By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-951755.mp3
Murray, KY – American's understanding of Chinese food has come a long way since the days of Chop Suey in San Francisco's Chinatown. According to trade magazine Chinese Restaurant News, there are over 43,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States. But the majority of restaurants are "Americanized," and not good representations of authentic Chinese dining. Many southerners may be surprised to find out that cooking and eating in China is more like a homestyle dinner with Grandma than a stereotypical takeout experience. As Angela Hatton reports, food for many Chinese is intricately related to family.
Murray State student Junrong He is making lunch for herself and a few friends at her apartment on campus. The food she makes is simple and wholesome. Scrambled eggs mixed with soy sauce and thick slices of warm tomatoes, sliced potatoes cooked in oil, lettuce leaves and tofu pieces floating in a clear broth. She's also saut ing a dish of tofu with green onions, and fermented soybeans that look like black pearls.
"We have a Chinese name in it. We call my mom call it CHA-chan-do-fu. It means, yeah, family. It means it's a small dish that you usually cook in the family. So it's a really warm and nice name.' Say it again so I can repeat it.' CHA-chan-do-fu.'"
He is from the southern part of China where the weather is often cold and rainy and the food is spicy. When she came to Murray State she brought her cooking utensils with her, but most of the ingredients she needs she finds at the local grocery stores. He learned to cook in her mother's kitchen.
"I always stood beside her and helped her. Like wash the green onion for her or chop the onion for her. That's usually what I do. Or if she's busy with another dish, I will stand by the stove and stir it for her. So that's basically how I learned."
If you ask the majority of Chinese students what they miss most, they'll likely say their family and their mom's cooking. He's favorite dish growing up was her mom's chicken soup. That's something she still has not figured out how to make "just right."
"Your mom's cook, y'know, I think only one people can do it, and other people cannot do it."
Lu Roberts is co-owner of Happiness Chinese Restaurant in Murray.
"Mom cook is not, say your food is very very good. Just, I think, it's love is very important for them. I think so. It's not oh my mom cooks some food' maybe, it's terrible, but she just want to show to you that she love you."
Roberts opened Happiness partly to cater to the Chinese population in Murray, who she says couldn't stomach the food at most American-Chinese restaurants. Roberts says most buffet Chinese restaurants in America don't offer "real" Chinese. She says they're hybridizations of tastes that Americans like, and Chinese cooking styles. Do General Tso's Chicken and Crab Rangoon ring a bell? No such thing in China. And those fortune cookies we love to get after our meals. Those aren't Chinese either. Roberts says Chinese people have misconceptions about American food too.
"The Chinese people, they know three kinds of American food is McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut, but my husband go to China and ask what kind of hamburgers you like and I say McDonald's because only I know is McDonald's, but he say, Ewww, I don't like it.' It's not like my mom cook."
MSU Student Jao Shai grew up in a city of eight million in northeast China. His favorite food as a kid was fried chicken and his favorite place to get it was KFC.
"I eat there a lot, I really like them. And Is it different than K ' Yeah, quite different. McDonald's is selling the same food around the world, but KFC's different. So it's like part of Chinese fast food."
American culture has snuck into Chinese food habits in other ways too. Student Junrong He says Chinese people never drink anything cold when they eat, but at lunch she pours everyone a glass of cranberry juice from the refrigerator. "We're Americanized now," she says. Happiness owner Roberts says she's becoming more American too. Roberts says Chinese people will share food off the same plate when they're eating together.
"And when I go back to home visit my parents, I say, You need to use your fork.' She say, What?' I say, OK, nothing. Because I live here over four years, probably maybe almost five years. My husband and my daughter, we will not sharing, we will eat by myself. But it is OK."
At He's lunch, all the students, as Roberts would say, are sharing, using their chopsticks to grab a little of this and a little of that. In China, like in the US, food is an important part of family gatherings, especially during major holidays like New Year and the Autumn Moon Festival. Even Jao Shai, the one who loves KFC, becomes rapturous over his mother's meals, vegetables with tiny pieces of beef. And don't get him started on her soups. Roberts says it really doesn't matter what culture you eat in, everyone likes good food.
"Sometimes American and China, it's different country, but I think many things the same. People still believe love and hope, and have a very good life. Everything's the same."
It's the kind of sentiment engendered by a welcoming table, and a fully belly.