American Chinese Restaurant Recruitment Network

The third season of the variety show "Chinese Restaurant" has come to an end, and the efforts of Chinese food going out to sea are far from just on the screen, with a longer history. What is behind the name of "rustic" restaurant? What kind of Chinese food is popular overseas? What's new about Chinese food going out to sea for so long? How many types of Chinese restaurants can there be in a city? The newspaper (www.thepaper.cn) grabbed 20,000 overseas Chinese restaurants and1.5,000 Chinese dishes recommended in the United States on the international review website Yelp, trying to answer these questions.

The names of overseas Chinese restaurants are a bit "rustic"

Strolling through the streets of Lima, Peru, you can see restaurants that say "CHIFA" everywhere. This is a unique sign of Chinese restaurants in Peru, which is a homonym of "eat" in Chinese.

Different from the various or even online names in China, the names of overseas Chinese restaurants are a bit "rustic". In addition to the literal translation of Chinese/China restaurant, diners are reminded that this restaurant is a mysterious country from the Far East, from wok to jiaozi, from panda to bamboo, and from golden to Beijing.

The history of iron pot began in Qin and Han Dynasties, and it is an indispensable tool for China people to make food. According to the food documentary China on the Tip of the Tongue, the wok is deep inside and suitable for frying. Moreover, the inner wall of the pot is forged. When the spoon is turned over, the food will naturally turn out of the pot and will not be thrown out. These characteristics promote the achievements of China people's cooking technology.

Panda is not only the national treasure of China, but also the witness of commercial expansion. 1973, Nixon visited China, Sino-US relations eased, and China sent the first pair of giant pandas to the United States. Also in this year, 25-year-old Cheng Zhengchang raised funds to start a restaurant. The waiter suggested that since Americans like pandas, they might as well name the restaurant "Panda Inn". Later, this restaurant grew into panda express, the largest American Chinese food chain in the world. In our statistics, more than three-quarters of the panda's word frequency comes from this.

Gold is the favorite color mentioned in the name of Chinese restaurant. This preference may have originated hundreds of years ago. According to the book "From Guangzhou Restaurant to panda express", Chinese restaurants opened in the United States in the early years all hung triangular yellow ribbons as flags without exception. In the Qing dynasty, yellow satin was still royal and was rarely used as a commercial symbol of hotels. This taboo was broken overseas. At the beginning of our forefathers' pioneering work, the oriental color symbolizing imperial power, the gong attracting customers and the red lantern hanging high together constituted the cultural symbol of Chinese food going to sea.

Besides sweet, sour, spicy and salty, what new flavors are there?

In traditional China cooking, China people are used to seasoning with sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty. In addition to suffering, overseas Chinese restaurants basically continue the traditional seasoning habits.

The refreshing, sour and sweet taste is not a particularly mainstream cooking taste in China. However, it has become the basic consensus of most foreigners on Chinese food that flowers inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall. In the American Chinese food industry, sweet and sour tastes account for almost half of the country.

Some sweet and sour flavors that are popular overseas are not popular in China, such as "orange chicken", the best-selling Chinese food in the United States, which most people in China have never eaten. Some people think that the original origin of this dish is Sichuan famous dish Chenpi Chicken. However, American orange chicken can't taste the bitter taste of orange peel. Judging from the raw materials, dried tangerine peel has been replaced by fresh orange peel, and some restaurants can blend "orange flavor" without orange peel.

Some sweet and sour dishes originated in China are also very popular. Gulai meat is a famous Cantonese dish, which can be eaten in many overseas restaurants in China. Sugar and vinegar can be added to goose meat to make it sweet and sour, and ketchup, pickles, pineapples and sour fruits can also be added to increase the taste level.

The most popular spicy taste in Chinese food has also performed well overseas. The popularity of spicy food mainly depends on snacks such as hot and sour soup. This soup has thousands of flavors. Under the hot and sour framework, you can flexibly mix bamboo shoots, mushrooms, shredded pork, egg flowers, fungus, tofu, black vinegar, pepper, dried pepper and other ingredients. The spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine is not too high. Common foods in China, such as red oil wonton and spicy incense pot, are not common.

