Chop suey (Chinese Chinese or the Sinitic language (汉语/漢語, pinyin: Hànyǔ; 华语/華語, Huáyǔ; or 中文, Zhōngwén) is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages. About zá suì, "mixed pieces") is an American-Chinese dish American Chinese cuisine refers to the style of food served by certain Chinese restaurants in the United States. This type of cooking typically caters to Western tastes, and differs significantly from the cuisine of China consisting of meats (often chicken, fish, beef, shrimp or pork), cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts Mung bean, also known as green bean, mung, moong, mash bean, munggo or monggo, green gram, golden gram, and green soy, is the seed of Vigna radiata which is native to India and Pakistan. The split bean is known as moong dal, which is green with the husk, and yellow when dehusked. The beans are small, ovoid in shape, and green in color. The English, cabbage The cabbage is a popular cultivar of a the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae), and is used as a leafy green vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, which, and celery Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac (var. rapaceum) depending on whether the petioles (stalks) or roots are eaten and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein Chow mein is a generic Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties. Chow mein is generally made of soft noodles, however Hong Kong-style chow mein is made from thin crispy noodles with the addition of stir-fried noodles.

Chop suey is part of American Chinese cuisine American Chinese cuisine refers to the style of food served by certain Chinese restaurants in the United States. This type of cooking typically caters to Western tastes, and differs significantly from the cuisine of China, Canadian Chinese cuisine Canadian Chinese cuisine or Can/Chinese[citation needed] is a popular style of cooking exclusive to take-out and dine-in eateries found across Canada. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food available in Canada. This cooking style was invented by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted traditional Chinese recipes to Western, and Indian Chinese cuisine.

Contents

Origin

Chop suey, made with garlic chicken and peapods, on rice. Far East Chop Suey restaurant in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Restaurants like this are now rare, but were once a common sight in the United States.

Chop suey is widely believed to have been invented in America by Chinese Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of Overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans. Within this community, the term Chinese American is often broadly defined to include not only immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau immigrants Immigration is a modern phenomenon. It owes its existence to the needs of an ever more intensely integrated global capitalist economy to have people move around for the purpose of work, for reproduction of labor power or political asylum across the borders of, some believe, an increasingly obsolete inter-state system. ammigrants are people who, but in fact comes from Taishan, a district of Guangdong Province Guangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was occasionally written with an alternative English name, the Canton Province, though Kwangtung Province was more commonly used. It overtook Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79 million permanent which was the home of most of the early Chinese immigrants; the Hong Kong doctor Li Shu-fan reported that he knew it in Taishan in the 1890s.[1]

Chop suey first appears in an American publication in 1898, described as "A Hash of Pork, with Celery, Onions, Bean Sprouts, etc."[2]

Despite its Taishan background, there are various colorful stories about its origin, which Davidson (1999) characterizes as "culinary Culinary art is the art of cooking. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking or kitchens. A culinarian is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are responsible for skillfully preparing meals that are as mythology The term "mythology" sometimes refers to the study of myths and sometimes refers to a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a": Some say it was invented by Chinese Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of Overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans. Within this community, the term Chinese American is often broadly defined to include not only immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau immigrant Immigration is a modern phenomenon. It owes its existence to the needs of an ever more intensely integrated global capitalist economy to have people move around for the purpose of work, for reproduction of labor power or political asylum across the borders of, some believe, an increasingly obsolete inter-state system. ammigrants are people who cooks working on the United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the Transcontinental railway in the 19th century. Another story is that it was invented during Qing Dynasty The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in Chinese history, and was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 (with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917) premier Li Hongzhang Li Hongzhang , Marquis Suyi of the First Class (traditional Chinese: 一等肅毅侯), GCVO, (February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901), also spelled Li Hung-chang, was a Chinese general who ended several major rebellions, and a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire. He served in important positions of the Imperial Court, once holding the office's visit to the United States in 1896 by his chef, who tried to create a dish suitable for both Chinese and American palates:[3] when reporters asked what food the premier was eating, his cook found it difficult to explain the dishes, and replied "mixed pieces";[4] But this is also untrue.[5]

In his book The Gangs of New York (1927), Herbert Asbury attributes the Americanized version of the term to a San Francisco dishwasher, calling it a bastardized version of the Cantonese phrase tsap sui, meaning "odds and ends", "miscellaneous pieces", or more simply "hash".

