Why can't crooked nuts always get the real Chinese flavor?

Fans of American TV series who have seen The Big Bang Theory must remember Sheldon's favorite food-left-handed chicken. He once said that "left-handed chicken is the most popular Chinese food abroad". In the eyes of China audience, Schell, a physics genius with IQ as high as 187, doesn't understand Chinese flavor! I'm afraid the collapse is man-made.

Perhaps, those fans who don't want Aidou to take the blame think it's nothing to make a fuss about. After all, in the United States, left chicken is a signature dish, which is very popular in the streets!

Coincidentally, in the American kitchen food documentary "Food Culture", it is mentioned that "XO sauce is the soul of Chinese food." There is also the Michelin Guide, which is praised as the Bible by the food industry. It once said that "the best Sichuan food in the world is in Singapore, and the chef is Japanese." Faced with these "ridiculous" misunderstandings, we can't help but ask, why can't crooked nuts always get the real Chinese flavor?

Historical reasons: the localization promotion of Chinese food "going out"

From the 1950s, 19, a large number of Chinese workers flooded into the United States, and Chinese food and Chinese restaurants began at this time. With the catering attitude and innovative thinking of China people, the dishes in Chinese restaurants began to develop in the direction of integration, and a number of products combining Chinese and Western styles were born, such as crab wonton, sweet and sour pork, apricot duck and so on, which were deeply loved by local American diners and gradually integrated into the mainstream food culture of American society.

In the 1970s, with the introduction of China-specific cooking ingredients such as auricularia auricula and Flammulina velutipes into the United States, dishes that could not be cooked before due to lack of ingredients were successfully cooked. At this time, "Left Chicken" developed through improvement and innovation, and became a popular dish in restaurants in China, USA!

From the early Chinese laborers to the later immigrants, the first step for most China people to enter the United States is to survive. The catering industry's "low threshold, low cost, big market and high return" has naturally become the choice of many people. The innovation and integration of Chinese food in the development process, on the one hand, promotes Chinese food to the world, and on the other hand, because of the promotion of localization, causes "foreigners" to have different perceptions of China's taste.

Cultural reasons: China lacks the export of food culture.

With the rapid development of internationalization and Internet in recent years, when it comes to global cuisine, people will think of the delicacy of Japanese cuisine, the romance of French cuisine, the boldness of German cuisine and even the convenience of American fast food. But when it comes to Chinese food, it is often difficult to have a clear and accurate image positioning.

In fact, Chinese food is profound and has a long history. Confucius's "Never tire of delicacies, never tire of delicacies", Zhuangzi's "If you cook small delicacies to govern a big country", Li Bai's "Taibai Duck", Du Fu's original "Five Willow Grass Carp", Su Dongpo's "Dongpo Meat", Manchu-Han Banquet and eight major cuisines, the evolution and changes of China's history and culture are always inseparable from the inheritance and development of delicacies.

However, from a global perspective, our export of China's food culture is particularly scarce and thin. In recent years, two films, China on the Tip of the Tongue, have greatly increased China people's confidence in food culture. So far, Douban scored 9.3 points and 8.4 points. But in the eyes of many foreign audiences, although it means "increase", it is only an excellent documentary. In addition, in today's prosperous information age, works that can represent the cultural image of Chinese cuisine are rarely exported to the world, which limits foreign understanding of the real China flavor to some extent.

Realistic reason: lack of authoritative food list.

People's cognition and recognition of French cuisine is undoubtedly closely related to Michelin Guide. As the birthplace of Michelin, France has a large number of Michelin-starred restaurants. As the starting point of Michelin restaurant, French cuisine has long been regarded as "the most important food in western food" and is well known by food lovers all over the world.

In China, it is precisely because of the lack of such an authoritative food list that a standard value system has been established for China flavors. Although various folk food lists have emerged in an endless stream in recent years, due to the lack of official endorsement and too strong business cooperation atmosphere, the credibility is difficult to convince the public. On the other hand, the Michelin Guide-Shanghai, published for two consecutive years, is equally mixed. It has been repeatedly criticized that the restaurants on the list are "ungrounded", biased towards the aesthetic standards of western food, not in line with the tastes of China people and difficult to adapt to the localization of China.

Although the changes in historical and cultural reasons are profound and long-lasting, it is gratifying that some people are finally willing to face up to the reality, embrace the future, shoulder the mission of inheriting and carrying forward the taste of China, and create an authoritative food list belonging to China taste buds!

Just recently, Meituan released the public comment guide of Black Pearl Restaurant, aiming at creating a "China people's own food list". * * * A total of 330 restaurants were selected in the public comment on the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, including 28 restaurants with three diamonds, 85 restaurants with two diamonds and 265,438+07 restaurants with one diamond, covering 22 cities in China and 5 cities overseas. Meituan Comments, together with well-known gourmets, cooking experts, food researchers and food culture disseminators, initiated a restaurant evaluation system with Chinese food culture characteristics, and created an authoritative food guide of "Selected China Taste Buds" for all consumers who love China food.