Description
Book SynopsisAmerican diners began to flock to Chinese restaurants more than a century ago, making Chinese food the first mass-consumed cuisine in the United States.
Chop Suey, USA offers a comprehensive chronicle of the rise of Chinese food, revealing the forces that made it ubiquitous in the American gastronomic landscape.
Trade ReviewWell organized and breathtakingly broad in its geographic scope,
Chop Suey, USA is an utterly original and significant contribution to the field. Yong Chen has done a superb job. No one has attempted anything like this. -- Hasia Diner, New York University
A thoroughly researched, highly readable account of the development of Chinese American food, this book fills important gaps in the literature of ethnic and food studies, while incorporating an appealing personal memoir into the narrative. -- Jeffrey Pilcher, University of Toronto
Food is not just about sustenance and taste. It is also about culture, economics, race, and identity. This is made abundantly clear in this fascinating account of the history of Chinese food in America. Chop Suey, USA is a wonderful American story, and a tasty one at that! -- Gordon H. Chang, Stanford University
A perceptive view of an America built on abundance and consumption... Well-researched... * Kirkus *
A compelling and provocative contribution to the burgeoning field of American food studies. * Journal of American Ethnic History *
Significantly contribute[s] to our understanding of the global history and importance of Chinese foodways. . . . Especially significant in examining the transmission of food habits across cultures and considering how the processes of empire building and globalization influence culinary traditions around the world. * American Historical Review *
Groundbreaking. . . . [This] ambitious and important work [makes] a crucial contribution not only to the historical understanding of Chinese cuisine in the United States but also to the study of food in general. * Journal of Chinese Overseas *
Chop Suey, USA was meticulously researched with a very extensive bibliography, the content is well organized with linking points and arguments, and the text is written with clarity and purpose. -- Alfred Yee * Journal of American History *
Chen's study provides a sharp critique and rebuke to the degraded status accorded to Chinese American food and its creators. * American Quarterly *
A critical reflection on the history of Chinese bodies and food in the ongoing story of U.S. expansion. * Gastronomica *
Reading Yong Chen's new book
is an education. In some ways, it seems more like an encyclopedia or a peak into the brain of a man who has read and retained an almost overwhelming number of books
Readers can learn much from Chen's in depth analysis and framing. * 8Asians *
This well-researched book comes with seventy-eight pages of notes and a thirty-one page bibliography. It is seasoned with interested recipes, most of them chosen for their personal significance
An exciting intellectual endeavor. * H-Environment *
Chop Suey is an engaging combination of research and food writing blended into a unified read. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsPreface: The Genesis of the Book
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Chop Suey, the Big Mac of the Pre-McDonald's Era
1. Why Is Chinese Food So Popular?
2. The Empire and Empire Food
3. Chinese Cooks as Stewards of Empire
4. The Cradle of Chinese Food
5. The Rise of Chinese Restaurants
6. The Makers of American Chinese Food
7. "Chinese-American Cuisine" and the Authenticity of Chop Suey
8. The Chinese Brillat-Savarin
Conclusion: The Home of No Return
Afterword: Why Study Food?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
