American Chinese cuisine
American Chinese cuisine, also known as Sino–American cuisine and often referred to in American English as simply Chinese food, is a style of Chinese cuisine developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in North American Chinese restaurants are modified to suit customers' tastes and are often quite different from styles common in China. By the late 20th century, it was recognized as one of the many regional styles of Chinese cuisine.
History
American Chinese cuisine can be traced back to the California Gold Rush when Chinese immigrants came in search for work as gold miners and railroad workers. As more Chinese arrived, the state introduced laws that prohibited immigrants from owning land. Chinese therefore gathered in cities and started small businesses, including restaurants and laundry services. These smaller restaurants adapted Chinese food to suit the tastes of American customers, such as miners and railroad workers, serving a variety of dishes, ranging from pork chop sandwiches and apple pie to beans and eggs. They later opened restaurants in towns where Chinese food was completely unknown, using local ingredients and cooking procedures to adapt their customer preferences. By the late 19th century, Chinese Americans in San Francisco operated luxurious restaurants patronized mainly by Chinese customers. Many restaurant owners were self-taught family cooks who improvised cooking methods using whatever ingredients were available.The California Gold Rush brought 20,000–30,000 immigrants to the US from Canton, China. The location of the first Chinese restaurant has sparked debate. Some say it was Macau and Woosung, while others cite Canton Restaurant. Neither one of these restaurants have any surviving photographs; the only reliable information is that these two restaurants were founded in 1849 in San Francisco. Either way, these and other such restaurants were central features in the daily lives of Chinese immigrants. They provided a connection to home, particularly for the many bachelors who did not have the resources or knowledge to cook for themselves. These populations were substantial: In 1852, the ratio of male to female Chinese immigrants was 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 development 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; these visas fueled the opening of Chinese restaurants as an immigration vehicle. The merchant status was based on the use of rotating managers. 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.
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. Bok choi, then called "Pak choi," was sometimes called "Chinese Romaine". Similarly, Napa cabbage was called "Chinese cabbage". In those years, it was commonplace for prosperous American families, especially on the West Coast, to employ Chinese cooks as domestic servants. For example, cookbook author and TV personality James Beard grew up in Portland, Oregon where his parents employed a Chinese cook, Jue-Let, whom Beard credited as a major culinary influence, and spoke of with great affection. In 1915, a manual was published in San Francisco, instructing Chinese immigrants how to cook for American families.
Along the way, cooks adapted southern Chinese dishes and developed a style of Chinese food not found in China, such as chop suey. Restaurants 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. 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," though it continued to be popular.
In 1955, the Republic of China evacuated the Dachen Islands. Many who escaped to Taiwan later moved to the United States as they lacked strong social networks and access to opportunities in Taiwan. Chefs from the Dachen Islands had a strong influence on American Chinese food.
By the end of the 1950s, immigrants from Taiwan replaced Cantonese immigrants as the primary labor force in American Chinese restaurants. Taiwanese immigrants expanded American-Chinese cuisine beyond Cantonese cuisine to encompass dishes from many different regions of China as well as Japanese-inspired dishes.
Chinese-American restaurants played a key role in ushering in the era of take-out and delivery food in the United States. 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.
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 and Wenzhounese from Zhejiang 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 US are printed in Chinatown, Manhattan, which has a strong Chinese-American demographic.
Late 20th-century tastes have been more accommodating to domestic residents. By this time, it had become evident that Chinese restaurants no longer catered mainly to Chinese customers.
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.
Pekin Noodle Parlor, established in 1911, is the oldest operating Chinese restaurant in the country. As of 2023, the United States had around 37,000 Chinese restaurants.
Differences from other regional cuisines in China
Many of the dishes that are commonly recognized as "Chinese food" were actually developed in America and bear little resemblance to traditional Chinese cuisine. Examples include fortune cookies, crab rangoon, and General Tso's chicken, none of which originated in China. Instead, these dishes were crafted to suit American palates, often characterized by sweetness, bold sauces, and deep-fried dishes.American Chinese cuisine has its roots in the culinary traditions of Chinese immigrants from Guangdong province, particularly the Toisan district, the origin of most Chinese immigration before the closure of immigration in 1924. These Chinese immigrants developed new cooking styles and used readily available ingredients. The type of Chinese-American cooking served in restaurants differed significantly from the food eaten in Chinese-American homes. Among various regional cuisines in China, Cantonese cuisine has had the most influence on the development of American Chinese food.
American Chinese food typically includes greater quantities of meat compared to traditional Chinese cuisine. An increasing number of American Chinese restaurants—including some upscale establishments—have begun to incorporate more authentic dishes in response to growing customer demand for traditional flavors. While Chinese cuisine frequently uses Asian leaf vegetables, like bok choy and gai-lan, American Chinese cuisine commonly utilizes ingredients rarely found in China. For instance, Western broccoli is used instead of Chinese broccoli.
Chinese ingredients previously considered "exotic" in North America have become more available over time, including fresh fruits and vegetables. For example, edible snow pea pods have become widely available, while the less-known dau miu are increasingly appearing on menus and even in supermarkets in North America.
File:Chinese buffet2.jpg|thumb|A Chinese buffet restaurant in the United States
American-Chinese food also has had a reputation for high levels of MSG, used to enhance flavor. From the early to mid-2000s through the 2010s and into the 2020s, market forces and customer preferences encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free" or "No MSG" menus, or to omit this ingredient upon request.
However, discussions appearing around 2020 addressed that MSG's reputation has begun shifting, suggesting this trend had been developing for at least the past decade.
A typical example to show how American Chinese cuisine differs from traditional Chinese food is egg fried rice. In American Chinese cuisine, egg fried rice often includes more soy sauce for additional flavor, whereas traditional egg fried rice uses much less soy sauce. Some culinary styles, such as dim sum, have also been modified to fit American tastes, including adding batter for fried dishes and using extra soy sauce.
Both traditional Chinese and American-Chinese cooking utilize similar methods of preparation, such as stir frying, pan frying, and deep frying, all of which can easily be performed using a wok.
Ming Tsai, chef and former owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and host of PBS culinary show Simply Ming, has commented on the characteristics of American Chinese restaurants. He noted that these establishments often serve dishes representing three to five regions of China simultaneously, typically including items such as chop suey, various sweet and sour dishes, and an adaptation of chow mein or fried rice. Tsai described this style as: "Chinese-American cuisine as an adaptation of traditional Chinese food, modified to attract American customers by making it blander, thicker, and sweeter".
Most American Chinese primarily cater to non-Chinese customers, offering menus written in English accompanied by pictures. In some cases, separate menus written in Chinese are available, typically featuring traditional dishes confessing ingredients such as liver, offal, chicken feet, or other meat items that might not appeal to non-Chinese customers. This is notably true among restaurants in Chinatown, Manhattan.