This paper presents an ethnographic exploration of Chinese restaurants in America, examining the cultural compromises and paradoxes inherent in presenting "Chinese" cuisine to a Western audience. Drawing on participant observation at multiple restaurant sites, interviews with patrons and workers of various ethnic backgrounds, and photographic analysis, the paper investigates how mainstream American expectations shape — and often distort — the presentation of Chinese food and culture. Topics include the homogenization of regional Chinese cuisine, the invented nature of popular "Chinese" dishes, the role of exoticism and Orientalism in restaurant aesthetics, and the broader implications of America's model minority framework for Asian immigrant communities.
The anthropological theme examined in this work concerns the ethnic compromises and paradoxes inherent in creating a "Chinese" restaurant in America, for Americans. In every English-speaking country — from England to Canada — Chinese food is a huge business. For many immigrants, it is one of the only businesses ready and willing to take them in. Most Chinese restaurants strive to present themselves as cultural representations where the American connoisseur can have a legitimate cross-cultural experience. The more this project investigated the actual traditions of Chinese and Asian cuisine, and the way in which Western prejudices and expectations shape the presentation of that experience, the more apparent it became that — like so many other cultural phenomena — the cultural relevance of the Chinese-food experience is far from untainted.
Repeated immersion at several Chinese restaurant locations provided a wide range of perspectives on the reality of this cultural phenomenon. Research supplied a basis for critique and awareness. Discussions with patrons and workers of several ethnicities further clarified the picture. Finally, a day's journey from restaurant to restaurant with a single roll of film provided striking visual evidence of the cultural paradoxes and juxtapositions inherent in this business. The following is an exploration in three parts into the world of the Chinese restaurant in America.
The research began in a most pleasant fashion, before there was even an awareness that research was underway. On the day the project started, a group of friends went out to a relatively inexpensive Chinese restaurant for dinner. While eating, certain small details began to stand out as somewhat odd. For example, in keeping with the restaurant's attempt to be architecturally exotic, the wallpaper was a standard "Asian" print previously seen in a catalogue at Home Depot — by no means a traditional Asian design. Rather, it appeared to appeal to the same Western flair for cultural appropriation that has stores like Pier One selling faux African ritual masks. Also prominent was a Pepsi advertisement hanging on the wall next to a dragon calendar. With newly opened eyes, other signs of faux culture and Westernization were not hard to find.
The disposable chopstick wrappers were made by a U.S.-based company, and yet the English printed on them seemed artificially stilted — perhaps deliberately, to add to the mystique. A Buddha statue was displayed prominently in a dark corner, and yet roughly a quarter of the menu consisted of beef products. At one point during the evening, one of the waitresses momentarily lost her accent. None of the other diners seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary, and at that point the research began in earnest.
The cultural concessions of the Chinese food industry, and the complex love-hate relationship between mainstream America and Asian minorities, are relatively well documented, if often only in passing. In a lengthy essay on "racist love" — that is, the way in which exoticism and positive stereotypes can hurt a minority — Tiffany Loui argues that America has a long history of romanticizing Asian cultures to their detriment. She records how all Asians are lumped together in the modern American popular imagination, despite the fact that regional differences are in many cases more pronounced than those among European cultures. For example, the gastronomical, social, linguistic, religious, and economic differences between mainland China and Japan are far greater than those between France and England — and that says nothing of the many distinct provinces within China alone. This homogenization is evident in Chinese restaurant menus as well: almost all relatively affordable Chinese restaurants, especially those offering takeout, have extremely similar offerings. In fact, of the five restaurants visited during this research, three had menus that differed by only one or two items. This is remarkable given that mainland China has hundreds of regions, each characterized by its own cooking style. As one scholar notes, "Chinese food is especially diverse due to the country's numerous regional traditions and clans. With economic development, openness, and reform, this has become even more apparent." (Hung-Youn) Only one or two regional styles are practiced in American Chinese restaurants, and even those are frequently altered beyond recognition.
Loui also speaks extensively about exoticism — the process by which a majority culture forces its eternal outsiders into certain positive but ultimately constricting molds. She describes Chinese food as symptomatic of the way new immigrants are given limited options while simultaneously being used to perpetuate an image of successful Asian assimilation. Consider, for example, the invention of the fortune cookie by white American businessmen seeking to capitalize on public interest in Asian culture. The fortune cookie was conceived to reinforce the exotic image of Chinese restaurants. Its shape was designed to be radically different from anything American, just like the "perpetually foreign people" it was meant to represent. Even the printed fortune inside is a product of Orientalism, attempting to mimic Confucian ideas and generic "Asian" proverbs. (Loui)
Many people of various Asian origins have spoken out about the way their families have been forced into these molds. One Japanese-American independent screenwriter describes the experience directly:
"My parents were Japanese-American… because they lived in a primarily white, racist community, they found that the best way — and the only way they knew — to make a living was to open a restaurant, and they found that by serving the Americanized 1950s-style fake Chinese food they could make a pretty good living. They didn't really pretend to be Chinese, but they didn't deny it when people thought that they were." (Mariye)
Others speak of the way in which the food served is foreign to genuine Chinese — or Asian — eating habits and recipes. Specific examples of invented "Chinese food" include chicken balls, the ubiquitous fortune cookie, and chop suey. One young Asian writer notes: "The ritual of drenching rice with soy sauce is also a Western custom. In China, plain rice is eaten alongside the main dishes in order to absorb the sauces and flavors present in the meal. Soy sauce is considered an ingredient, not a topping." (Yu)
"Interviews with workers and patrons reveal cultural tensions"
"Photographic evidence of Americanization and ethnic paradox"
"Synthesis of commercial pressures and cultural authenticity"
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