also has a reputation for high levels of MSG to enhance flavor; however, in recent years, market forces and customer demand have encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free" or "No MSG" menus, or to omit this ingredient on request.

Egg fried rice in American Chinese cuisine is also prepared differently, with more soy sauce added for more flavor whereas the traditional egg fried rice uses less soy sauce. 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.

Both Chinese and American-Chinese cooking utilize similar methods of preparation, such as stir frying, pan frying, and deep frying, which are all easily done using a wok.

Ming Tsai, the owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant 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". Tsai said "Chinese-American cuisine is 'dumbed-down' Chinese food. It's adapted... to be blander, thicker and sweeter for the American public".

Most American Chinese establishments cater to non-Chinese customers with menus written in English or containing pictures. If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature items such 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.

Dishes

American Chinese restaurant menu items not found in China

Dishes that often appear on American Chinese restaurant menus include:
* Almond chicken—chicken breaded in batter containing ground almonds, fried and served with almonds and onions.
* Beef and broccoli—flank steak cut into small pieces, stir fried with broccoli, and covered in a dark sauce made with soy sauce and oyster sauce and thickened with cornstarch.
* Chicken and broccoli—similar to beef & broccoli, but with chicken instead of beef.
* Chinese chicken salad—usually containing sliced or shredded chicken, uncooked leafy greens, crispy noodles (or fried wonton skins) and sesame dressing. Some restaurants serve the salad with mandarin oranges.
* Chop suey—connotes "assorted pieces" in Chinese. It is usually a mix of vegetables and meat in a brown sauce but can also be served in a white sauce.
* Crab rangoon—fried wonton skins stuffed with (usually) artificial crab meat ( surimi) and cream cheese.
* Fortune cookie—invented in California as a Westernized version of the Japanese ''omikuji senbei'', fortune cookies have become sweetened and found their way to many American Chinese restaurants.
* Fried wontons—somewhat similar to crab rangoon, a filling, (most often pork), is wrapped in a wonton skin and deep fried.
* General Tso's chicken—chunks of chicken that are dipped in batter, deep fried, and seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers. Believed to be named after Qing dynasty statesman and military leader Zuo Zongtang, often referred to as General Tso.
* Mongolian beef—fried beef with scallions or white onions in a spicy and often sweet brown sauce.
* Pepper steak—sliced steak, green bell peppers, tomatoes, and white or green onions stir fried with salt, sugar, and soy sauce. Bean sprouts are a less common addition.
* Royal beef—deep-fried sliced beef, doused in a wine sauce and often served with steamed broccoli.
* Sesame chicken

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