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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

From the arrival of the very first Chinese miners to California, Chinese immigrants were subjected to legal discrimination, intimidation, and often violence from their white counterparts.

The early period of the Gold Rush relied heavily on entrepreneurial rather than industrial mining, meaning teams of miners were competing directly against one another for extremely scarce resources. Chinese miners bore the brunt of antagonistic competition from white American miners (Kanazawa 782). As early as 1849, The Daily Alta California reported growing local Overholt 9 support for exclusion of foreign miners from access to work in the mines. White workers were also known to intimidate local claims recorders into not recognizing claims from Chinese miners, and often used racist sentiment as a standard by which to decide on electing public officials

(Kanazawa 783). On the railroads, Chinese laborers faced similar violent discrimination. In

1867, as a response to the nearly half-pay they received, and the longer hours they were forced to work, 5,000 Chinese workers went on strike. In response to their demands of equality, railroad baron Charles Crocker cut off their food supply, and starved them in their mountain camps until they dropped the strike (Lee 73).

Anti-Chinese sentiments came to a head in the 1870’s and 80’s. In Los Angeles during

1871, following the death of a policeman shot by a Chinese suspect, at least 17 Chinese were hung in the largest mass lynching in American history. In Rock Springs, Wyoming on September

2nd, 1885, twenty-eight Chinese miners were killed and fifteen more were wounded. Most importantly, on May 6, 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed into federal law. While it garnered heavy popular support, a large push came from white labor unions, who felt threatened by the heavy use of Chinese labor in American industry. This act prohibited the entry of any

Chinese into the United States except for the purposes of politics, education or trade.

Furthermore, it banned the naturalization of any Chinese citizens for a period of ten years. After ten years, it was renewed, then made permanent in 1904 (Lee 95). This watershed policy was the first time America had placed specific immigration restrictions on any individual race or class.

While this certainly slowed the flow of immigration from China, it didn’t stop it. Over the duration of the Act, around 90% of Chinese Immigrants who arrived in San Francisco came in illegally, as a multinational business arose to fake papers which would place immigrants in the specific classes exempt from the Exclusion Act. The Exclusion Act survived through a period Overholt 10 devoid of meaningful change to immigration policy for 61 years, only being repealed by

Congress in 1943 (Lee 94-108).

During the Exclusion Act, and in the decades following it, Chinese immigration to the

United States becomes increasingly hard to track, as the “Paper Son” system became incredibly prevalent in attempts to gain United States citizenship. This system, mentioned briefly above, took advantage of the ability to re-enter the United States, and to bring over one’s family.

Counterfeit papers were sold, and after the San Francisco Hall of Records was destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 1906, it became increasingly hard to refute claims of natural birth, as there was no record to refute their claims. The very system which sought to exclude Chinese immigrants created a bank of unverifiable evidence so large, it was near impossible for the INS to effectively enforce these laws (Ngai Cold War 3-5).

Though the Exclusion Act had been repealed, as America moved into the era of the Red

Scare, the State Department redoubled its efforts at slowing Chinese immigration. In 1949, following the Chinese Revolution, 117,000 Chinese citizens applied through the consulates in

Hong Kong for derivative citizenship. Everett Drumright, the director of the Hong Kong consulate and a far-right Mccarthyist Conservative, sought to stop as many of these applications as possible. He instituted faulty blood tests for those claiming familial relations, and submitted an 89-page paper to the State Department alleging a massive fraud perpetrated by Communist

China which allegedly brokered false papers in order to clandestinely establish an espionage network in the United States, based on little to no evidence. He, and other nativist politicians believed that the only measure strong enough to halt the flow of illegal immigration would be a policy in the vein of the Exclusion Act. However, the Eisenhower administration blocked attempts at such legislation. Despite this block, the far-right succeeded in launching a massive Overholt 11 system of investigations, spanning the entire country, conducted by the Justice Department.

Their eventual solution was known as the Confession Program. Under this program, Chinese immigrants would confess to having immigrated under false pretenses, expose any others who were part of their false families, and undergo a rigorous set of interrogations. These interrogations were primarily aimed at determining lack of loyalty to the Communist Party.

Though some were deported, the majority of those who participated in the Confession Program were given a pathway to legitimate citizenship and became legal United States citizens. While this process was dehumanizing and degrading, the major benefit was that the sons and daughters of “Paper Sons” as they came to be known, were better able to assert their rights as fully legal

American citizens (Ngai Cold War 8-29).

After decades of conflict during the Cold War Era, under the Carter administration, U.S.

