Hacker Cinema
The Search for General Tso
2014 · Film · documentary · 71 min
Directed by Ian Cheney
From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.
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7 comments on Hacker News
Ironically you picked one of the American-Chinese food dishes that is, effectively, American.
There's a fantastic documentary about it (and the Chinese food complex in American in general) -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Search_for_General_Tso
Haha, I completely agree, but also understand why it happens. There is a documentary called "The Search for General Tso" on Netflix (I believe) that talks about how a staple American dish in Chinese restaurants came to be. In particular, nearly everybody says, "we had to change this and add sugar, as Americans have a sweeter palette than Chinese have".
However, the same thing happens in Asia with other countrys' foods, which can sometimes be good (Shaka Shaka Chicken, Japanese Curry) or perplexing (Cheeseburger Pizza).
Having grown up around a lot of Asian and Asian Americans, I do wish the majority of Americans were more open to different cultural foods. There are so many good dishes from all over the world, that it just seems a shame to miss out on. I can't imagine life without Shengjian bao, xiaolung bao, green onion pancakes, or the host of noodle dishes.
By the way, you didn't mention in particular, but I am guessing the huge South-East Asian ethnic group is Hmong? In which case I'm sure you've tried sweet pork (nqaj qaab zib). If you haven't, or if I'm wrong about which group you're talking about, try it anyway. It's delicious!
I recommend watching The Search for General Tso. It's a documentary following the Chinese in America with the lens being on the the General Tso dish, in a very similar line to the article.
Thing is: they do not cater for the natives, but for the locals.
Prime example (for me) is "Chinese food". Found all over the world, yet nowhere it is the same, let alone something a Chinese would call Chinese.
Better even, there is one particular Chinese dish that inspired a documentary about all its different implementations. The Search For General Tso. Check it out if you like.
There's also a great documentary that (around here) is on Netflix called The Search for General Tso that's quite fascinating. In addition to exploring the origins of the dish, it delves into the Chinese diaspora in the US and the evolution of North American Chinese food. Highly recommended!
"The Search for General Tso" on Netflix http://www.netflix.com/title/80011853?s=i dives into this collection a bit. Really fun documentary, too.
I personally don't think the pace of change is accelerating, I think the uniformity of acceptance of change is.
In regards to your second paragraph, I don't know if 'more authentic' really means what you think it does. I've had the idea for a while that traditions around food are a lot more fungible than is popularly thought. Something like the documentary The Search for General Tso [ http://www.thesearchforgeneraltso.com/ ] or Rachel Laudan's work [ http://www.utne.com/environment/fast-food-culinary-ethos.aspx or https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/slow-food-artisanal-natural-preservatives/ ] better illustrates it than I could in a comment.