Post #540652 by Baron von Tiki on Sat, Jul 3, 2010 6:07 PM

On 2010-07-02 12:23, White Devil wrote:
Anyone who's ever been inside a Chinese restaurant should read Jennifer 8. Lee's "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles," which is one of the most entertaining books on food I've ever read. She writes a history of "Chinese" restaurants in the U.S., their export to other countries, as well as the history of the fortune cookie. It also, apropos to this thread, goes into the familial nature of how Chinese restaurants operate, proliferate, and change hands.

Yeah, a lot of "Chinese" food in America was actually invented in America -- including the fortune cookie. Rumaki and Pu Pu platter ? Invented in American tiki lounges. Chop Suey ? Marketed by American Chinese immigrants to white sailors as exotic food when, in fact, it was a way to get rid of left-overs. (If I'm not mistaken, the phrase "chop suey" means "left-overs" in Chinese.)

I had a friend tell me a story: He went into a family-owned Japanese restaurant and noticed that all the staff had Chinese names. When he asked why a Chinese family was running a Japanese restaurant, the response he received was "There aren't too many Japanese restaurants in America. There are hundreds of Chinese restaurants in America. Why would we want to compete with that ?" =)