The origin of Chinese restaurants, a business driven by racism

In the United States there are more than 45,000 Chinese restaurants, Burger King, KFC and Wendy’s combined. A boom that does not follow the usual process of maturation of a market, but has been marked by various milestones, .

Chinese food arrives in the United States around the year 1850, when the first citizens of the Asian giant emigrated to California, and fleeing from the instability that China was experiencing. Initially they cooked for themselves, but soon realized that there was a niche market available in prepared food for miners. Until then, the offer available to these workers was very monotonous, featuring pork, potatoes or stew.

With so little variety at their fingertips, the miners soon learned to appreciate the flavors that came from across the Pacific. The wok was the protagonist of Chinese culinary creations, where all foods were cooked, stirred and fried.

In 40 years, the Chinese population in the US went from 4,000 to 100,000 inhabitants

We are talking about a time when about 4,000 Chinese resided in the United States. But in just four decades their number skyrocketed to 100,000. Population growth fueled prejudice, hoaxes and anti-Chinese sentiment, causing tensions among workers, especially miners, who feared losing their jobs. The hostility in this sector was so great and so violent that they did not even obtain jobs in this sector, betting above all on the construction of railways.

The pressure they exerted on the political class was suffocating, and growing. So much so that Congress finally approved the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Law, which strongly restricted immigration and also prevented those already residing in the United States from obtaining nationality. The Law was extended, with even more restrictions, in 1892, with measures that were in force for 60 years.

The law achieved its objectives. Chinatowns have disappeared from a large part of American cities, either because of the new regulations, or because of the harassment to which Chinese citizens were subjected.

But the exclusion law had some exceptions, which allowed the Chinese to continue residing in the US. Specifically, they were teachers, servants and merchants. And this last category included restaurant owners, who were among the least restricted. They could enter and leave the United States, and bring relatives with them, unlike others affected, who were separated from their families for the rest of their lives.

safe-conduct

Thus, all those who could afford to create this type of business found a way to avoid the restrictive immigration laws. But although setting up a restaurant had become a safe conduct for Chinese citizens, they had to find a way to turn them into profitable businesses. And it was not easy, because the latent racism that existed against the Chinese, despite the approval of the law, was enormous, and they did not want to go to their restaurants.

Everything changes in 1896, when Li Hongzhang, an important Chinese diplomat, visits the United States. His trip aroused great expectation, and was covered by the press of the time, because there were many local businessmen who wanted to invest in China.

Many in the media reported that Li’s favorite food was Chop Suey, which generated a lot of interest among readers, who started going to Chinese restaurants to try this dish. In fact, the premises of the time were called ‘Chop Suey Restaurants’, and they adapted the recipes to try to adapt to the taste of the Americans and facilitate their expansion.

Chop suey is actually a dish of American origin

It so happens that chop suey is a dish surrounded by controversy. In fact, it is not even a dish originating in China, where it is said that at that time they did not even know it, but rather that it was born in the United States. As with the origins of so many other recipes, many legends also circulated around chop suey. The most accepted tells that a group of very angry miners arrived one day at a Chinese restaurant, asking for food. The owner of the place, scared, threw all the ingredients that he had on hand in a wok, giving rise to this new dish that he called Chop Suey. Despite being made from leftovers, it became a favorite with all customers.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the expansion of Chinese restaurants has been exponential. In 1900 in Chicago there was only one place, but in 1905 there were already 40. In New York, the number of restaurants doubled every decade, and in 1930 they already generated 150 million dollars in sales. And they had overtaken laundries as the sector that gave the Chinese the most work. And all despite the fact that the Chinese population had practically been reduced by half, due to the restrictions, going from 105,000 citizens at the peak moment to only 61,000 in 1920.

In full swing of Chinese restaurants, to take the business a point further, they begin to experiment with home delivery of hot food. The hardest part was finding the perfect container. And they discovered it almost by chance. The fishmongers used a cardboard box with a handle to serve the oysters, which they took out of their shells. But it was a market in crisis, due to overfishing. Chinese entrepreneurs realized that those buckets were perfect for transporting their prepared food. And that design has lasted to this day.

The business got a big boost with Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972

Like so many other businesses, , and goes into crisis with the Korean War. With the traditional racist background, visits to Chinese restaurants decline after this conflict. The situation does not manage to go back until 1972, when President Richard Nixon visits China, in the first official trip since the communist revolution. The news revolved around the numerous state dinners that were to be held, where Americans saw their leader enjoying meals they had never heard of. The next day there were Chinese restaurants in the United States replicating the menus.

The demand for Chinese food skyrocketed. And in particular, the Peking duck, or Peking duck, Nixon’s favorite, became the best seller of any restaurant.

It must be insisted at this point that the food that was sold until then was not purely Chinese. The cooks served versions that we could call Americanized, to adapt to the native tastes and peculiarities. Since we had the case of chop suey, some were not even known in Asia.

Nixon’s visit breaks down this barrier, allowing chefs to develop and sell more traditional dishes, as well as try new ideas. Added to this is the end of restrictive laws and new emigration regulations, which means that Asians from other places, such as Taiwan or Hong Kong, as well as other regions of China, who serve authentic Chinese food, arrive in the United States. After decades of adaptation, Americans were ready for these new dishes.

The success of Chinese food has continued to grow ever since, in the United States and around the world. It is, for example, the second most sold at home, . It employs hundreds of thousands of people. You can find more traditional, modern or fusion. And it is the favorite of millions of people around the world.