/food/ - Food (textboard)

[47 / 0 / ?]

[1108087761] US Chinese food vs Real Chinese food

Anonymous Fri 11 Feb 2005 07:11:00 No.49 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By:

I've hear people that were born in China and come to the US to try our Chinese restaurants say that they're very different compared to the food that's actually served in China.

Can someone explain the differences in our perception of Chinese food and what's actually over there?

Anonymous

2

Anonymous Fri 11 Feb 2005 11:01:00 No.50 Report

Quoted By:

It's the same relationship between the food they serve in Mexican restaurants and the food that people actually make in Mexico.

Lots of recipes are changed to adapt to the vegetables available here. There is a vegetable called kai lan that is sometimes called "Chinese broccoli," which is hard to get in the US and much more expensive than broccoli here, so it's broccoli that's used in the recipes instead of kai lan. And so on.

Lots of the recipes are changed to suit American tastes, with extra meat and more fried stuff (Americans love meat and fried stuff, have you noticed?). The spices are often changed too, like the amount of hot pepper reduced considerably (because Americans tend to have less tolerance for spicy foods than Chinese people do), and spices substituted for what's inexpensive and available here. Saffron is really expensive so they might substitute paprika, and Szechwan pepper has been very hard to get in the US unless you buy it from a Chinese grocery store, so they might substitute cumin powder. And so on.

And some dishes were created in the US and have no history and little connection to China--remember, the Chinese-American community has been here for well over 100 years now. Things like chop suey and General Tso's Chicken aren't from China, they're from San Francisco.

Anonymous

3

Anonymous Fri 11 Feb 2005 11:19:00 No.51 Report

Quoted By:

and fortune cookies! (~_')b

WHERS THE BEEF

4

WHERS THE BEEF Fri 11 Feb 2005 13:52:00 No.52 Report

Quoted By:

THEY HAVE NO FOOD IN CHINA THATS THE MAIN DIFFERENCE

Anonymous

5

Anonymous Fri 11 Feb 2005 23:58:00 No.53 Report

Quoted By:

foods in china = OIL OIL AND MORE OIL

Anonymous

6

Anonymous ID:(sage) Sat 12 Feb 2005 16:10:00 No.54 Report

Quoted By:

SAFFRON IS ENDANGERED

Anonymous

7

Anonymous Sat 12 Feb 2005 23:19:00 No.55 Report

Quoted By:

I'm just mad about Saffron
Saffron's mad about me
I'm just mad about Saffron
She's just mad about me
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow...

Anonymous

8

Anonymous ID:(sage) Sun 13 Feb 2005 14:10:00 No.57 Report

Quoted By:

Chop Suey and Chow Mein (with the deep fried noodles)... Mmmmmm.

Anonymous

9

Anonymous ID:(sage) Sun 13 Feb 2005 22:14:00 No.58 Report

Quoted By:

I think >>2 summed it up very well: restaurant food is not real food, whatever the country you're in and whatever the restaurant is preparing. For example, japanese restaurant in France will only serve the usual fish or meat dishes, no okonomiyaki or anything which is not "famous" in people's mind.

!NeRoBvpFFY

10

!NeRoBvpFFY Tue 15 Feb 2005 12:42:00 No.62 Report

Quoted By:

>>8
What in the world is Chop Suey?

Anonymous

11

Anonymous Tue 15 Feb 2005 23:11:00 No.64 Report

Quoted By:

>>10
Chop suey is a Chinese-American dish with its origins in the Chinese immigrant community in San Francisco circa 1890. It's a stir-fried vegetable dish, mostly cabbage (for lack of bok choy) and onions, bean sprouts if they are available, perhaps with sliced carrots and bell peppers added, and lightly spiced with garlic and ginger. It may be made with meat of some kind, or without. Normally it is served with rice.

It is one of the first dishes Americans think of when they think of Chinese food, despite the fact that it is not actually from China and most of the vegetables used are not widely cultivated there.

Anonymous

12

Anonymous ID:(sage) Wed 16 Feb 2005 13:52:00 No.66 Report

Quoted By:

For "real" chop suey, you would generally use leftovers to create it.

Skyline !mpXsEz/vvo

13

Skyline !mpXsEz/vvo Wed 16 Feb 2005 17:50:00 No.67 Report

Quoted By:

>>4

More like:

"There's no Chinese Food restaurants in China"

Anonymous

14

Anonymous Tue 22 Feb 2005 18:46:00 No.88 Report

Quoted By:

When I think Chinese food, I've been brainwashed into thinking of "Mandarin Chinese" food, which is basically fast-food Chinese. Chicken fingers, beef teriyaki (lol teriyaki is not chinese, but whatever, americans think all orientals are the same anyway), boneless spareribs, pork flied lice, etc

Hilariously (sadly) enough, things like Boneless Spareribs are covered with what really amounts to Ah-So sauce, and Ah-So is a stereotypical saying that wartime Americans attributed to Japanese.

