By now, we all know that the Chinese food we get at most Chinese restaurants in India is roughly as Chinese as Yogi Adityanath, which is to say, not Chinese at all.
But I am forever being asked by people why it is regarded as inauthentic. What, they ask, is real Chinese food? What makes Indian Chinese so different?
Well, here are some of the most obvious differences:
Bring on the noodles
In India, a Chinese meal is incomplete without rice and noodles. (Yes, both together!) In China, there may or may not be rice as part of the meal. It is not regarded as an essential accompaniment to all dishes. I have been to Chinese restaurants in Shanghai, for instance, that don’t have a single rice dish on the menu.
Even the older Chinese restaurants in Kolkata run by the Chinese community are rarely authentic
The emphasis on rice dates back to the invention of ‘international’ Chinese food in San Francisco over a century ago. Facing enormous discrimination, early Chinese migrants to the US found it impossible to get good jobs and opened little restaurants to survive.
In those days, Chinese food was regarded as a cheap option by white Americans. All Western food focussed on meat. But, by using lots of vegetables, rice and noodles, and only using shreds of cheaper meat cuts, Chinese restaurants were able to keep prices low.
In much of China, fried rice is not eaten with every course. It is usually a dish by itself, often served at the end of the meal as a ‘stomach-filler’. But Chinese restaurants in America started serving rice or fried rice with the main courses, a practice that other ‘international’ Chinese restaurants have followed ever since.
Read More at https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/brunch/rude-food-by-vir-sanghvi-china-versus-punjab-101629601461855.html
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