There’s a culinary renaissance going on in China.
So why hasn’t word reached the United States?
When it comes to Chinese food, America is stuck in a tepid congee of ignorance and cliché. And few Chinese chefs in the United States are going out of their way to open hearts and minds to China’s 5,000-year culinary culture.
That was the word from PBS cooking show host Martin Yan, pictured left with Nicole Mones; Albert Cheng, co-chairman of San Francisco’s Chinese Cultural Center; Nicole Mones, author of “The Last Chinese Chef”; Alex Ong, chef-owner of Betelnut in San Francisco; and Olivia Wu, food writer and executive chef at Google.
As a panel, they were discussing the fact that for the true red, white and blue palate, Chinese food begins and ends with Meiguorende kouwei (food cooked to American taste). Chop suey, egg foo yong, sweet and sour pork, spring rolls and huge mounds of rice — all drowned in far too much gooey sauce — are seen by many Americans as the extent of what China has to offer. And don’t forget to add the labels “fast” (as in fast-food) and “cheap”.
Alex Ong, born to a Chinese family in Malaysia, went to China for the first time in 1999, tasted the food, and in response “threw away all the recipes and notions I had about Chinese food.”
China, he says, is like an artichoke “in that the more you peel way, the more you discover — and it never ends.”
Olivia Wu believes learning a language and eating the food are equal and complimentary in terms of understanding and appreciating a culture. She has made it her mission to tell Americans about the complexities, subtleties and delights of traditional, authentic Chinese cuisine.
American-style interpretation
Albert Cheng points to the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Repealed in 1943, immigration was still seriously limited until 1965. “All America had for more than 60 years was essentially a hybrid — an American-style interpretation of South Cantonese food,” he says.
Martin Yan has been sharing the flavors of Asian cooking with TV audiences for nearly 30 years. Despite this, he says, few American eaters are aware of China’s 5,000 years of culinary complexity.
The Chinese are partly to blame, he points out. Unlike in Europe and the United States, parents don’t encourage bright and well-educated young men and women to become chefs. Then, few Chinese chefs in the U.S. speak English, which means they cannot communicate with the non-Chinese diner. And Chinese chefs perpetuate the cheap-food stereotype.
“Few in the U.S. realize that you can go to any number of restaurants in China anytime, any day, and have a meal that’s 10 times more expensive than the French Laundry,” he says.
Keeping prices at rock bottom means most Chinese chefs in the U.S. don’t put money into décor, Yan continues. They don’t know how to brand, promote and market, or mingle and engage with their customers. “Do you know, the fire in a Chinese kitchen is 10 to 20 times stronger than in any other kitchen? Check out any Chinese chef. No hairs on arms and legs. No real eyebrows. Most probably they’re too embarrassed to come out of the kitchen,” he jokes.
Yan believes his recently opened Culinary Arts Center (cooking school) in Shenzhen will go some way toward redressing shortcomings on the Chinese side of the divide.
Especially since the 1980s, many first-rate Chinese chefs have brought diversity and excellence — Zhongguorende kouwei (food cooked to Chinese taste) — to the U.S. Few, however, market themselves. “They have a Chinese clientele and they don’t tend to move beyond that.”
Some say 12,000 named dishes
“Chinese food has become almost a comfort food in our culture in that people see it as reliably the same,” says Nicole Mones, noting that the narrowness of the dishes offered negates “China’s magnificently diverse. Some say there are 5,000 named dishes; some say 10,000; some say 12,000."
There is, she affirms, excellent Chinese food to be had in the United States. But even for the adventurous American diner, there are challenges. “Restaurants have Chinese menus and English menus. Some of the great Chinese-style dishes are relegated to Chinese menus or to specials written on the wall. Finding out what to order is a difficult task.”
When you go to better Chinese restaurants, she advises, “ask for the best ‘Chinese taste’ dishes on (or off) the menu, and refuse to budge until you get them.”
Do you have a favorite Chinese restaurant?
Copyright Wanda Hennig, 2009
Photo Wanda Hennig
Comments