In addition to the traditional five flavors, American Chinese restaurants also have very rich mixed seasonings. Indonesian saddle, black pepper in South India, citronella and basil in Thailand, these flavors have been completely preserved due to the introduction of exotic classic dishes or the integration of traditional spices in China.

Just compound seasoning curry, you can taste at least three kinds in American Chinese restaurants. First, the red curry in Southeast Asia, red comes from red pepper and red onion, which is very spicy and can be used with beef and mutton. The second is the most common Indian yellow curry. It is sour and spicy, suitable for curry chicken and curry seafood. The third is green curry from Thailand. Green comes from the dyeing of green pepper and basil, and green curry is also mixed with citronella, lime and coconut milk, which is richer in layers and suitable for matching vegetables.

What's the difference between different Chinese restaurants, dishes and locations?

In the past century, with the migration of Chinese, Chinese food has gradually taken root overseas. In the process of change and circulation, a large number of new formats and new meals different from those in China have emerged.

New york, an international city, has more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants. Downtown Manhattan and Chinatown in Flushing naturally attract many restaurants. However, according to NYC's public data, Chinese restaurants have long been scattered in the streets of new york, so it can be said that there are Chinese restaurants where there are people.

These restaurants can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the largest and most widely distributed community store; Second, chain stores such as Panda Express; The third kind is a high-priced store that is relatively expensive but respects the taste of China population.

These three types of shops can be clearly distinguished from decoration, food, price and mode of operation.

Community stores may have only a few tables, mostly in the form of mom-and-pop stores or family stores. "Women run errands and men do the kitchen" can be said to be the practice of community stores. The number of chain stores should not be underestimated, and the dining environment in the store is mostly clean and unified, providing standardized meals catering to local tastes at moderate prices.

In new york, more than 90% Chinese restaurants are community stores and chain stores, and these low-priced restaurants constitute foreigners' basic knowledge of Chinese food. The dishes served in these two Chinese restaurants are similar in color. Popular chain-store dishes such as "Orange Chicken" have also been imitated by community stores. After full "internal" communication, these dishes can be found in every community in every big city in the United States.

In recent years, China people are familiar with Meizhou Dongpo, Dadong Roast Duck and Dalongyi Hot Pot, which have also spread to the United States. In these relatively expensive Chinese restaurants that respect China's taste more, you can taste more authentic Peking Duck, clear soup trotters, steamed sea bass and moo Shu pork, and feel homesick. Such as spicy duck tongue, locals don't eat it, and they also have the opportunity to serve it.

In the process of landing, high-priced stores have also made some localized changes. In 20 18, Beijing roast duck brand Dadong opened, and new york Times food critic PETE WELLS rushed to try. He found that Dadong changed the carbon grill into a natural gas grill, and the ducks he ate came from a farm in Indiana. Besides the traditional China way of eating, such as duck skin dipped in white sugar, duck meat and chopped green onion sweet noodle sauce, there is also a more localized way of eating-42 US dollars 10 gram of Kaluga black fish roe as a new partner of roast duck.

Different from community stores and chain stores, the location of high-priced stores is more concentrated. First, the Asian community. New york, Lower Manhattan, Flushing in Queens and Sunset Park in Brooklyn are all popular choices. Second, developed white communities have strong ability to pay. The above Dadong is located in midtown Manhattan. On the one hand, it can meet the daily banquet needs of the core business district, on the other hand, it can radiate to the core attractions such as Times Square and Bryant Park to attract tourists to eat.

65438+In the 1940s, the first Chinese restaurant opened in San Francisco. Over the past century, people come and go, historical changes, flavor integration, and food color innovation have constantly refreshed the definition of overseas Chinese food. However, eating a proper Chinese meal and saying thank you for your hospitality will bring as simple happiness as it did a hundred years ago and will continue.