4 ms·

There is a lot of ego around food when it gets tied to identity. Your spouse is probably rejecting many restaurants that are run by immigrants cooking recepies

There is a lot of ego around food when it gets tied to identity. Your spouse is probably rejecting many restaurants that are run by immigrants cooking recepies brought over.

zhemao 10y ago
Seriously, though. California, and the Bay Area specifically, is one of the best places in the US to find authentic Chinese food. OP's spouse is just a snob. Sure, a lot of restaurants feel the need to put some "standard" dishes like General Tso's Chicken on the menu, just in case. You don't have to order those. Outside of tourist traps like SF Chinatown, Chinese restaurants mainly serve Chinese food to a predominantly Chinese clientele.
- peferron 10y ago
  Sichuan cuisine in the Bay Area is atrocious compared to the real deal. Maybe Cantonese or Hunan fare better but unfortunately I don't like these cuisines nearly as much. BTW, I'm neither American nor Chinese, so I don't have any national pride involved either way. I just happen to have spent multiple years in both countries.
  - jeblair 10y ago
    China Lounge in Pleasanton is every bit as good as a restaurant in Chengdu (which is where the chef previously cooked).
    - peferron 10y ago
      Thanks, I'll try it out.
  - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
    There is plenty of reasonable sichuan food in the Bay Area, especially outside of San Francisco (e.g. Little sichuan in San Mateo).
- awl130 10y ago
  uhhh, I disagree with your assessment of him/her as a snob. I go to San Gabriel Valley every weekend for dinner and lunch, and I've never seen any of those things on the menu anywhere. Chinese food in SF is abysmal. I'm not a snob, I'm not even Chinese.
  - zhemao 10y ago
    Yeah, SF is crap and overpriced, but the surrounding cities have pretty good food. Like every other metropolitan area, you have to get out of the city center to the suburbs where Chinese immigrants actually live.
  - inopinatus 10y ago
    Actually she did turn to me after I had been complaining about my cultural equivalent (that is, the quality of American coffee) in the car yesterday and say "darling we are both terrible snobs". So I think you are right. We're picky, we have selective high expectations, and we're not afraid to grumble when those expectations aren't met. What's the difference between a snob and a connoisseur? You should taste the terrible coffee I make myself.
stupidhn 10y ago
Much of this thread reeks of hipsterism, where nothing is good but the "original", as if cuisine isn't under constant evolution.
- gurkendoktor 10y ago
  I think the issue is not that most westernised cuisines are different from the original, but that they end up tasting all the same. Here in Germany most people only care about the mandatory piece of meat/fish in each meal, so it's hard to find delicious side dishes that may exist in the "original" cuisine.
draw_down 10y ago
Yeah. All that matters is whether it tastes good, and stuff the rest. You can't taste a story you tell yourself. Or perhaps more to the point, you shouldn't be able to.

There is a lot of ego around food when it gets tied to identity. Your spouse is probably rejecting many restaurants that are run by immigrants cooking recepies brought over.

zhemao 10y ago

Seriously, though. California, and the Bay Area specifically, is one of the best places in the US to find authentic Chinese food. OP's spouse is just a snob. Sure, a lot of restaurants feel the need to put some "standard" dishes like General Tso's Chicken on the menu, just in case. You don't have to order those. Outside of tourist traps like SF Chinatown, Chinese restaurants mainly serve Chinese food to a predominantly Chinese clientele.

peferron 10y ago
Sichuan cuisine in the Bay Area is atrocious compared to the real deal. Maybe Cantonese or Hunan fare better but unfortunately I don't like these cuisines nearly as much. BTW, I'm neither American nor Chinese, so I don't have any national pride involved either way. I just happen to have spent multiple years in both countries.
- jeblair 10y ago
  China Lounge in Pleasanton is every bit as good as a restaurant in Chengdu (which is where the chef previously cooked).
  - peferron 10y ago
    Thanks, I'll try it out.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  There is plenty of reasonable sichuan food in the Bay Area, especially outside of San Francisco (e.g. Little sichuan in San Mateo).
awl130 10y ago
uhhh, I disagree with your assessment of him/her as a snob. I go to San Gabriel Valley every weekend for dinner and lunch, and I've never seen any of those things on the menu anywhere. Chinese food in SF is abysmal. I'm not a snob, I'm not even Chinese.
- zhemao 10y ago
  Yeah, SF is crap and overpriced, but the surrounding cities have pretty good food. Like every other metropolitan area, you have to get out of the city center to the suburbs where Chinese immigrants actually live.
- inopinatus 10y ago
  Actually she did turn to me after I had been complaining about my cultural equivalent (that is, the quality of American coffee) in the car yesterday and say "darling we are both terrible snobs". So I think you are right. We're picky, we have selective high expectations, and we're not afraid to grumble when those expectations aren't met. What's the difference between a snob and a connoisseur? You should taste the terrible coffee I make myself.

stupidhn 10y ago

Much of this thread reeks of hipsterism, where nothing is good but the "original", as if cuisine isn't under constant evolution.

gurkendoktor 10y ago
I think the issue is not that most westernised cuisines are different from the original, but that they end up tasting all the same. Here in Germany most people only care about the mandatory piece of meat/fish in each meal, so it's hard to find delicious side dishes that may exist in the "original" cuisine.

draw_down 10y ago

Yeah. All that matters is whether it tastes good, and stuff the rest. You can't taste a story you tell yourself. Or perhaps more to the point, you shouldn't be able to.