Saturday, August 1, 2020

Twitter Thread: Brief History Of Chinese American Food


What a fascinating snapshot of history. This thread also might make you crave some Chinese American food like none other. Consider yourself warned. 

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Motor vehicle - XIRAN, Chinese History Educational Me... @XiranJayZhao gonna talk a lil about Chinese American food bc it's honestly so fierce that a bunch of amateur cooks working with unfamiliar ingredients managed to create a cuisine style that captivated America even under intense discrimination (1/?) Chinese restaurant interior, 1890s. Photo: Bancroft Library, BANC-PIC-1985.084-107--ALB 7:33 PM · 17 Jul 20 · Twitter Web App

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Room - Chinese restaurant interior, 1890s. Photo: Bancroft Library, BANC-PIC-1985.084-107--ALB

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d Replying to @XiranJayZhao so the first wave of Chinese immigrants to America were mostly from Toishan, Guangdong in the South of China, where the tastes notoriously skew sweet. they were mostly men who had no idea how to cook bc cooking was seen as a woman's job (2/?) 要福 2936 Chinese batoher and Grocery Shop, Chinatown, 8. F be oto. Ban Francisoo. Chinese butcher and grocery store, c. 1890s. Photo: Online Ardhive of California 3 27 36 546

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Selling - 相品省求。 要福 2936 Chinese batoher and Grocery Shop, Chinatown, S. F. Sl Photo., San Franotso. Chinese butcher and grocery store, c. 1890s. Photo: Online Archive of California

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v BUT LABORERS GOTTA EAT, so a bunch of them improvised with cooking techniques and ingredients. China also had a very developed restaurant culture, so the first Chinese American restaurants opened in the mid 1800s in San Francisco (3/?) 27 26 499 XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v there were a few fancier restaurants for the richer Chinese Americans, but most were in nooks and crannies of Chinatown and served mainly other Chinese immigra

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Building - B003 Grand Dining Rooin of the Chinene Reataurant, Dupont Street. Ban Franeisco. Sake Yhoto. Ban Francisco. Grand dining room of the Chinese Restaurant, Dupont Street, one of Chinatown's finer eateries. Photo: I.W .Taber, photographer. Chinese in California, Ban croft Library, University of California, Berkeley

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v but as the Gold Rush ended, white people started throwing hissy fits about IMMIGRANTS TAKING OUR JOBS (what's new) and discrimination against Chinese Americans culminated in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the first time America banned immigration from a specific country (5/?) The Aemoratic Chinese Exclusion Bil Has Been Signed by OUR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT Hip! Hurrah! The White Man is on Top. Let every DEMOCRAT and all other GOOD Cit- izens turn

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Font - EP! HURRAHI CHIMESE EXCLUDED The - Pemoeratic Chinese Exclusion Bl Has Been Signed by OUR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT Hip! Hurrah! The White Man is on Top. Let every DEMOCRAT and all other GOOD Cit- izens turn out and Ratify this DEMOCRATIC MEASURE

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v this act legitimized discrimination in that white mobs were storming into Chinese communities and throwing their stuff out on the streets, and Chinese Americans were driven out of the labor force. most could ONLY be self-employed by establishing laundromats and restaurants (6/?) 1 27 30 458 XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v there's a reason it's laundromats and restaurants bc like...do y'all even know how much work those professions de

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v the discrimination on the West Coast also got so bad that Chinese Americans fled east across America (on the very railroads they built) and established restaurants in tiny towns so they didn't compete against each other (8/?) Chinese laborers at work on construction for the railroad built across the Sierra Wevada Mountains, circa 1870s. ettmann Archive/Getty Images 27 33 456

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Bridge - Chinese laborers at work on construction for the railroad built across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, circa 1870s. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v around the 1900s, Chop Suey was invented. it actually just means "bits and pieces / leftovers" but white hipsters looking for "exotic food" went NUTS for it. THEY WERE FOOLED BY RANDOM IMPROVISED INGREDIENTS THROWN TOGETHER!! for some reason it rapidly spread across America (9/?) 司公東灵 大 CHOP SUEY HIRE SE CHINESE DAre 司公家天 MEE TUNG CO 3 27 59 526

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Street - 同公東美 館意如 CHIRE CHOP SUEY CHOA SOECIAL CHINESE DISHES &PASTRY ON SEN EW KR OTY 表司公家天 MEE TUNG CO TGROGERIES ONG 服

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Educationa... · 1d v so because middle-class white Americans were all YEAHH!!! CHOP SUEY!!!! WHOO0000!!!!, Chinese restaurant owners became eligible for visas in 1915 and the restaurants steadily gained popularity throughout the 1920s (10/?) s representing cooks, waiters and bartende ts against Chinese restaurants in many pla a, California, Montana, Minnesota and Oh members who ate at Chinese restaurants, ers from eating there: "Individual member se the food was und

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Text - Unions representing cooks, waiters and bartenders organized largely unsuccessful boycotts against Chinese restaurants in many places, including Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Montana, Minnesota and Ohio. The unions imposed fines on union members who ate at Chinese restaurants, Chin says, but couldn't keep their members from eating there: "Individual members of the public had incentives to cheat because the food was understood to be a good value at the time."

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Meal - XIRAN, Chinese History Education.. · 23h v the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally appealed in 1943...but bc mainland China had a communist revolution, Chinese restaurants got shunned. it took Nixon visiting China in 1972 for demand to rise again. people were SO CURIOUS about the "actual" Chinese food he was served (11/?) 4 27 22 423

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Food - XIRAN, Chinese History Education... · 23h the Communist revolution also ushered in new waves of immigrants from Taiwan and eventually people from provinces beyond Guangdong, who added new spins to popular Chinese American dishes. General Tso's chicken was created at this time from Hunanese inspiration (12/?) 27 26 437 XIRAN, Chinese History Education... · 23h v if you're wondering why every small town in America seems to have a Chinese restaurant, it's because new immigrants were taught h

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Education.. · 23h anyway, Chinese American food was developed through improvisation and innovation by immigrants under intense discrimination. they understood that people wanted comfort food, so they adjusted the tastes until even racists couldn't stop coming for their fried chicken balls (14/?) 1 27 57 610

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Education... · 23h v dismissing Chinese American food and chain restaurants as "inauthentic" is whack bc like.it was all done by actual Chinese Americans!! it's a massive success story!!! the creator of Panda Express is a BILLIONAIRE and the company is still private!! THAT'S FIERCE More images Andrew Cherng Chief Executive Officer of Panda Express Andrew Cherng is a Chinese-born American billionaire restaurateur. He is the founder and chairman of Panda Restaurant Gr

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Facial expression - AD More images Andrew Cherng Chief Executive Officer of Panda Express Andrew Cherng is a Chinese-born American billionaire restaurateur. He is the founder and chairman of Panda Restaurant Group, based in Rosemead, California. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Panda Express. The Cherngs invest out of their family office, the Cherng Family Trust. Wikipedia Born: April 1948 (age 72 years), Yangzhou, China Net worth: US$ 3.0 billion (jointly with Peggy, April 20

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Text - XIRAN, Chinese History Education... · 23h to conclude the thread, the next time someone's like "haha that's not real Chinese food!" when you're eating Chinese takeout, look em right in the eye and go "it's real CHINESE AMERICAN food, clown." 27 68 779 XIRAN, Chinese History Education... · 23h DAMN i didn't even get into how Chinese American food pioneered takeout and delivery!! that's a thread for another day lol this one got too long more history tweets: linktr.ee/xiranjayzhao Chinese My

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