Anonymous

15

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2005 06:11:00 No.89 Report

Quoted By:

>>14
The Japanese actually do say "ah so" on occasion, as well as "so desu-ka?"

Anonymous

16

Anonymous Wed 02 Mar 2005 02:39:00 No.101 Report

Quoted By:

>>15

I realize this. I've been a student of the language for six years now.

I'm just saying that it's ironic and sad that the Americans take fried foods, call them Chinese food, and coat them with a sauce that has a name derived from Japanese.

Anonymous

17

Anonymous ID:(sage) Wed 02 Mar 2005 05:05:00 No.103 Report

Quoted By:

If you go to cities with a large Chinese community, you'll find real Chinese food. Another indicator of real Chinese food would be to look at the clientele. If you see Chinese people in the restaurant eating, then the place serves authentic Chinese. If you see non-Chinese, then it's an "American Chinese" food place.

In my city, though, "American Chinese" restaurants are dying out. People here want authentic (yet fast) Chinese food. So, a lot of noodle/BBQ places (char siu, siu ngap, wonton mein, hor fun, etc.) are popping up.

Anonymous

18

Anonymous Wed 02 Mar 2005 20:24:00 No.107 Report

Quoted By:

>>17
What if it's a mixed crowd, with both Asians and non-Asians? (no, I don't walk up to them and say, "So, what kind of Orientals are y'all?" so I don't know whether they're Chinese or not)

There's a Chinese buffet place near me that has some decent food. The labels and menus are in both Chinese and English, and the restaurant seems to be staffed almost entirely by Chinese (or at least Asians), but the people you see eating there are a very diverse bunch of people.

If you're wondering, I am just a big, dopey-lookin' white guy who likes their Mongolian beef, especially with some chili paste on top, and their broccoli-and-chicken.

Schwarma

19

Schwarma Fri 04 Mar 2005 23:34:00 No.112 Report

Quoted By:

>>18
Take a look into the kitchen and it'll probably be mostly hispanic people cooking the food. That's some authentic chinese cooking there. Look for a restaurant that says cantonese food and it won't be that greasy slop you get in the cartons.

Anonymous

20

Anonymous Wed 09 Mar 2005 20:58:00 No.123 Report

Quoted By:

I used to frequent chinese places a lot, and I noticed that asians eating at the places ate mostly vegetables, and a shit ton of rice. And the times i'd see the staff eating, a lot of times it'd be fish(nothing on the menu) and more shits tons of rice.

Anonymous

21

Anonymous Sat 12 Mar 2005 17:49:00 No.135 Report

Quoted By:

>>20
well the dishes you get at a chinese restaurant are called 'song' which basically means accompany. the dishes are there to go with the rice.

Anonymous

22

Anonymous Sat 12 Mar 2005 19:54:00 No.136 Report

Quoted By:

I like rice. Rice is nice. And I am as white as rice myself, so there.

Anonymous

23

Anonymous Sun 17 Apr 2005 18:59:00 No.196 Report

Quoted By:

Well, if you just want good food called Chinese and don't care about authenticity, then the more mexicans who eat there, the better the food would be. As a matter of fact, if you go to any "ethnic" restaraunt and you see a shitload of mexicans, then you can be damn sure it tastes good.

Anonymous

24

Anonymous Mon 18 Apr 2005 06:40:00 No.197 Report

Quoted By:

This one girl I used to know said she didn't want to eat at a certain Chinese restaurant because, "The food tastes like it was made by white people..."

Anonymous

25

Anonymous Thu 21 Apr 2005 21:57:00 No.199 Report

Quoted By:

most american chinese buffets and restaurants are owned by koreans

Anonymous

26

Anonymous Thu 21 Apr 2005 22:06:00 No.200 Report

Quoted By:

>>21

yea i know, but i never see an asian person go anywhere near the primarily meat plates, just ones with mostly vegetables, and they tend to pick around any meat in those.

Anonymous

27

Anonymous Sun 22 May 2005 10:13:00 No.225 Report

Quoted By:

This is actually true. The food in China is different in different parts of China, like Hunan, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Our stuff is basically the bastard fastfood baby of Chinese cuisine.

Check Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_food

Christy McJesus !DcbLlAZi7U

28

Christy McJesus !DcbLlAZi7U Wed 08 Jun 2005 17:38:00 No.252 Report

Quoted By:

Difference is, real Chinese food sucks because the Chinese are a race of barbarians with no respect for food.

Anonymous

29

Anonymous Sat 02 Jul 2005 09:16:00 No.266 Report

Quoted By:

>>27

Yea i'll pass on the chicken feet, thanks.

Anonymous

30

Anonymous Mon 04 Jul 2005 00:05:00 No.267 Report

Quoted By:

>> "The food tastes like it was made by white people..."

