Perspectives on three types of foods that are part of the Chinese American diaspora experience and identity. This approach probably applies to other ethnic groups, as well.

1. Overseas ChineseAmerican Foods
Alan A. Lew
Dept. of Geography, Planning & Recreation
Northern Arizona University, USA
http://alanalew.com
-----------
Asian Studies Program
Northern Arizona University
December 4, 2013

2. NEW: Humans Are Becoming
More Carnivorous w/China + India

3. Chinese
Americans
• 3.35 million in 2010
– Largest Asian
population in the US
– 38% increase over 2000
• More Diabetes
& Heart Diseases than Chinese in Asia
– probably due, in part, to different diets
• Traditional Chinese Diet:
– High fiber, Low saturated fat, Well-balanced
• After US immigration:
– Western eating habits
– AND Traditional Chinese eating habits

4. Chinese or American ?
Immigrant Chinese (1st generation)
• Immersed in Chinese culture prior to
migration to the US
– Shapes interaction with American
culture
• Adopting some American traits
• Dropping some Chinese traits
• “Chineseness” = Degree of Dropping
or Keeping Chinese Cultural Traits
• Some drop more than others
• May re-adopt with older age
Liu/Lau/Lew Family
Association, Chinatown,
San Francisco

5. American
or Chinese?
“ABC” – American Born Chinese
(2nd + … generations)
• Immersed in both American
and Chinese culture from birth
– Chinese culture = Family
Chinese community
Chinese food
– American culture = School
Work
Friends
Public settings
Chinatown, San Francisco
• “Chineseness” = degree of engagement with Chinese culture
– Some engage more than others
– May engage more with older age

6. Ways of “Performing” Chineseness
1. Chinese
Language Ability
2. Affiliate with
Chinese People
3. Participate in
Chinese Activities
4. Pride in
Chinese Heritage
5. Exposure to
Chinese Culture
6. Preference for
Chinese Food
(Tsai, et al. 2000)

7. ABC - Food &
Acculturation
- 20 First Generation Chinese Couples in Pennsylvania
- At least 1 child age 5+ enrolled in a Chinese school
•
Results:
(1) Chinese American Families eat:
Asian Grocery
• Breakfast: Convenient American food
Store, Mesa,
• Lunch & Dinner at Home: Chinese food
Arizona
• Meals away from home: Children prefer Western foods
(2) Family Food Conflicts
• Children’s Preference for Western Foods
• Children’s Dislike of Vegetables
• Father’s Food Preference – had biggest impact on Chinese/Western conflicts
•
Implications:
1. Primary contrast with Western convenience/fast foods
2. Demonstrate engagement with Chineseness through Chinese meals
3. Impose Chineseness on children through parental power
(Lu & Brown, 2010)

8. Chinese and Indian Vegetables at Lee Lee Market in north Phoenix, AZ

9. Food & Travel
Neophobics vs Neophyllics
(Cohen 1979)
Fear of Newness vs. Love of Newness
• 1. Recreational/Mass Tourists (passive hedonists)
– Seek relaxation & enjoyment
– No interest in local food authenticity
• 2. Sightseeing Tourists (gazing on “others”)
– Interested in local dishes & food habits
– Might try local food in a “safe” tourism settings
• 3. Experimental/Participatory/Adventure
tourists (trying local life)
– Try local foods in local establishments
• 4. Existential/Identity tourists (adopting local life)
– Subsist on local food
– Culinary ‘‘switching worlds’’
A dish for Experimental
& Existential
Food Neophyllics at the
Great Wall Restaurant,
Phoenix, AZ

10. A Typology of
U.S. Overseas Chinese Foods
1. “Chinese American” Foods
– Safe for Food Neophobics
- Recreational & Sightseeing Foodies
2. “Real Chinese” Foods
– More Authentic (similar to China)
- Desired by Food Neophyllics
- Adventure & Identity Foodies
3. “American Chinese” Foods
– Home Cooked Chinese dishes
- Not common in restaurants

11. 3 Types of U.S. Overseas Chinese Foods
Similarity to China
Restaurant Foods
Less
Home Foods
1. Chinese American
3. American Chinese
More
2. Real Chinese

