From Mass Migration to Mass Consumption: the Progression Of

Overholt 1 From Mass Migration to Mass Consumption: The Progression of Chinese and Italian-American Cuisine in The United States From Mass Migration to Mass Consumption: The Progression of Chinese and Italian-American Cuisine in The United States Cameron Overholt Cameron Overholt TC660H Plan II Honors Program The UniversityTC of660H Texas at Austin Plan II Honor s Program The University of Texas at Austin May 13 th, 202- May 13th , 2020 __________________________________________ Dr. Marvin Bendele _____Department____________ _of__ American__________ _Studies_______ ____ Dr. Marvin Bendele Supervising Professor Department of American Studies Supervising Professor __________________________________________. DepartmentDr.s of MarthaHistory aNewmannd Religiou s Studies Departments of HistorySecond R andeade Religiousr Studies Second Reader Overholt 2 Abstract Author: Cameron Overholt Title: From Mass Migration to Mass Consumption: The Progression of Chinese and Italian- American Cuisine in The United States Supervising Professor: Dr. Marvin Bendele The American cuisine is a confusing subject. As we are a nation of immigrants, the food that characterizes the diet of Americans has been influenced by ethnic groups from all over the world. However, it is clear that we have an independent functioning food culture, as the food Americans eat is unlike that which is found in the rest of the world, including those places from which our immigrants arrived. So, in an endeavor to identify some unifying characteristics among “American” food, I will be examining two food cultures which have drastically shifted since their arrival in America. The two food cultures I will be examining are that of Chinese and Italian-Americans. While dishes like New York-Style Pizza and Sesame Chicken are some of the most popular in America, they are hardly characteristic of the food culture that immigrated to North America in the mid-to-late-1800’s. Through my research, I will examine the gradual shift of these food cultures from their arrival to the United States to as we know them now. Accordingly, I hope to be able to make some generalizations about characteristics shared by all modern American foods. To support my research, I will use menus spanning the history of both of these groups from their mass-migration to America to the present, as well as the contemporary accounts of chefs, authors and food critics on the subject. Through these methods, I will establish a view on the current state of the broader American cuisine, as well as the issues it currently faces, and the prospects of its future. Overholt 3 Acknowledgements I’d like to thank both of my wonderful advisors, Dr. Marvin Bendele and Dr. Martha Newman. Though Covid-19 thoroughly complicated the completion of my project, they were both supportive and inventive in helping to find new ways to complete the project. I would also like to thank my fellow Plan II students, their incredible passion and achievement is a continual inspiration to keep me working my best. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their support in my entire academic career, they taught me my work ethic and gave me the drive to complete this project in a way that makes me proud. Overholt 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Page 5 Chapter 2: An Overview of Chinese and Italian-American Immigration Histories Page 7 Chapter 3: Menus (Chinese) Page 16 Chapter 4: Menus (Italian) Page 27 Chapter 5: Cultural Identity Page 36 Chapter 6: Conclusion Page 44 Biography Page 50 Bibliography Page 51 Overholt 5 Chapter 1: Introduction When one thinks of American cuisine, the first things that inevitably come to mind are hotdogs and hamburgers. These dishes are generally considered to be the seminal all-American foods. However, this may be a faulty assumption. In fact, there are more Chinese-American restaurants existing in America today than “McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Wendy’s and Kentucky Fried Chickens combined” (UG FR). Furthermore, as of 2016, National Geographic reported that out of the 800,000 restaurants existing in the United States, 100,000 serve some iteration of Italian-American cuisine (McMillan). With this incredible level of cultural prevalence, it seems that Chinese-American food and Italian-American food may be more important to our culture than the mighty Hamburger. Furthermore, when one takes the chance to realize that Pizza as we know it, Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti and Meatballs, General Tso’s Chicken, Egg Rolls and Chow Mein are all American inventions, it becomes clear that we must rethink our base assumptions about what constitutes American cuisine. In this paper, I will attempt to provide a thorough understanding of these two growing pillars of American cuisine. First, I will provide a brief outline of the histories of each group, beginning in their respective mass-migration periods and ending in modern day. Then, I will analyze a set of restaurant histories and menus spanning Chinese and