Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not saying anything about these places but I do enjoy in general seeing what Americans think counts for authentic Chinese food versus what the reality is.
The truth is most Americans would gag if they tasted authentic Chinese food. My wife is Chinese and I'm often surprised by what she and her friends rate as the best Chinese restaurants, versus what the bloggers and social media foodies rate as the best Chinese because it's "authentic".
I've been with my wife for 28 years and living with her and going to the restaurants she likes has completely changed my taste in Chinese food.
My favorites based on the places I get excited about when I travel.
- SF Bay Area (assuming it includes wine country) - just so many spectacular restaurants here. And the food and wine culture of the wine country. Wine seems to taste better here than anywhere else.
- LA - great diversity and creativity.
- NOLA - just love the food and food culture here from etouffees to po-boys to muffalletta. Love of food seems to permeate completely here, more than any other place I've visited.
- Hawaii - arguably the best sushi (my favorite restaurant cuisine) in the US and Pacific Rim fusion cuisine.
- Miami/South Florida - fine dining is just OK but there's a lot of cuisines that I don't see much of in California. Haitian, Cuban, Brazilian-Japanese, etc.
So not saying these are necessarily the "best" but based on where I travel and what I like, these are my favorites. Not a fan of steakhouses, for example. Being in biotech, I don't travel to the South, except for NOLA for conventions. I travel a lot to Boston and NYC, but Boston seems mediocre and NYC has been disappointing the last few visits.
The truth is most Americans would gag if they tasted authentic Chinese food. My wife is Chinese and I'm often surprised by what she and her friends rate as the best Chinese restaurants, versus what the bloggers and social media foodies rate as the best Chinese because it's "authentic".
I've been with my wife for 28 years and living with her and going to the restaurants she likes has completely changed my taste in Chinese food.
Well, there's handfuls of regions in China, as you probably know, so saying "Chinese" food is a bit...broad. Shanghainese food is different from Dongbei food which is different from Hunan which is different from Xinjiang. So it really depends - there are some things that are authentic that most Americans would probably gag reading, but taste a lot better than they sound. And then there's stuff that doesn't sound bad at all, which is completely authentic, that is totally fine. I have some picky friends and we've managed to show them authentic Chinese where they liked it, without them gagging.
Just where my fiancee is from, there's a lot of food Americans would like. Around Christmas, she cooked for my family - my nieces and nephew (around teenage age) do not know authentic Chinese food. They're really picky eaters too. She made stuff like BBQ pork ribs, a type of beef stew, tu dou si (shredded potato side), etc. They were hesitant to try it, and reluctantly ate it followed by "wow that's really good! I want more!" From her home region, there are things like soup with pork ribs and sour cabbage that's extremely similar to sauerkraut. My coworker from Poland said they have a soup extremely similar to it there. They also have things like skewered meat - beef, chicken, lamb, etc. They even have a type of corn bread that's not too far off from what you'd have in America, just not as sweet. None of these things would ever make a typical American gag.
Americans are a bit interesting when it comes to food, but I think also deserve a little more credit at times.
Last edited by marothisu; 01-20-2019 at 03:58 PM..
Well, there's handfuls of regions in China, as you probably know, so saying "Chinese" food is a bit...broad. Shanghainese food is different from Dongbei food which is different from Hunan which is different from Xinjiang. So it really depends - there are some things that are authentic that most Americans would probably gag reading, but taste a lot better than they sound. And then there's stuff that doesn't sound bad at all, which is completely authentic, that is totally fine. I have some picky friends and we've managed to show them authentic Chinese where they liked it, without them gagging.
Just where my fiancee is from, there's a lot of food Americans would like. Around Christmas, she cooked for my family - my nieces and nephew (around teenage age) do not know authentic Chinese food. They're really picky eaters too. She made stuff like BBQ pork ribs, a type of beef stew, tu dou si (shredded potato side), etc. They were hesitant to try it, and reluctantly ate it followed by "wow that's really good! I want more!" From her home region, there are things like soup with pork ribs and sour cabbage that's extremely similar to sauerkraut. My coworker from Poland said they have a soup extremely similar to it there. They also have things like skewered meat - beef, chicken, lamb, etc. They even have a type of corn bread that's not too far off from what you'd have in America, just not as sweet. None of these things would ever make a typical American gag.
Americans are a bit interesting when it comes to food, but I think also deserve a little more credit at times.
I agree with what you say and didn't mean to malign Chinese cooking. I love it. It's just that authentic Chinese food has in many cases completely foreign flavor profiles and it can be very intense. The Chinese also eat animal parts that are not commonly eaten in the US. Chicken feet, pig intestines, pigs blood.
The first time I went back to Taiwan with my wife I thought I'd be eating PF Chang's type food every day. We stayed 17 days and I lost 10 pounds as the food was very foreign. Her parents are foodies and we ate a several of the top restaurants in Taipei. 20+ years later I'm totally down with the real stuff, but it took a lot of getting used to.
I agree with what you say and didn't mean to malign Chinese cooking. I love it. It's just that authentic Chinese food has in many cases completely foreign flavor profiles and it can be very intense. The Chinese also eat animal parts that are not commonly eaten in the US. Chicken feet, pig intestines, pigs blood.
The first time I went back to Taiwan with my wife I thought I'd be eating PF Chang's type food every day. We stayed 17 days and I lost 10 pounds as the food was very foreign. Her parents are foodies and we ate a several of the top restaurants in Taipei. 20+ years later I'm totally down with the real stuff, but it took a lot of getting used to.
Sure, though I'd say that I think there's more areas of the country that eat things like intestine and stuff like that. I'd say that in suburbia and everything yeah, that stuff is way foreign. However, in the country in the south and parts of the midwest, there's a lot of people eating that stuff. I know what you mean though - some of the "seasoning" too may be kind of different.
Luckily before I started dating my fiancee I had eaten a lot of stuff in my life, so I can imagine for you if you didn't that it would take awhile. It's interesting though once you eat all this stuff, you kind of realize that a lot of it is psychological.
Well, there's handfuls of regions in China, as you probably know, so saying "Chinese" food is a bit...broad. Shanghainese food is different from Dongbei food which is different from Hunan which is different from Xinjiang. So it really depends - there are some things that are authentic that most Americans would probably gag reading, but taste a lot better than they sound. And then there's stuff that doesn't sound bad at all, which is completely authentic, that is totally fine. I have some picky friends and we've managed to show them authentic Chinese where they liked it, without them gagging.
Just where my fiancee is from, there's a lot of food Americans would like. Around Christmas, she cooked for my family - my nieces and nephew (around teenage age) do not know authentic Chinese food. They're really picky eaters too. She made stuff like BBQ pork ribs, a type of beef stew, tu dou si (shredded potato side), etc. They were hesitant to try it, and reluctantly ate it followed by "wow that's really good! I want more!" From her home region, there are things like soup with pork ribs and sour cabbage that's extremely similar to sauerkraut. My coworker from Poland said they have a soup extremely similar to it there. They also have things like skewered meat - beef, chicken, lamb, etc. They even have a type of corn bread that's not too far off from what you'd have in America, just not as sweet. None of these things would ever make a typical American gag.
Americans are a bit interesting when it comes to food, but I think also deserve a little more credit at times.
I agree. The Chinese do eat a ton of offal which I think many Americans would not like, but there is plenty of authentic Chinese food that even regular Americans would love. I tried X'ian food for the first time the other day (in Manhattan) and it was so good, and had no flavors that I think Americans would find offensive.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