12. Typology of US Overseas Chinese Foods
1.
Chinese American Foods
– Safe for food neophobic Recreational & Sightseeing Foodies
– Chinese & American Fusion
• since 19th c. in railroad & mining towns of the western US
• Chop Suey (‘Tsa Sui’), Sweet & Sour Pork, Orange Chicken,
Fried Wontons, Fortune Cookies
– Non-Chinese and “Banana” & “Twinkie” ABCs
Orange
Chicken
&
Fried
Rice

13. (1) Chinese American Foods
Early Chinese Food in the US (1849-1900)
• Stir- fried, rice-based Cantonese food
• Used every part of the animal
= not palatable to Americans
• Very basic establishments
– for railroad & mining camp workers
By the 1920s
• Chinese restaurants throughout U.S.
• Foods adjusted to US palate
• Separate English menu & Chinese menus
First Chinese Buffet opened in
San Francisco in 1850
“Chinese-American cuisine is 'dumbed- down' Chinese
food. It’s adapted... to be blander, thicker and sweeter for
the American public.”
Ming Tsai, Blue Ginger restaurant owner,
Wellesley, Massachusetts

14. Ethnic Food Preferences in the U.S.

15. (1) Chinese American Foods
Typical 100% Chinese American
Restaurant Foods
Mainland China
Restaurant Foods
- Vegetables as minor part of meal: mostly
carrots, broccoli, cabbage & onions
- Meat is focus of the meal
- Sweet, sticky sauces, often with tomatoes
- Much more soy sauce
- Fried rice & brown rice are more common
- Thick flour battered meat that is deep fried
- Vegetables are major dishes: diversity
of leafy vegetable & roots
- Meat in small pieces, except fish
- Greater variety of sauces
- More soups, especially with herbs
- White rice only - more “fluffy”
- Fried rice & thick battered meat is rare
- Mostly stir frying & deep frying with a wok
- Huge, but stable menu covering different
regions of China, though mostly Cantonese
- Very few innovations
- Much more steaming & boiling
- Focus on single regional food or
specialty food
- Frequent food innovations & fusions
- Fortune Cookies
- Chinese takeout boxes
- Cantonese Romanization & translation
- Family-style eating
- Less takeout
- Translations are rare

18. Typology of US Overseas Chinese Foods
1.
Chinese American Foods
2. “Real Chinese” Foods
– Desired by Food Neophyllics,
Adventure & Identity Foodies
& many ABCs
– “Yellow Fever”, “Egg” &
“Pineapple” Non-Chinese
– High “Authenticity” Chinese
Foods - Similar to China
• Chicken Feet, Dim Sum, Clay Pots, Peking Duck,
Tofu, Soy Milk, Roast Duck, Herbal Soups
– Ordering from the “Chinese Menu”
• Even if you cannot read it!
Dried meats in Chinatown,
San Francisco

19. (2) Real Chinese Foods & Foodies

20. (2) Real Chinese
Foods
More “Authentic” to China & Hong Kong
– Immigrant enclaves in large U.S. cities
– Formal Chinese Banquets
• Weddings & Elder Birthdays
– “Dim Sum” - allows experimenting
Culinary Authenticity
– Objective Authenticity
• (1) Reproductions of Heritage Dishes
– Family traditions
• (2) Reproductions from Homeland
– Subjective Authenticity
• Personally Perceived as an
Authentic Food
– Existential/Experiential Authenticity
• Peak, Euphoric, or even Spiritual,
Food Experiences
– Independent of Objective or Subjective authenticity measures
A Pot Sticker (gyoza)
restaurant in
Phoenix, Arizona

21. Dim Sum:
- Siu mai (pork &
shrimp dumplings)
- Spare ribs in black
bean sauce
- Chicken feet

22. Restaurant Ratings
& U.S. Chinese Food Types
Similarity to China
Restaurant Foods
Less
Home Foods
1. Chinese American
3. American Chinese
More
2. Real Chinese
• Ethnic Chinese Reviewers
- Compare to Hong Kong & China
• Non-Chinese Reviewers
- Compare to “Chinese American” Restaurants
- Food Neophyllics – compare to New York or Los Angeles

23. ChineseFoodMap.com
This website is for Chinese
people to rate Chinese
restaurants in the U.S.

24. This note warns Chinese readers that the reviews for this restaurant are
from English language source and do not reflect Chinese tastes. The
English translation is via Google translate.

