When I think of Americanized Chinese food I think of PF Chang’s and the like.
Never been to or seen one of those in my life. I guess that’s a Panda Express kind of place, right?
I mean nearly every town in America seems to have a Chinese food restaurant.
It’s higher end but Panda express is also a perfect example. Even better actually.
I think of stuff like crab rangoon, General Tso’s chicken, and chop suey.
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RIP to a real one
Ramsey Clark, Attorney General and Rebel With a Cause, Dies at 93
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I don’t know who General Tso was, but he must have had one really big freakin’ chicken if we’re still eating the damn thing.
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Pretty accurate. It’d be splitting hairs to point out that crab rangoon was invented entirely in America while General Tso’s was first cooked in Taiwan and an American version is made in the US.
Definitely thought Chinese food in China was overrated but still really good and much healthier than Chinese-American food. Was super-weird that Chinese people try to get foreigners to eat the fish’s eyeballs claiming that it makes them smarter. Such weird reasoning.
There are books out there about the history of American Chinese food. I think the one I read was Chop Suey by Andrew Coe.
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I just always find it strange how people eat something like Indian food and complain that it’s “not the real thing” because it’s not directly from India or something like that
And I think to myself, “The real thing isn’t always the better thing.”
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Maybe it’s a joke they play on foreigners. Like how in the Midwest we serve Cincinnati-style chili to outsiders as a gag.
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It almost certainly is but I’ve never seen anybody actually do it.
It’s like asking an adult to pull your finger.
You’re right. But in this case there is no objectively better (at least not really). Indian food has a similar problem. A lot of the more popular things are highly Americanized.
You don’t even need to go to India. All you need is to know some Indian people. When I compare Indian food, I compare it to something home cooked by someone who knows what they are doing. It almost always tastes way better to me than most restaurant fare. Same with Chinese food.
I personally don’t think the Americanized versions are always terrible, but I prefer the native versions of Indian and Chinese food.
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Did you often have the opportunity to eat at nicer Chinese restaurants? I tried a couple times but I was traveling/dining alone and it was such an awkward experience that I gave up and stuck to noodle joints and street food after that.
Thankfully you can get duck as street food in Beijing, if you’re willing to buy the whole duck.
I voted to block this.
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If a restaurant has a dress code, I don’t go. It’s my hard and fast rule.
Anyway, I went to a couple of nice restaurants but they weren’t on my dime. I’ll say that I don’t remember anything I ate there.
I feel way more comfortable sitting on a plastic stool at an outdoor Chinese BBQ place getting drunk on shitty Chinese beer (a bit redundant) and playing dice games. Sure the etiquette, cleanliness and occasional cigarette smoke can be repulsive for people sensitive to that but that’s part of the dining experience.
I definitely prefer informal places most of the time, but I’ve had some really great experiences at nicer restaurants too. They’re not all stuffy and uptight.
I’m sure that’s the case. But I’ve never had an unforgettable dining experience while wearing a suit in a restaurant.
That time I ate live octopus in South Korea to the amusement of restaurant goers watching me struggle chewing it was way more memorable.
I have it on excellent authority (IIRC @NotBruceZ and @skydiver8) that there are Cincinnati folk who genuinely find the chili there to be good.
Wait, “Loblaw” is an actual real last name? So there may be an actual Bob Loblaw?
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