On Monday, February 10, 2014 5:14:37 PM UTC-5, sf wrote:
> There is Chinese food and then there is Americanized Chinese food.
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> Both can be delicious, but it's always good to know the difference
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> between the two.
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> http://dc.eater.com/archives/2011/10...e-dont-eat.php
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> 1) Crab Wontons: These deep-fried dumplings filled with crabmeat and
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> cream cheese are popular...but nobody eats cheese in China. We're all
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> lactose intolerant. But we do like to curdle other things, like
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> fermented bean paste and duck blood.
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> 2) General Tso's Chicken: Come on, this guy was too busy warding off
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> rebellions to be cooking. This recipe is strictly American—chunks of
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> chicken battered, fried and sweetened for Western tastes. No one in
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> Hunan had even heard of this before 1970.
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> 3) Chop Suey: Ah yes, the garbage disposal of the omelet world.
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> Refrigerator scraps stir-fried and topped with an egg. It is said that
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> some Chinese cook working during the Gold Rush served it as a personal
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> "**** you" to some drunk American miners.
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> 4) Pu Pu Platter: Everything about this appetizer is an affront to
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> poor people. It's nothing but fried, greasy egg rolls, spare ribs,
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> chicken wings and beef teriyaki—which isn't even Chinese!
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> 5) Sweet 'n' Sour Pork: Chunks of pork, battered, deep-fried and
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> slimed in a thick orange sauce. There are obvious Southern barbecue
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> influences here.
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> 6) Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken: same treatment, but it's all white meat
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> because somehow that makes it better. With pieces of pineapple to
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> assuage your guilt.
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> 7) Salad: We cook our food. When dysentery is a concern, you would
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> too.
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> 8) Egg Rolls: Does anyone eat these? These thick-skinned, blistered
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> rolls that look like Linda Blair's face in The Exorcist are nothing
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> like the real Chinese spring rolls, which are smaller, thin and
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> crispy—and edible.
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> 9) Beef and broccoli: There's really nothing wrong with this dish,
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> except that we don't have Western broccoli in the East.
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> 10) Fortune cookies: Another ploy to amuse Westerners, these
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> flag-bearers of fortune don't even tell you good news anymore, only
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> your closely guarded shortcomings. Chinese people eat something more
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> fortuitous for dessert: oranges. They're good luck.
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If you've never been to China, I guess it tough to know what the average Chinese eats. This is like the old who-invented-pizza discussions or what constitutes chili ..... ad nauseam.