China relations finally took a turn for the better. After an extended period of secret negotiations,

President Carter and Chairman Deng Xiaoping announced the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the two nations. Since then, the process of Chinese-American immigration has eased considerably (Office of the Historian). Furthermore, the demographic of

Chinese immigrants to the United States has shifted. After the 1965 Immigration Act, which lifted racist quota rules on countries spanning the globe, the majority of Chinese immigrants coming to the United States have been skilled. China is the largest source of foreign students participating in American higher education, and its citizens receive the second-most employer sponsored visas, only following India. Currently, the United States is the top destination for those emigrating from China, accounting for nearly a quarter of Chinese born individuals living outside of China. Since 1980, the Chinese-American population has grown six-fold, reaching 2.3 million as of 2016 (MPI). Overholt 12

Italian immigration to the United States, while undoubtedly far less fraught with racism than that of Chinese-Americans, faced significant discrimination in the early days of mass migration. In the years following the unification of Italy, those living in the south, or

“Mezzogiorno” were subject to racial discrimination. With the 19th century rise of eugenics,

Italy, as well as many other countries, sought an internal racial hierarchy. The northern, more industrialized areas of Italy “came to perceive Southerners as primitive, indolent, and habitually inclined to crime and vice” (Vellon 213). Because of these prejudices, as well as the intense poverty and lack of agricultural success in Southern Italy, many emigrated to America during what is known as the Period of Mass Migration, which lasted from around 1880 to approximately

1920. During this period, a massive number of immigrants arrived in America, with the largest group being Italians, who numbered over five million (Bandiera 26). The vast majority of these immigrants came through Ellis Island, the portal through which 12 million immigrants entered

America. Unfortunately for the study of those immigrants who arrived in New York through

Ellis Island, the main facility burned to the ground on June 15, 1897, destroying many of the records cataloging the arrival of Italian immigrants with it.

The depressed state of the Italian economy at the time of mass migration lead to the fact that the majority of early Italian immigrants were single, young men who were mostly illiterate and mono-lingual, speaking primarily regional dialects as Italy had only been unified around a half century earlier. Although this language fragmentation may have worked to their disadvantage in forming early communities, it contributed to their relatively quick assimilation into English speech, and thus American culture (Fellin 295). Because of their initial illiteracy and lack of English language skills, the jobs available to the first generation of Italian immigrants were typically low-pay, menial labor positions. However, compared to the conditions in Italy, the Overholt 13 average worker earned seven to eight times more in salary per day. As such, Italian workers were eager if not desperate to acquire and maintain these positions (Fauri 149-150). The rising industrialization of the Northeast, in conjunction with the willingness of Italian immigrants to take unskilled, low-pay jobs, created a similar rise of xenophobia to that which faced Chinese-

American workers in the West.

In 1907, this rise of xenophobic sentiment caused the U.S. Congress to fund an inquiry commonly known as the Dillingham Commission. This investigation marked the differences in lifestyle between those considered to be “old immigrants” those from North and West Europe, and “new immigrants” those from South and East Europe (Vellon 214). The findings summarized “the science of race” which was rife with biases and stereotypes, and officially recognized a distinction between Northern and Southern Italians as separate races. Southern

Italy’s proximity to Africa elicited the point of view that Northern Italians shared blood and characteristics with Western Europe, while the Southern Italians were of “Hamitic Stock” meaning they descended from the African community founded by Noah’s son Ham (Vellon 215).

The rising distrust of Southern Italians even caused mass violence. In New Orleans on March 14,

1891, eleven Italian men were beaten, shot, and hung after the acquittal of several Italians accused of the murder of a policeman. In the 1890’s alone, there were five other lynchings of

Italian immigrants across the country. Astoundingly, national support was shown for these instances, with the New York Times reporting that “the mob’s victims were desperate ruffians and murderers…sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins,” and saying finally that “lynch law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans to stay the issue of a new license to the Mafia” (NYT). Though these attacks were racially motivated, it is important to acknowledge the role in which Italian immigrants were seen racially by the general Overholt 14 public. They were in many ways “inbetweeners” who suffered at the hands of racial discrimination, but who never faced the “rigid, institutional, and legal forms of racism” which were constantly forced upon African American, Chinese American, and many other non-white citizens.

On the back of the Dillingham Commission, and rising tides of xenophobia, the

Immigration Restriction League, a set of progressive-era nativist politicians, began pushing for more stringent controls on European immigration, specifically Southern and Eastern. Though

Republican powers, as well as executive powers, had been fighting such legislation, by 1917 nativist support was too powerful. In 1917, the IRL proposed a piece of legislation requiring a literacy test of all new immigrants, and though Woodrow Wilson vetoed it, they were able to override his veto. However, as basic elementary education was spreading throughout Southern and Eastern Europe, this policy failed to exclude as many immigrants as they had hoped. Near the end of the 1910’s the rise of the Soviet Union and subsequent Red Scare coincided with a wave of support for Warren G. Harding’s nationalist platform. As such, Congress quickly enacted the Quota Act of 1921, which established a national quota on immigration. In 1924, this act was revised and became known as the Immigration Act of 1924, which halved the initial number of potential immigrants, and along eugenic guidelines, set aside 84% of immigration slots for Northern and Western Europeans with only 16% set aside for Southern and Eastern

Europeans (Tichenor 22-29). These restrictions, in conjunction with the global economic depression and World War II effectively cut off the flow of Italian immigrants to the United states.