You know why that is? White people believe in hygiene. The difference in the taste can be put down to the drastically lower levels of salmonella than what you're used to.

mizukami

31

mizukami Wed 06 Jul 2005 13:16:00 No.284 Report

Quoted By:

>>3
Yes, because we all know the ancient art of fortune cookies began in the temples located on the distant hills of...San Francisco??

Anonymous

32

Anonymous Thu 07 Jul 2005 21:51:00 No.287 Report

Quoted By:

Chicken balls kick ass.

Inst !VDMXms9A/o#UZdgtFWL58530

33

Inst !VDMXms9A/o#UZdgtFWL58530 Fri 08 Jul 2005 15:14:00 No.290 Report

Quoted By:

>>28
well, not really. like rest of china, quality's gone to hell, and 90th percentile food, like everthing else that's 90th percentile, gets screwed up by periodic revolutions, unlike japs, who have enough sense to preserve traditions, which is both virtue and vice.

Chicken feet actually tastes pretty good, the point is that the feet are supposed to have fatty skin, which transfers the taste pretty well.

hay christy mcjesus, ar eyou jewish by any chance? I had a jewish teacher who married a chink.

Anonymous

34

Anonymous Wed 14 Sep 2005 01:53:00 No.501 Report

Quoted By:

i think "Real Chinese food" is a misnomer. A better name would be "Traditional Chinese food," as Chinese food changes all over the world -- Even in China! As in the US, Korea also has Korean Chinese food where immigrants brought with them there own style but adapted as necessary (ie. Jja Jjang Myun, Mapo tofu, etc.). Food is food and it doesn't like to be labeled; only eaten by me~

Anonymous

35

Anonymous Thu 03 Nov 2005 14:53:00 No.594 Report

Quoted By:

"Real" chinese food usually has loads of vegetables and not as much meat. My friends who were raised in China and later moved here are always complaining about the meat, and whenever they go to Chinese restaurants they start stammering, "what's a dish with lots of vegetables?"

Anonymous

36

Anonymous Fri 04 Nov 2005 22:19:00 No.603 Report

Quoted By:

As above posters said it has been adapted to better suit it us here in the US. Its just a personal improvement designed for our tastebuds. Personally, I can't stand the fast Chinese food. I cook szechuan recipes here at home (real szechuan)and I think they are absolutely wonderful.

Anonymous

37

Anonymous Wed 09 Nov 2005 23:37:00 No.617 Report

Quoted By:

All things adopted by america's mainstream are changed a lot from their original format. We cant handle things that are werd or different even though we blilndly follow the ideals of proggressive socialism.

Anonymous

38

Anonymous Thu 10 Nov 2005 04:27:00 No.624 Report

Quoted By:

>>2
It's the same here, but it may be because most of the population here is (are?) Mexican immigrants... I knew this guy from Europe and he said the Chinese food tastes different from back in France

Anonymous

39

Anonymous Fri 11 Nov 2005 01:09:00 No.630 Report

Quoted By:

>>37
Its not that we can't handle it, its that we don't like it. Alot foods originated in a region that lacked resources (meat, spices, some kinds of vegetables). Its not a bad thing that once they've been moved to a different region local flavors are incorperated.

Anonymous

40

Anonymous Fri 11 Nov 2005 18:37:00 No.634 Report

Quoted By:

tes

Anonymous

41

Anonymous Tue 15 Nov 2005 03:19:00 No.654 Report

Quoted By:

>>36

lemme guess, you only eat authentic ancient recipes because anything else wouldn't be trendy

Anonymous

42

Anonymous Tue 15 Nov 2005 06:27:00 No.657 Report

Quoted By:

>>41
No, Americanized Chinese food is just way too bland for my tastes. Restaurants have to dumb cuisine down for the stupid old lady who wants to order the dish that has "hot" and "spicy" written all over it.

RefriedNoodle

43

RefriedNoodle Wed 18 Jan 2012 11:08:00 No.9551 Report

Quoted By:

i like chinese food veeeery much

RedChineseCream

44

RedChineseCream Sun 29 Jan 2012 14:24:00 No.9562 Report

Quoted By:

I have chicken wattle recipe to knock off socks! Both socks!

Anonymous

45

Anonymous Mon 30 Jan 2012 06:16:00 No.9563 Report

Quoted By:

ttp://youtu.be/yD_-hSCLRmg

Anonymous

46

Anonymous Tue 31 Jan 2012 08:28:00 No.9564 Report

Quoted By:

http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/o/8538

Anonymous

47

Anonymous Thu 02 Feb 2012 08:38:00 No.9571 Report

Quoted By:

>>2
It's gai lan, not kai lan.

If you've ever gone for dim dum that is essentially what Chinese people eat every day.

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Verified Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Manager Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts Only Founder Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images Only Spoiler Images Only Non-Spoiler Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

On these archives

Your latest searches

[1108087761] US Chinese food vs Real Chinese food