I am tremendously fond of what Americans generally accept as Chinese food. I have long heard that what Americans refer to as Chinese food is alien and unknown to residents of China (that fortune cookies aren't Chinese in origin I had known--but not that they had a direct ancestor that was popular in Japan). Jennifer 8 Lee's "Fortune Cookie Chronicles" recounts the history of Chinese food in American culture in mouth-watering detail.
I was intrigued about the voyage she made to General Tso's birthplace, only to find no Chinese there had ever heard of the famous (American-born) chicken dish named in his honor. The Kikkoman / La Choy argument of exactly what constitutes soy sauce ["There's no soy in La Choy"] was fascinating. A key hint I gleaned about evaluating the worthiness of a Chinese eatery: see if Chinese themselves patronize it. Also enlightening was the chapter that revealed the popular practice of Chinese immigrants who arrive on U.S. soil explicitly to labor in Chinese restaurants. I've often pondered that, unlike any other ethnic establishment, there always seem to be Chinese owning and operating eateries that concentrate on that cuisine. After all, one would hardly expect the local Italian place to feature Italian-American only staff, or the neighborhood Mexican restaurant to have only Mexican-American workers. The plight of one particular Chinese family, in their attempt to run a successful Chinese establishment, was particularly heartbreaking, with multiple generations divided across continents because the parents could not handle raising three offspring while investing 15 to 18 hours of each day in operating the business.
Jennifer Lee is a voice of authority on this material despite having been born to immigrant Chinese who did not themselves run a restaurant. The miles she logged across the globe for her research are significant, as is her breezily informative writing style which gets various points across (i.e., Chinese immigrants, especially the restaurant-working bound, lead exceedingly harsh lives) without dipping into preachiness. I enjoyed "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles" immensely and recommend anyone who enjoys American Chinese cuisine (which, as it turns out, has its own representative restaurants worldwide [and in some of the least likely places--like the island of Mauritius!]--despite its "inauthentic" nature!) should pick this volume up and learn more about it.
I was intrigued about the voyage she made to General Tso's birthplace, only to find no Chinese there had ever heard of the famous (American-born) chicken dish named in his honor. The Kikkoman / La Choy argument of exactly what constitutes soy sauce ["There's no soy in La Choy"] was fascinating. A key hint I gleaned about evaluating the worthiness of a Chinese eatery: see if Chinese themselves patronize it. Also enlightening was the chapter that revealed the popular practice of Chinese immigrants who arrive on U.S. soil explicitly to labor in Chinese restaurants. I've often pondered that, unlike any other ethnic establishment, there always seem to be Chinese owning and operating eateries that concentrate on that cuisine. After all, one would hardly expect the local Italian place to feature Italian-American only staff, or the neighborhood Mexican restaurant to have only Mexican-American workers. The plight of one particular Chinese family, in their attempt to run a successful Chinese establishment, was particularly heartbreaking, with multiple generations divided across continents because the parents could not handle raising three offspring while investing 15 to 18 hours of each day in operating the business.
Jennifer Lee is a voice of authority on this material despite having been born to immigrant Chinese who did not themselves run a restaurant. The miles she logged across the globe for her research are significant, as is her breezily informative writing style which gets various points across (i.e., Chinese immigrants, especially the restaurant-working bound, lead exceedingly harsh lives) without dipping into preachiness. I enjoyed "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles" immensely and recommend anyone who enjoys American Chinese cuisine (which, as it turns out, has its own representative restaurants worldwide [and in some of the least likely places--like the island of Mauritius!]--despite its "inauthentic" nature!) should pick this volume up and learn more about it.