Italian-American history in the United States, using the context of their history to inform the trends seen in the culinary space. Finally, I will examine modern controversies about the validity and authenticity of these cuisines through the lens of interviews with prominent chefs, critics, and authors, whose views on Chinese and Italian-American food vary greatly. With all of this information collected, I will finally try to make some generalizations about what makes a food American, what makes an Overholt 6 American food successful, and what we can expect to see from these two cuisines as our nation progresses. My assertion is that just as America represented opportunity to the Chinese and Italian- American’s who immigrated to this country, the American culinary space is now characterized by opportunity. We are not yet at the level of tradition and uniqueness found in the Chinese and Italian Kitchens. However, having relieved many of the cultural biases which held the American iterations of these cuisines back, chefs now have a unique opportunity to combine the influences of their respective ethnic heritages with their national American heritage. Though Americans do have pre-conceived notions about what dishes characterize these cuisines, the rapid shifts that they have undergone over the last 200 years show clearly that these perceptions are not set in stone. By using ideas from cuisines built over millennia in conjunction with the freedom of the American kitchen, these chefs have the opportunity to not only shape the progression of American cuisine, but to make it one of the greatest in the world. Overholt 7 Chapter 2: An Overview of Chinese and Italian-American Immigration Histories In order to understand how their cuisines have changed since their arrival in America, it is useful to first have an overview of the immigration patterns through which Chinese and Italian-American’s arrived in the areas where these cuisines developed. Chinese immigration to the United States began both as a response to the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California and to internal factors of unrest in China (Kanazawa 781). By the mid-1800’s the Guangdong province was rife with social issues. The vast majority of peasant workers were farmers, working fertile lands, but alternating floods and droughts destroyed their crops. The disastrous effects of The Opium Wars with England imposed unfair trade concessions on the Chinese people, weakening commerce. Finally, the civil unrest caused by the Tai-Ping rebellion, and warlords fighting for control of local regions made life dangerous (Jung 4). In 1849, a group of around 60 contracted workers were the first Chinese miners to arrive in California, finding a home in Tuolomne county. Immigration began slowly. In 1850 there were only around five hundred Chinese miners in the area, but as word returned to China of the bounty to be had, a massive influx of immigrants followed (Ngai Miners 1086-1087). By 1852, a special state census reported that there were approximately 25,000 Chinese-born immigrants residing there, over 35 percent of the total foreign-born population in the state. These 25,000 resided almost exclusively in the seven most important mining counties in California--- Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sierra and Tuolomne (Kanazawa 781). By 1860, nearly 70 percent of the Chinese in California were employed in the mines, often under extremely harsh conditions for very little pay (Lee 71). Overholt 8 Though the vast majority of 49’ers in the Gold Rush were unsuccessful, the demand for cheap, Chinese labor remained high. In 1868, the United States and China signed The Burlingame Seward Treaty, which increased the influx of Chinese labor by including measures which allowed for free immigration to and travel within the United States for Chinese immigrants. In 1869, the Daily Alta California cited had this to say about the expanding role of Chinese immigrants in California’s economy “The Chinamen are ploughmen, laundrymen, placer miners, woolen spinners and weavers, domestic servants, cigar makers, shoemakers, and railroad builders to the great benefit of the state” (The Economist). Chief among these was the Chinese role in building the Central Pacific Railroad. Their influence on the progress of the railroad was so great that Central Pacific paid for the passage of more Chinese workers to the United States. By 1867, there were 12,000 Chinese workers building the transcontinental railroad, which made up 90 percent of the workforce which was dedicated to building the western section of the railroad. Notably, on May 10, 1869, when the final spikes were laid to link the eastern and western sides of the transcontinental railroad, no Chinese workers could be found in the abundance of official photos taken to commemorate the occasion (Lee 72-73). The exclusion of Chinese workers from celebration of “American” achievements was far from the first instance of discrimination Chinese immigrants had faced in the United States.

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