Americans love eating Chinese food – that’s no secret, anymore! Be it a traditional Chinese restaurant with posh interiors, or street-side Chinese food joints, both grab the American diner’s fancy alike. Let’s find out the reasons why.
History
When the Chinese landed in America, more than 100 years ago, Americans found their cooking to be smelly and filled with suspicious ingredients. Thanks to a report in the Saturday Evening Post, in 1860, there was a preconceived notion among Americans that the Chinese ate cats and dogs. This myth stayed on for quite some time.
In fact, when the initial few batches of Chinese immigrants were hired as cooks in American restaurants, they were employed to cook American dishes and not their native delicacies.
Rise in Popularity
Chinese restaurants grew in number during the 20th century. Chinese believed this popularity was because their food tasted the best. And this was during an era when French cuisine was considered the holy grail of fine cuisine.
But reality painted a different picture.
According to analysts, social and economic factors were instrumental in driving the newly found American keenness in “eating Chinese.” Though the main reason wasn’t culinary, there’s nothing taking away Chinese food’s gastronomical merits. Chinese food is the oldest and most complex cuisine. To the Americans, the food tasted exotic and hugely contrasted European food.
With the growing 20th century American middle class, more people wanted to dine outside as domestic cooking back then was an exhausting routine. Chinese immigrants found a livelihood by working in laundries, as servants, or by setting up restaurants. Americans started embracing American neighborhoods that served exotic Chinese food.
Most people ordered Chinese food. In fact, Chinese food turned synonymous with doorstep delivery.
Jewish Connection
Thanks to anti-Semitism, Jews back then weren’t allowed inside posh American restaurants. Chinese restaurants didn’t behave the same way, however.
Jews had an off day on Christmas, but they didn’t celebrate the festival. Most Chinese restaurants remained open on Christmas. As a result, several Jewish families inadvertently turned eating Chinese on Christmas a Jewish tradition. And it continues to exist even today. Today, it’s not just restricted to Christmas, but also weekends. For Jewish immigrants, consuming Chinese was their way of blending with the American middle class.
Current Scenario
Any Chinese who arrives in the U.S. to learn what Americans like about Chinese cuisine will be amazed to discover that Americans don’t eat traditional Chinese dishes, such as bird’s nests or shark fins. To Americans, Chinese food revolves around noodles (chop suey and chow mein). These items are found on almost all American Chinese restaurant menus. In China, the chop suey and chow mein are considered unimportant and obscure.
Even today, most Chinese restaurants function as independently-owned small businesses, despite the popularity of fast food chains. But a majority of these don’t serve the fancy, upscale cuisine that the Chinese aristocrats prefer. The focus is on inexpensive rice- and noodles-based Chinese dishes: chop suey, chow mein, fried rice, etc.
Fortunately, thanks to globalization, many American, particularly St Louis Chinese restaurants, have come of age. They have opened up to more varieties of Chinese food. Nowadays, American locals order Mongolian food or kung pao as much as they relish the inexpensive varieties. In fact, the chop suey, which was widely symbolic of Chinese food several decades ago, is rarely found on modern Chinese restaurant menus.
Conclusion
If you are out looking for some classic St Louis Chinese restaurants to dine in, give our restaurant a visit. Regardless of whether you savor traditional Chinese cuisines or prefer the more common and Westernized varieties, we’ll have you covered.
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