Reflections | I tried Chinese-American food in the US and I liked it. Who wouldn’t? Never mind the purists – what’s ‘original’ about food in China anyway?
- On holiday in the United States, Wee Kek Koon can’t help trying Chinese-American food – as well as matzo balls, latkes and a slice of American pie
- So-called purists challenge the eating of ‘fake Chinese food’, but diets in China have changed thanks to imports such as garlic, sesame, and chilli peppers
I’m holidaying in the United States, a country that is at once familiar and not – familiar because there’s practically no escape from American movies, TV shows, news and popular culture in the last few decades; not familiar because this is only my second visit ever to the country.
Even before we arrived, we had decided that we wouldn’t be the sort of travellers who, when they visit a foreign country, make a beeline for restaurants that serve food from back home. We’re not flying 19 hours across several time zones to have a bowl of wonton noodles, no matter how good it may be.
We’re going to have matzo balls and latkes in a Jewish deli, and cuisines from at least half a dozen Latin American countries. I’ll finally find out what grits and collard greens taste like, and I want to sit at the counter in a diner and order me a slice of Americana from a glass-covered pie stand.
Having said that, our travel plans include a Chinese-American meal in San Francisco’s historic Chinatown. As a child, I was fascinated with Chinese-American dishes like chop suey and General Tso’s chicken. What were these Chinese foods that Americans enjoyed that I had never even seen, much less tasted, growing up in Singapore?
