# Do Americans eat cold Chinese food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614 "2006-02-08T23:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/41 "2006-02-09T20:23:56Z")
> [@mazinger\_z](#): > > I wonder what the American equivalent of this is? I don’t think it exists. Is this more traditional Chinese? (My first and only time in China I ate at American places because our hosts thought we would like familiar food.) Does it have peas and corn and carrots like 99% of the dishes there? Salt n pepper chiken is crispy chicken in a dry garlic and chilli eh, I dunno, sauce? Its not really a sauce, as the chicken arrives dry. Marinade? I cant cook. It’s really delicious. Sometimes its called sweet chilli chicken. Get in my belly. Oh, and… Peas? Corn? Carrots? In a chinese dish? [Bubastis runs screaming from the computer] ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/42 "2006-02-09T20:36:42Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Seconded. I’ve never seen anything like this at a Chinese resturant, but it sounds great and I’d love to try some. Also available: Salt n pepper crispy prawn, salt n pepper crispy shredded beef… All to kill for! ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/43 "2006-02-09T21:03:34Z")
As a son of Chinese immigrants who grew up in northern California (the home of the best Asian food anywhere in the United States), this thread makes me want to run for the nearest vomitorium, screaming about the White Devils. 😉 I didn’t even realize that Chinese takeout places were common until I went to college on the east coast. Of course, since then, I’ve acquired a certain amount of appreciation for the goopy, Cantonese-derived crapola you get from such restaurants. But eating leftover Chinese food _cold?_ Ye gods, people. Have you no sense of decency at all?! ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/44 "2006-02-09T21:37:03Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > Salt n pepper chiken is crispy chicken in a dry garlic and chilli eh, I dunno, sauce? Its not really a sauce, as the chicken arrives dry. Marinade? I cant cook. It’s really delicious. Sometimes its called sweet chilli chicken. Get in my belly. 😕 Yeah, we don’t have chilli anything over here in our Chinese food. And, we typically spell “chilli” like “chili.” 😉 And, when we say chili, we don’t think of that [red pepper thing](http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.asp?imageid=484445), we think of chiles, which is [larger and green](http://www.foodsubs.com/Chilefre.html). (I’m sure there’s a thread somewhere about it). When you say “crispy” do you mean breaded, like at Mcdonald’s? How are the noodles? Are those dry and crispy, too? Broth? Or, are they like spaghetti? > [@](#): > > Peas? Corn? Carrots? In a chinese dish? I was in Ireland for work late last year, and we only went to one Chinese food place and it was quite normal, well as normal as one of those late night joints in Philly. When I was in school at Oxford in the late nineties, I had Chinese food in 5 places (England and Ireland), and all but one (my favorite place in Chinatown, near that horrid Angus steak joint in London) had peas and carrots mixed in (granted that the other four places where strictly takeout). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/45 "2006-02-09T21:42:41Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#): > > Cantonese-derived crapola you get from such restaurants. I’ve often wondered it General Tsao’s Chicken was invented by someone wondering, “Will those idiots actually try to _eat_these peppers?” While I enjoy Sweet & Sour Chicken, I don’t think it’s “real Asian” food. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/46 "2006-02-09T21:51:06Z")
Interestingly enough, when I visited Beijing, one of the few American-Chinese dishes I recognized was … Sweet & Sour X, with X being whatever meat they used. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “authentic”. Maybe they think it’s American food! ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/47 "2006-02-10T09:29:40Z")
> [@mazinger\_z](#): > > 😕 > > Yeah, we don’t have chilli anything over here in our Chinese food. And, we typically spell “chilli” like “chili.” 😉 And, when we say chili, we don’t think of that [red pepper thing](http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.asp?imageid=484445), we think of chiles, which is [larger and green](http://www.foodsubs.com/Chilefre.html). (I’m sure there’s a thread somewhere about it). When you say “crispy” do you mean breaded, like at Mcdonald’s? How are the noodles? Are those dry and crispy, too? Broth? Or, are they like spaghetti? Not breaded, more of a light crispy batter. The batter soaks up most of the juice (for want of a better word) that the dish is cooked in, leaving just sliced red chili and crushed garlic cloves. Noodles are just noodles, you can get the dish with rice but I go for the noodles as the chicken can be fairly dry, hence the soft noodles and beansprouts moisten everything up. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614/48 "2006-02-10T12:58:34Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#): > > As a son of Chinese immigrants who grew up in northern California (the home of the best Asian food anywhere in the United States), this thread makes me want to run for the nearest vomitorium, screaming about the White Devils. 😉 I didn’t even realize that Chinese takeout places were common until I went to college on the east coast. Of course, since then, I’ve acquired a certain amount of appreciation for the goopy, Cantonese-derived crapola you get from such restaurants. > > But eating leftover Chinese food _cold?_ Ye gods, people. Have you no sense of decency at all?! **Tarrsk** , of course I agree with you regarding NoCal being the hotbed of great Asian food in the US. But have you been to U-Lee in San Francisco? Have you had their asparagus or snow pea chicken, then had it the next morning cold? Man oh man - wonderfulness is fully available! Their curried shrimp - O, be still my heart! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-eat-cold-chinese-food/343614.md?page=2)