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7 years ago I assisted a group of Shanghai government officials in a multi-city tour of America. They only wanted to eat Chinese food morning, noon, and night.
by jhancock 18y ago
7 years ago I assisted a group of Shanghai government officials in a multi-city tour of America. They only wanted to eat Chinese food morning, noon, and night. I have found Chinese folks (especially anyone over the age of 40) to be highly inflexible in their dietary habits. In every city we visited, although most of those cities had famous China towns, we simply could not satisfy them. The food was never even half acceptable to them.
The trip was good from a business perspective. But they all came back to Shanghai sorely disappointed in America's ability to feed them well ;).
As to General Tso? I have rarely found a Chinese that has any clue who this famous person in history is. I'll take Jenny at her word that he's an important historical artifact.
- cglee 18y agoMy mom is a 22 year American citizen and she just eats Chinese food morning, noon, and night. The rest of our family do not discriminate. ps: I just asked my parents if General Tso was a real person and they confirmed.
- catch23 18y agoIn general, if you weren't brought up with food diversity, you'll probably cling to what you like and makes you feel comfortable. Same goes for Americans who visit China, give them a week and they'll be dying for some McDonalds. A friend of mine went there for international school and he mailed ordered frozen hot dogs and breakfast cereal because he just couldn't survive on chinese food. Bring any American to China and try introducing them to congee & noodles for lunch, I'm sure they'll freak out too. Same goes for Indians/Pakistanis... I had to oversee our outsourcing team that was visiting the States and most of them simply refused eating American food even when I suggested vegetarian places. They ended up eating at the same indian restaurant for 3 weeks straight.
- cglee 18y agoI couldn't find a neighborhood WITHOUT a McDonald's in Beijing. Or KFC. Or Starbucks.
- catch23 18y agoWell that's because you visited Beijing. Try visiting a city near Beijing, but not in Beijing. I think if you visit any major city anywhere in the world, you'll find a huge diverse range of food you'll never have trouble with.
- iron_ball 18y agoAww. Congee is frickin' awesome though! I guess I'm lucky... my parents exposed me to all kinds of food growing up, so I never had that "Hamburger Helper 24/7" mentality.
- jamesjyu 18y agoGeneral Tso was in fact a famous general in Chinese history, however, he had nothing to do with the chicken dish itself. General Tso's chicken was a dish created in NYC (there are about 3 chef's claiming to be the first). In essence, it is an American creation. You would be hard pressed to find anything that is as deep fried and sugary as General Tso's Chicken in real Chinese cuisine. This is just one of the many dishes that come from places you wouldn't expect: fortune cookies were created in Los Angeles, Chicken Tikka Masala was created in London, and Caesar Salad was created in Tijuana.