By Lillian Guo
When most people think about Chinese food, they think about the food from their favorite local Chinese restaurant or their favorite Chinese food chain. What if I told you that what you order from a Chinese restaurant on a typical Saturday night isn’t actually Chinese food? Contrary to popular American belief, Chinese food in America is not authentic; instead, it is a whole separate cuisine, the American-Chinese Cuisine. Based on the location, Chinese restaurants in America adapt to their locals’ or customers’ tastes by altering their foods to form American-Chinese foods to better appeal to them.
To further this preposition, a Chinese Cookbook from 1917 was analyzed to give a brief introduction to Chinese food and the beginning of American influence on Chinese foods in America (Chan, 1917)¹. Then, two oral histories were conducted, one on my mother, MinXue Jiang, who is a Chinese immigrant and an American-Chinese restaurant owner (Jiang, 2022)², and one on my cousin, Karen Guo, who is a first-generation American-born-Chinese and has worked in her parents’ American-Chinese restaurant (Guo, 2022)³. The differences and similarities in the responses from my mother and cousin will reveal the different perspectives on how Chinese foods in America had been influenced. Furthermore, a follow-up text interview was conducted with Karen Guo to further share her experience and opinion on American-Chinese foods (K. Guo, 2022)⁴. In addition, a text interview was conducted with JiaQi Sharon Huang, an American-born-Chinese, who is attending UNC-CH as a freshman this year. She has worked in her parents’ American-Chinese restaurant for four years and has good insight into the influence of customers on Chinese food in America (Huang, 2022)⁵. Lastly, Panda Express’s website on their foods was analyzed to provide insights into the alterations within a big American-Chinese food chain (Express, 2022)⁶.
In addition, two secondary sources were chosen to explain the proposition. The first is a novel by Yong Chen, a research professor of Chinese philosophy and religion at El Colegio de México. Professor Chen explains the background of how the American-Chinese cuisine came to be and the hardships that the Chinese immigrants have to face in order to create the cuisine. The novel gives insight into why Chinese foods have adopted the local American taste making them nonauthentic Chinese food.⁷ The second source used is an article by a user name Gavin. Gavin expresses the difference between authentic Chinese cuisine and American-Chinese cuisine.⁸
This exhibit will describe how these sources will illustrate how American-Chinese restaurants alter and change Chinese dishes to non-authentic Chinese dishes to better please their customers.
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(1) Chan, S. W. (2022). Secure Access Management. Food and Drinks in History. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.foodanddrink.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/SearchDetails/UMICH_JBLCA_PB_39015098253720
(2) Guo, Lillian, and MinXue Jiang. “The Oral History of MinXue Jiang’s Experience and Opinion of American-Chinese and Chinese Cuisine.” Within Laptop Files, Accessed 24 Feb. 2022.
(3) Guo, Lillian, and Karen Guo. “The Oral History of Karen Guo’s Experience and Opinion of the American Chinese Cuisines and the Impact of Local Americans on the Foods.” Within Laptop Files, Accessed 10 March 2022.
(4) Guo, L., & Guo, K. (2022, April 4). Text Interview of Karen Guo Follow-Up . personal.
(5) Guo, L., & Huang, J. Q. S. (2022, April 4). Text Interview of JiaQi Sharon Huang. personal.
(6) Panda Express – an American Chinese Restaurant. Panda Express – An American Chinese Restaurant. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2022, from https://www.pandaexpress.com/
(7) CHEN, YONG. Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America. COLUMBIA UNIV PRESS, 2021.
(8) Differences between authentic Chinese food and Chinese Food Overseas. Real Chinese Food vs Chinese Food Overseas. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/authentic-chinese-food.htm#:~:text=Generally%2C%20outside%20China%20the%20%22Chinese,you%20when%20you%20see%20it.
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