# Question about Chinese food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 22, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556 "2021-04-22T18:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/41 "2021-04-23T06:39:55Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > That bolded line absolutely has to be a joke based on **[Minnesota’s “hotdish”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotdish)** , right? Thanks to Rule 34, ‘Hotdish’ sends me off into another plane of thought. Damn Internet! ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/42 "2021-04-23T06:44:27Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > in ca most of the chinese fast food places […] > describe themselves as hong kong style And they are. _America-style_ Hong Kong style. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/43 "2021-04-23T09:12:35Z")
Is there a term for when a part of a cuisine leaves its native home, spends some time abroad, then is brought back to the place of origin in its mutated form? Like Americanized Chinese food, or Philly sushi rolls showing up in Japan or one of the American styles of pizza being served in Italy? Boomerang dish, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/44 "2021-04-23T12:45:59Z")
**terentii** , don’t you live in Toronto now? Toronto has an excellent Chinatown where you can get authentic Chinese cuisine. And there is no shortage of ‘American- style’ Chinese places where you can get chow or lo mein and egg foo young. I don’t think that you’d be able to find ‘Minnesota- style’ however. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/45 "2021-04-23T13:00:26Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You shouldn’t be digging the food out of the Chinese take-out boxes. [They’re designed to unfold into a plate](https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Plate-from-a-Takeout-Chinese-Food-to-Go-Box). Is it OK if I say how much I hate this meme? They aren’t designed to be plates, they’re designed to be folded up from a flat sheet into a non-leaking carrying container. It’s almost as bad a meme as the “top of your paper soda cup is a coaster” one. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Boomerang dish, maybe? If there isn’t already a term, I nominate this one. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/46 "2021-04-23T14:04:36Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > To really drive you nuts, OP, in some parts of the US there’s a distinction between _chow_ mein and _lo_ mein, where one may be soft noodles or crispy noodles and the other is the opposite case. And those definitions may be flipped in other parts of the US. And sometimes the crispy noodle dish is Chop Suey, which means something completely different elsewhere. IME in Maryland and Texas, _lo mein_ has always been with soft noodles and _chow mein_ always comes with crispy noodles, though the crispy noodles are used more as a topping for the vegetable-meat glop which is served over rice. One of my favorite meals at my local “Chinese” restaurant is sesame-fried chicken(or beef) fajitas, served with Szechwan salsa. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/47 "2021-04-23T14:10:55Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > _chow mein_ always comes with crispy noodles, though the crispy noodles are used more as a topping for the vegetable-meat glop Most places I’ve seen in Canada, the crispy noodles are the major distinguishing feature between Chow Mein and Chop Suey. Otherwise they seem identical. 80% bean sprouts, 10% meat of some sort, 10% other vegetables like celery and carrots. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/48 "2021-04-23T14:31:33Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > … And it was telling they never ate the menu items themselves. … Yes. Watching what the staff made and ate themselves was always part of the fun of going to the better sort of Chinese (or other) ethnic restaurant. It always seemed to me that of the various “Americanized” cuisines, the Chinese is the one that was most thoroughly bastardized. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > > [@bordelond](#): > > > > That bolded line absolutely has to be a joke based on **[Minnesota’s “hotdish”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotdish)** , right? > > Thanks to Rule 34, ‘Hotdish’ sends me off into another plane of thought. Damn Internet! See here and many of the next 60-ish posts below for a good discussion of hotdish: > [@Regional expressions you didn't always realize were not widespread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/126): > > Up North and Duck Duck Grey Duck (a FAR superior game) have been mentioned as Minnesotaisms (we are also a pop not soda state, though I think that’s changing) but I didn’t see “hotdish” What the rest of the country calls a casserole, we call a hotdish, and its an art form. (The dish you bake it in is often called a casserole, but what you bake is a hotdish) Tater tot hotdish is the epitome of Minnesota food. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/49 "2021-04-23T14:41:53Z")
I have ingested the cream of mushroom soup version of “chow mein” - it is about what it sounds like - Lutheran church basement hot dish with the highly ethnic ingredient “soy sauce” added over crispy wheat noodles. My mothers was the ground pork, lots of celery, over crispy wheat noodles. I never had any belief that either of these was real Chinese food, any more than I believed that the Old El Paso taco kit created authentic Mexican food or a jar of Ragu over Creamette spaghetti was anything like my grandmother’s homemade pasta. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/50 "2021-04-23T14:48:27Z")
I should get out more, but it’s difficult for me, for a number of reasons. I’ve told my daughter we should go to a nice restaurant sometime when the pandemic is over, so long as we can coordinate our schedules. There are a lot of places I’d like to try, not just Chinese: Greek, Indian, Ethiopian… ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/51 "2021-04-23T15:31:22Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > IME most countries roll their own version of Chinese food. I like the Korean version “japchae” of stir-fried noodles. Some Koreans consider it Chinese food, but of course it’s yet another foreign modification of the original dish. > **[Japchae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japchae)** > > Japchae (Korean: 잡채; Hanja: 雜菜) is a savory and slightly sweet dish of stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables that is popular in Korean cuisine. Japchae is typically prepared with dangmyeon (당면, 唐麵), a type of cellophane noodles made from sweet potato starch; the noodles are mixed with assorted vegetables, meat, and mushrooms, and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil. > Once a royal dish, japchae is now one of the most popular traditional celebration dishes, often served on special occasions, s... ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/52 "2021-04-23T15:50:24Z")
I only once had good chop suey or chow mein from a Chinese restaurant, and I can’t remember where. I keep searching for it, but all I get is stewed cabbage and a few carrot and celery strips in a translucent bucket of goo. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/53 "2021-04-23T16:32:02Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I like the Korean version “japchae” of stir-fried noodles. Some Koreans consider it Chinese food, but of course it’s yet another foreign modification of the original dish. When I think of Korean-style Chinese food, I think of jajangmyeon. > **[Jajangmyeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jajangmyeon)** > > Jajangmyeon (Korean: 자장면) or jjajangmyeon (짜장면) is a Chinese-style Korean noodle dish topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang, diced pork, and vegetables. It originated in Incheon, Korea where Chinese migrant workers started making zhajiangmian (noodles served with fried bean sauce) in the late 19th century. Modifications in Korea such as a darker and sweeter sauce differentiate the Korean version from the Chinese dish. Variants of the dish use seafood, or other meats. > Jajangmyeon was brought... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/54 "2021-04-23T16:44:01Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > > [@terentii](#): > > > > I think the first time I had authentic chow mein was in a Chinese restaurant in London (England), back in the '90s. I was surprised to see that the noodles/pasta had obviously been steamed or boiled and then fried in oil. > > IME most countries roll their own version of Chinese food. So I would guess that even what you had in London was likely not authentic. Be that as it may, I’m sure it was a lot more authentic than what I had in Minnesota. Mind you, it was back in the '50s that we were served the green glop. I remember when Szechuan cuisine arrived in our neck of the woods sometime in the '70s. It quickly became the _au courant_ Chinese food to sample. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556/55 "2021-04-23T18:58:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > [@terentii](#): > > > > I miss opening those cardboard delivery cartons and digging the green stuff out in all its steamy, gooey goodness. > > You shouldn’t be digging the food out of the Chinese take-out boxes. [They’re designed to unfold into a plate](https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Plate-from-a-Takeout-Chinese-Food-to-Go-Box). Nitpick. People may have figured out to unfold a take-out box to make a crappy plate but they’re certainly not _designed_ for that. [Their original purpose was to carry shucked oysters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_pail#History). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-chinese-food/940556.md?page=2)