In 1849, news of gold drew thousands of Chinese fortune-hunters to California, including some restaurateurs. So when did Chinese cuisine first make its way to the United States? This was actually the classic Chinese seasoning mix of garlic or onions seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil-a flavor mix most Americans enjoy today. They had decided that Chinese food tasted of “the repose of putrefied garlic upon a much-used blanket” and smelled of rancid oil. For them, a Chinese meal was something to write home about, but not something to repeat. To the Americans, the whole experience was impossibly alien: eating with chopsticks, the foreign dinner etiquette, the food cut up into small pieces, the mysterious ingredients, the multitude of courses, etc., etc. However, what they were served was high-class Cantonese banquet fare, in feasts comprising dozens of dishes, including such delicacies as birds’ nests, sharks’ fins, and sea cucumbers. They had heard that the Chinese liked to dine on dogs, cats, and rats, among other exotica. In Guangzhou, the Americans tried their first bites of Chinese food at the homes of local businessmen. the Europeans, whom they confined to Macau and Guangzhou. The Chinese had never heard of the United States, had only the vaguest idea of where it was located, and lumped Americans with the other “barbarians,” i.e. Relations between the two countries were at first tentative. The first Americans arrived in China in 1784 aboard the ship Empress of China, hoping to trade American ginseng for Chinese tea, porcelain, and other goods. When did Americans first encounter Chinese food? He also tells us what chop suey is, exactly, and where to find the best Chinese food in New York City. So how did it happen? Recently, Coe answered a few questions about Chinese cuisine’s remarkable American journey. Of course, it took a while-two centuries-for Chinese food to achieve ubiquity.
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