Outside of Taishan, the name "chop suey" or "shap sui in Cantonese,[3] and "za sui", when used in Mandarin, has the somewhat different meaning of cooked animal offal Offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. People in some cultures shy away from offal as food, while others may make it everyday food or even delicacies that command a high price. Offal not used directly for or entrails The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste. The major function of the GI tract are ingestion, digestion, absorption, and defecation. The GI tract differs substantially from animal to animal. Some animals have multi-chambered. For example, in the classic novel Journey to the West In western countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley. The Waley translation has also been published as Adventures of the Monkey God; and Monkey: [A] Folk Novel of China; and The Adventures of Monkey (circa 1590), Sun Wukong Sun Wukong, known in the West as the Monkey King, is the main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West. In the novel, he accompanies the monk Xuanzang on the journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India tells a lion The lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population in northwest India, having disappeared-monster A monster is any of a large number of legendary creatures which usually appear in legend or horror fiction. The word monster derives from Latin monstrum, meaning "omen", from the root of monere and also meaning "prodigy" or "miracle" in chapter 75: "When I passed through Guangzhou The first known city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu founded in 214 BC.[citation needed] The city has been continuously occupied since that time. Panyu was expanded when it became the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom (南越) in 206 BC (Canton), I bought a pot for cooking za sui - so I'll savour your liver The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion. The liver is necessary for survival; there is currently no way to compensate for the absence of liver function, entrails, and lungs The lung or pulmonary system is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart. Their principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream,." This may be the same as the "Chop Suey Kiang" found in 1898 New York.[2]

During his exile in the United States, Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (February 23, 1873–January 19, 1929) was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements. He died of illness in Beijing at the age of 55, a Guangdong Guangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was occasionally written with an alternative English name, the Canton Province, though Kwangtung Province was more commonly used. It overtook Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79 million permanent native, wrote in 1903 that there existed in the United States a food item called chop suey which was popularly served by Chinese restaurateurs, but which local Chinese people did not eat.[6] The term "za sui" (杂碎) is found in newer Chinese-English dictionaries A dictionary is a collection of words in a specific language, often listed alphabetically, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon. According to Nielsen 2008 a dictionary may be regarded as a lexicographical product that is with both meanings listed - cooked entrails The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste. The major function of the GI tract are ingestion, digestion, absorption, and defecation. The GI tract differs substantially from animal to animal. Some animals have multi-chambered, and chop suey in the Western sense.

This dual meaning has meant that some Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries label mixed entrails as "chop suey" on their English menus.

One of the last remaining vertical chop suey neon signs Neon signs are luminous-tube signs that contain neon or other inert gases at a low pressure. Applying a high voltage makes the gas glow brightly red. They are produced by the craft of bending glass tubing into shapes. A worker skilled in this craft is known as a glass bender, neon or tube bender. See Neon lamp in the world is located in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2) in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to, at the Far East Chop Suey restaurant in Little Tokyo.

Varieties

Chop suey may be prepared in a variety of styles, such as chicken The chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs, beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, Europe and the Americas, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Beef is a taboo food in some cultures. Its consumption is forbidden by some sects of Hinduism, as bovines are, pork, king prawn, plain and special. Plain, or vegetable A vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plants other than a sweet fruit or seed. The word is not scientific, however, but instead is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Thus the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables while others consider them a chop suey, is often one of the few traditional Chinese American take-out Take-out , carry-out (in U.S. and Scottish English), take-away (in Australia, England, Hong Kong and Ireland), parcel (in Indian English), or tapau (in Malaysian English and Singlish), is food purchased at a restaurant but eaten elsewhere. The restaurant may or may not provide table service. In the United States and Canada, food ordered this way ( dishes offered without meat Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys or lungs. The word meat is also used by the meat packing industry in a more restrictive sense—the flesh of mammalian species raised and at many restaurants.

In American art and literature

Still specializing in traditional United States Chinese take out, This Chop Suey restaurant is located in Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in Ulster County, New York, United States. It is 91 miles north of New York City and 59 miles (90 km) south of Albany along the Hudson River. The population was 23,456 at the 2000 census. Kingston is the core city of the Kingston, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area, which lies in the northernmost part of the New York-Newark-

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ E.N.Anderson, Jr. and Marja L. Anderson, "Modern China: South" in K.C. Chang, Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, Yale, 1977. p. 355
  2. ^ a b Louis Joseph Beck, New York's Chinatown: An Historical Presentation of Its People and Places, p. 50 full text at Google Books
  3. ^ a b The Facts on File Encyclopedia or Word and Phrase Origins, Checkmark Books, New York, 2000
  4. ^ snopes.com
  5. ^ Renqiu Yu, “Chop Suey: From Chinese Food to Chinese American Food” in Chinese America: History and Perspectives (1987) (not seen), as reported in Madeline Y. Hsu, "From Chop Suey to Mandarin Cuisine: Fine Dining and the Refashioning of Chinese Ethnicity During the Cold War Era," in Sucheng Chan, Madeline Yuan-yin Hsu, eds., Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008): 173-193. full text in PDF
  6. ^ Liang, Q. (1903) 新大陆游记 (Travels in the New Continent). Beijing: Social Sciences Documentary Press (reprint 2007). ISBN 7802304717
  7. ^ etext.library
  8. ^ bartleby.com

External links

Categories: American Chinese cuisine | Chinese American history

 

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