25. This review was written entirely in Chinese (right). It is
translate by Google translate (Left and below).

26. Examples of “Real Chinese Food” – yes, including
boba/pearl drinks, which originated in Taiwan

27. Typology of US Overseas Chinese Foods
1. Chinese American Foods
2. Authentic Chinese Foods
3. American Chinese Foods
– Home-cooked Chinese dishes – Not common in restaurants
– More regional dishes
• reflect homeland of 1st Generation immigrant ancestors
– Most authentic foods of Chinese living in the US?
These photos represent food
commonly eaten at home by Toisan
(Taishan) immigrants – which is
where my ancestors are from.
Ancestral offering

28. (3) ABC Home Foods
The (Post)Modern Human Condition
1. Rapid & Constant Global Change:
– Creates Uncertainty, Displacement, Lack of a Center, ‘Placelessness’
•
Leading to anxiety & doubt about one’s identity (Ong, 1999)
2. Continually emerging opportunities: (Ohmae, 2000)
– Transcending time-space barriers
– Enabled new forms of global
relationships & identities
Nostalgia for an Idealized Past
• Offers Sense of Connections to a larger
Social Identity
• Varies from the Fake to the more Authentic
The ancestral offering become
dinner for the living later in the day

29. (3) ABC Home Foods
Major way of engaging with Nostalgias
1. Genealogy / Roots/ Identity Tourism
2. Eating Traditional Foods
… can strengthen:
• Ethnic identities (race, culture)
• Personal heritage identities
(family, genealogy)
• Place identities (homes, travels)
- Home made whole
wheat BBQ pork bun
(left) and Sticky rice
tamale (above)
- Pomelo, grown in
Tucson, the original
grapefruit (right)

30. Chinese-American
home vegetable garden
in San Diego, California

31. (3) ABC Home Foods
Mix of
1. Chinese American
Restaurant Foods
2. Real Chinese Foods
& Fusion Creations
3. Traditional Family Recipes
–
Passed down from parents
Unique Foods of the Chinese in the US
• Turkey Congee
– juk/ju zi, rice porridge
Mushroom Chicken & Mustard Greens;
Lotus root & Taro Pork; Turkey Congee

32. Steamed white water
fish (bai shui yu) and
other dishes

33. From American to Chinese through Food
… on the issue of food, our taste buds were firmly entrenched [in
Western foods]. [Our Chinese parents] groused about our inability to
appreciate ‘real Chinese food.’
I never really understood what ‘real Chinese food’ meant until I went
to China. … I encountered a variety of cuisines that were more akin to
my mom's cooking than the ones of America's Chinese restaurants:
more vegetables, less meat, less oil.
I began spitting bones out onto the
table and drinking watery soup after
a meal to wash it all down. I even
drank hot tea—no fortune cookies to
be found. I began to roll my eyes at
the take-out Chinese food I had
grown up with; it wasn't authentic.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles –
by Jennifer Lee

34. For comparison, these recent photos
present an example of a regional
restaurant in Dali, Yunnan, China. More
photos can be found on my Google+
account: google.com/+alanalew

36. A type of mushroom/tree fungus

38. Savory steamed egg

39. Fried caterpillars >>>

40. Picking vegetables for one’s meal (left); and
picking out live hornets and larvae for one’s
meal (right), which is an option – the larvae
are eaten raw/live.

41. Summary
Chinese or American
– 1st & 2nd (ABC) Generations
– Engaging with Chineseness
through Food
– Food Neophobics & Neophyllics
1.
Chinese American Food
= Chinese food eaten by American
Food Neophobics
- Less Similar to China foods
But Authentic to the Chinese Historical Experience in the US
2.
Real Chinese Food
= Preferred by 1st Generations & Food Neophyllics
- More Similar/Authentic to China foods
3.
American Chinese Food
= Regional & Family Chinese foods eaten by Chinese at Home
- More Authentic to the Daily Life of Chinese in the U.S.
Chinese Fast
Food at the
Central Market
in Los Angeles