The United States of Chinese Food

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2015

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Wander into any town in the U.S., no matter how small and remote, and you’re likely to find at least one Chinese restaurant. In fact, there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King combined. And the food they serve is completely unlike anything you’ll find in China. In this episode of Gastropod, we ask one crucial question: why? From the Gold Rush to MSG, via the scandalous story of gender-bending Chinese restaurants in 1920s New York City, this episode of Gastropod serves up a tasty buffet of American Chinese food. Grab your chopsticks and dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So there are more Chinese restaurants in the United States than McDonald's, Burking,
0:06.3	Wendy's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined.
0:09.2	It's actually almost, if it hasn't exceeded 50,000 already, it's the most popular ethnic
0:16.1	food.
0:17.1	That's Jenny Aitlie, the author of the Fortune Cookie Chronicles and a co-producer of the
0:21.8	new movie The Search for General Sew.
0:24.1	Both are book and the movie are all about the weird phenomenon of American Chinese food.
0:29.3	How did it become so popular?
0:31.2	What the hell is Chopsui anyway?
0:33.4	And is MSG as bad as people believe it is?
0:35.6	We have got all that and more in this episode, including the secret, scandalous, gender-bending
0:41.6	history of Chinese restaurants in 1920s New York City.
0:45.6	Welcome to Gastropod, I'm Cynthia Grabor, and I'm Nicola Twilly.
0:48.8	And now, back to the salty, savory, crispy delights of Chinese American cuisine.
0:54.2	It's part of American tradition now to go to Chinese restaurants.
0:59.2	I'm from a small town in Montana, Missoula, Montana.
1:02.4	And I remember going to the pink and the red booths with the neon and getting the white
1:09.2	take-out boxes with the Fortune cookies.
1:12.5	We had a favorite Chinese restaurant called Wai-Wai, W-A-I, W-A-I, Y-Y, and it was about
1:19.4	maybe one mile from the house.
1:22.4	We were there a lot.
1:24.2	They had the best Chinese buffet you've ever had.
	...

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