What have you noticed about food in the U.S.? What have you found most interesting, surprinsing or different about American food and food culture?

Whether we put much thoughts of it, eating is a reflection of not only our characters, but also tells a lot about what are our ethnicities. For the most part, Americans want their foods to be quick, fast, convenient, regardless of whether they buy it in a supermarket or a general fast-food chain franchise. The reason behind that may be due to the fast-paced working environment and the easy short-cut lifestyle that Americans are generally used to, which requires minimum economic or personal sacrifice. As they value foods that look good to be qualified as standard good, many restaurants put much efforts to decorate foods and they become more costly. All I mentioned about has forged the dominant American food culture and I would like to delve into a particular segment of such--American Chinese Cuisine.

American Chinese Cuisine is a style of Chinese food developed by Americans of Chinese descent. Most of the Chinese restaurants here have adapted to American tastes and differ significantly from China (as I found out). Among the most difference that I experienced in America, we emphasize more on vegetables whilst Americans consider vegetables as more of a side-dish. Back in my hometown, the cuisine makes more use of green leaf vegetables, such as bok choy and kai-lan, whereas what I saw most in America is carrots, broccoli's, tomatoes and they are served for decoration purpose in general.

Despite the emphasis on different food categories, the Chinese cuisine here is of stronger taste than in China. Stir frying or deep frying tends to be the most common cooking technique in America, therefore the Chinese food style here doesn’t really match to my taste, as I’m accustomed to steaming/boiling style of Chinese cuisine.

Nevertheless, I still manage to come up with my favorite Chinese food in America: General Tso’s chicken, an unique food course with chunks of chicken that are dipped in a batter, deep-fried and seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and surrounded by hot chili peppers or broccoli's. When it’s combined with a bowl of steamed rice, the sweet and sour taste from chicken compromised by plain rice, which makes them a perfect matching solution for dinner. 

Also one of the more interesting details I observed is that most American Chinese establishments cater to non-Chinese customers with menus written in English or containing pictures. If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature items such as liver, chicken feet, or other meat dishes that might deter American customers. So whenever I visit a Chinese restaurant, there should be two menus to choose from, and perhaps the real Chinese original style is hidden inside of the Chinese menu.

At the end of each meal, the restaurant will give each one of us a fortune cookie as dessert, with one paper inside. This is seen traditionally as a fortune gift or a vague prophecy and send the best wishes to each customer, and hope many good returns will arrive.

Written by: Nicky Li