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Origins. Chop suey is widely believed to have been developed in the U.S. by Chinese Americans, but the anthropologist E. N. Anderson, traces the dish to tsap seui (杂碎, "miscellaneous leftovers"), common in Taishan (Toisan), a county in Guangdong province, the home of many early Chinese immigrants to the United States. [1][2] Hong Kong ...
Chop suey likely originated as essentially a dish of leftovers (much like Italian minestrone), made of vegetables, cuttings from meat used in a previous meal (usually pork or chicken but sometimes beef), and miscellaneous items such as bean sprouts and canned water chestnuts.
Sep 6, 2022 · According to culinary legend, the dish of stir-fried meat, egg, and vegetables was invented on August 29, 1896, in New York City. Li Hongzhang, a diplomat from China, was visiting the...
- Justine Sterling
Nov 30, 2021 · The true story of how chop suey ended up in the United States is much more straightforward than legend would have it. Chop suey trailed Southern Chinese merchants to California.
- Miranda Brown
- California Dreaming
- Go East
- Enter Chop Suey
- Myth-Making
- Golden Age
- The Triumph of Myth
There is little truth to any of this. But myths can be revealing. Consciously created to mask culinary realities with nativist pretentions or (in Lem Sen’s case) naive self-interest, the tales told about chop suey are a testament to the United States’ conflicted relationship with Chinese immigrants – and a witness to almost two centuries of curiosi...
Despite such prejudice, the Chinese community flourished. Migrants continued to arrive in their thousands; and, when the Gold Rush began to wind down, a growing number found work on the railways. This was a booming industry after the Civil War – and Chinese labourers were to play a particularly important role in the construction of the First Transc...
As in California, many new arrivals found work as sailors, stewards, dockhands and labourers; but a sizeable minority took to selling food. There was, of course, the usual hostility. In 1883, a Chinese grocer was accused of cooking dogs and cats; and derogatory songs about Chinese cooking were sung on every street corner. But a dramatic shift had a...
It was not long after this that the myth-making began. When, in 1896, the Chinese viceroy of Zhili, Li Hongzhang, visited New York, newspapers inaccurately reported that, while he had rejected Western dishes at a banquet given in his honour, he had enthusiastically tucked into a plate of chop suey. This caused a sensation. Wealthy young socialites ...
Prohibition propelled chop suey to even greater heights. Unlike many Western restaurants, ‘chop sueys’ had never served alcohol – only tea; so while many of their competitors went out of business, they only increased in popularity. Their numbers grew; and, in an effort to cater to mass tastes, they began branching out. As well as an even simpler ve...
Since Lyndon Johnson was roundly mocked for serving chop suey to Thailand’s Chinese-food-loving prime minister in 1968, chop suey’s popularity has experienced a steady decline. Though it is still occasionally found in restaurants and canteens, it is no longer the staple it once was; and despite the publication of some intriguing books (most notably...
As American history grew and changed, so did the chop suey dish. In the 1940s, the ban on Chinese immigration was lifted, and more Chinese immigrants came into the United States, bringing with them unique flavors and ingredients from regions across China.
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Once the most famous Chinese dish in America, chop suey helped spur the growth of Chinese restaurants. A Smithsonian curator is now criss-crossing the country to research its beginnings.
