How Chinese Food Became American
A story of assimilation, inheritance, and how identity is shaped.
đŹ Snacks and Spirals â No. 2
A weekly dispatch from Your Hungry BFF â where food isnât content. Itâs context.
đ§ 1 Question to Spiral On
Where in your work or identity have you had to dilute yourself to fit in?
đ A History Lesson, Served Hot
How Chinese Food Became American â And Why Itâs Reclaiming Itself
For decades, Chinese food in America meant egg rolls, chop suey, and fluorescent sweetâandâsour sauce â dishes shaped by exclusion laws, cheap rent, and white palates.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act slammed the door on most Chinese laborers and blocked any chance at citizenship for those already here. But there was one crack left open: restaurants.
By 1915, a court ruling turned that crack into a doorway â if you owned a restaurant, you could get a merchant visa.
Suddenly, cooking wasnât just survival. It was a way back in.
So, they adapted. Flavors softened. Dishes were renamed. Sauces became sweeter. Greens were swapped for broccoli â cheaper, familiar, and less âforeign.â
Dishes like General Tsoâs Chicken were created to reassure diners. Assimilation was the first recipe. It worked â sort of.
Chinese restaurants became a lifeline for immigrants and a curiosity for Americans. But in the process, centuries of regional cooking were flattened into one box labeled âChinese food.â
Then came a new generation. Chefs like Wilson Tang (Nom Wah), Lucas Sin, and Eric Sze asked a different question:
What if we stop watering ourselves down? What if we cook the food we crave, not just the food we think will sell?
And they didnât just bring back ârealâ Chinese food. They created something new â Zhejiang street snacks next to Taiwanese spaghetti, beef noodle soup tangled with Sichuan bolognese.
The shift?
From assimilation to assertion.
From âChinese foodâ to âour food.â
No translation needed.
It wasnât about recreating the past. It was about shaping the future.
Todayâs wave of ChineseâAmerican chefs isnât just reclaiming food â theyâre rewriting it. Refusing to translate. Refusing to apologize.
The menu finally reads in their own handwriting.
đŹ Bites to Chew On
I.
You can grow up eating Chinese food and still not feel âChinese enough.â
You can know every recipe and still feel outside the culture behind it.
Cultural inheritance isnât binary. You donât âbelongâ or ânot belong.â
You orbit.
II. In food and in work, we polish before we know why we shine.
The chef who masters French technique before daring to make congee.
The founder who borrows words before learning to speak their own.
Imitation keeps you safe. Ownership gives you power.
III. Youâre not a fraud for moving between worlds â youâre proof they can overlap.
đ„Ą My Chinese GoâTo Spots in NYC
1. Yong Chuan â Lower East Side
They have an allâyouâcanâeat dim sum for $36 a person, which is a steal. Most of it hits the mark, though I wish their salted egg yolk custard bun had that molten, oozing center. Oh well â like people, you canât win them all.
2. Lou Yau Kee â do takeout!
Still the best Hainanese chicken rice in NYC imho. Best for takeout when you want comfort in its simplest, silkiest form. Ask for extra chillies and ginger!
3. Pinch â Soho
Not the most âauthenticâ spot, but gotta be honest â itâs still good. Sometimes dumplings or dan dan noodles just need to taste like a hug.
Bonus: Trader Joeâs soup dumplings. Yes, I always keep a box in the freezer. And yes â Iâve only been in America five years, but I know things, okay? đ
Next week: The FrenchâFusion Issue â where legacy can feel like a locked door, and fusion is the key we made to open it.
P.S. If you enjoyed this issue, share it with a friend, pls? + Iâm always hunting for new toâgo spots in NYC â pls slide into my DMs if you have favorites I should hit!
till the next bite,
Your Hungry BFF