Most of the Chinese Restaurants that I have visited have featured very few dessert items on their menus. Deep fried ice-cream has, however, pretty much been ubiquitous.
I understand that many of the dishes in chinese restaurants are not authentic, and that some chinese desserts may not be appreciated by western tastes, but I was wondering whether deep fried ice-cream has any connection at all to chinese cuisine.
I noticed in another thread that deep-fried ice-cream is featured prominently in Mexican restaurants in the US. Could this be for a similar reason, ie. that there aren’t any really any ‘suitable’ desserts in Mexican cuisine?
I very much doubt the authenticity of deep fried ice-cream. Until recently hardly anyone in China had refrigeration so they don’t go in for chilled deserts. Normally a Chinese meal ends with fruit for dessert. The Chinese like sickly sweet snacks but they are consumed between meals and on ceremonial occassions.
There are actually some really good Mexican desserts but they are mostly pastries or cakes. I’ll look for my cookbook when I get home.
Hunh. I have never seen “deep fried ice cream” in a Chinese restaurant. When Mr. Hawk was in China, lo these 20-some years ago, he had “fried milk” for dessert. He says it had the consistency of tofu and was sweetened with almonds. A tenuous connection, at best. Other than that, fruit - mandarin oranges and lychee - was served.
Here in San Antonio, I have never seen fried ice cream in a Chinese food restaurant. In addition, I have seen the dessert in only one Mexican restaurant in my entire life- so it is probably not a Mexican thing. As far as there being no suitable desserts in Mexican cuisine- you should try sopaipillas or bunuelos- they are pretty popular desserts here in South Texas Mexican restaurants.
Chinese, when dining as Chinese, do not normally ingest chocolate or cheese (or much other dairy).
The fact that a dairy product is available at a Chinese restaurant would imply to me that the local public has shown that it will buy it.
Think Chop Suey.
Fried icecream is frequently on the menu in various Chinese restaurants around my hometown in Australia, so this appears to be a wide-spread phenomena.
To elaborate on Doug Bowe’s post, the reason most Chinese people do not eat dairy isn’t necessarily by choice, but rather because the greater part of that country’s population is lactose intolerant.
I’ve never seen it at a Chinese restaurant, but I have had tempura-fried ice cream at a tempura restaurant in Japan (Shizuoka city, to be exact). Yummy.
“You do not see cream sauces or cheese dishes at authentic Chinese Restaurants”. – semiquote from memory of the opening chapter on lactose-intolerance in Marvin Harris’ book Good to Eat (AKA The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig). I know we’ve had arguments about orientals and lactose intolerance on the SDMB before, but it seems to me that Harris is correct in characterizing traditional Chinese fare as dairy-free.
That jibes with my experience here in Jackson, MS. The local sushi restaurants and hibachi restaurants all serve tempura-fried ice-cream as a dessert. None of the Chinese restaurants do.
A major Mexican food chain in my hometown of New Orleans has featured fried ice-cream as a dessert for many years. Haven’t noticed other Mexican places serving fried ice cream, though.
Chi-Chi’s had fried ice cream 20 years ago, at least. Even “authentic” Mexican restaurants I’ve been to in Toronto and New York have had it (although not all, I should note).
Toronto has the largest Chinese poplulation outside of Asia, and in 20+ years of frequent patronage, I have never seen fried ice cream at a Chinese restaurant here.
I spend a great deal of time in Tokyo, and I’ve never seen fried ice cream there, although I’ve hardly been to a stastically significant number of restaurants there.
It sure as heck ain’t a Chinese restaurant thing. Not invented nor practiced here. I’m sure you can probably find it somewhere in China, but I have never seen nor heard about it.