Perhaps because of a lack of sustained immigration, by the mid-1930’s, racist views of

Italians began to subside. After the service of many Italian-Americans in World War II, the Overholt 15

“inbetweener” racial view of Italian-Americans all but subsided (Velloni 220). As a response to this newfound social status, as well as the reality of the racist quota system, a social action group called the American Council on Italian Migration was formed. During the period of the 50’s and

60’s, this group fought to enact legislation that would reestablish the ability for Italian immigration to the United States. To circumvent tight restrictions on immigration, the ACIM lobbied Congress to pass special legislation, including the 1953 Refugee Act, the Kennedy

Walter Act, Public Law 86-363, Public Law 87-316, and Public Law 87-885. These pieces of legislation collectively admitted 394,000 immigrants, both from Italy and other countries, who were affected by the social and economic chaos which arose in the aftermath of the Second

World War (Cavaioli 73). The ACIM found their greatest ally in President John F. Kennedy, notably America’s first and only Roman Catholic President, who both spoke at ACIM functions as well as endorsing their position for the removal of the quota system. In 1963, Kennedy sent

Congress a proposed set of new immigration policies. The two main recommendations made were the gradual abolition of the quota system over a period of five years, and the allocation of unused quota space to oversubscribed countries. For example, the quota for Italy in 1963 was

5,666 immigrants, while it was oversubscribed by 266,184 (Cavaioli 77). After a few key committee replacements, obstacles for the plan had been overcome, but were reborn after the news of President Kennedy’s assassination. ACIM members were unsure whether or not LBJ would continue executive support for the proposed reforms. However, President Johnson committed to carrying out the plan, and after his landslide reelection victory, he signed The

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 into law (Cavaioli 89). Following the passage of this piece of historic immigration reform, Italian Americans face very few barriers to immigration in the United States, and very few sources of domestic discrimination Overholt 16

Chapter 3: Menus (Chinese)

Chinese-American food has undergone many changes throughout its time in America.

Some of these changes arose naturally through association with the American palate, but many if not most came from the ingenuity of Chinese-American entrepreneurs. Dishes such as Chop

Suey and Chow Mein, as well as facets of the dining experience like fortune cookies are all products of Chinese-Americans making deliberate choices to market to the tastes of the

American public. In this chapter, I will track these challenges by analyzing the progression of

Chinese-American restaurants from the 1800’s forward. In many cases, there are surviving copies of menus. However, there exist very few paper records predating the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, so in this case we must rely on verbal accounts of the restaurants provided by contemporary observers and newspapers. Otherwise, I will analyze menus and contemporary accounts of restaurants from each significant period of the 20th century, culminating in an analysis of two very different contemporary iterations of Chinese-American cuisine.

Though history often depicts the Chinese forty-niners as poor, uneducated laborers; the first Chinese restaurateurs in San Francisco couldn’t be further from this representation. Early restaurants were created by Chinese merchants looking to capitalize on the growing economy and population created by the gold rush. Two of the most notable restaurants of this time period were Canton Restaurant and Macao and Woosung Restaurant. Each of these two establishments sat around 300 occupants, and were staffed by experienced waiters, bartenders, and chefs. In

1849, a British immigrant named William Redmond Ryan made an account of Canton

Restaurant. He remarked on the “neat arrangement and cleanliness of the place” as well as the

“excellent english” of the barkeep and wait-staff (Liu 21). Furthermore, these restaurants were Overholt 17 hubs for political activity in the newly established Chinese-American community. The Daily Alta

Californian reported in December of 1849 that “some three hundred representatives of the

Celestial Empire” held a meeting at Canton Restaurant to adopt a set of resolutions against racist treatment. Furthermore, Norman Assing, the proprietor of the Macao and Woosung Restaurant, held political rallies for white politicians at his restaurant to curry favor.

As to the food served at these restaurants, they seem to have served crowds spanning the vast socioeconomic diversity of San Francisco. Because of the remote nature of San Francisco at the time, many of the restaurants serving the mining community were forced to sell food at exorbitant prices. However, because of the steady flow of ships arriving from China carrying new immigrants as well as food, and the Chinese merchants’ willingness to trade fairly with each other, the Chinese restaurants were able to operate successfully at a fraction of the price (Liu 23).

With significantly lower prices, and often higher quality food, San Francisco Cantonese restaurants became a frequent option for poor miners. Though there are no surviving menus,

William Redmond Ryan remarked in his account of these early restaurants that they offered

“very palatable chow-chow, curry, and tarts” as well as a dish known at the time as “Hangtown

Fry”, which is now better known as Egg Foo Yung (Liu 22). Egg Foo Yung is an American descendant of an earlier and more complicated dish originating in Shanghai. In its American iteration, it consists of an egg mixture, fried in oil, combined with ingredients such as “bean sprouts and minced water chestnuts; bits of roast pork and fresh shrimp; chopped scallions”

(Chin). All of these ingredients are mixed to form a fried pancake, and are served with a brown gravy consisting of soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil and cornstarch. As to “chow-chow, curry and tarts”, tarts were almost surely Chinese pastries, such as Hong Kong Egg tarts, which survived the migration to America. These simple pastries consist of eggs, evaporated milk, butter Overholt 18 baked in a pie crust. Curries were most likely “dishes such as chopped beef or pork boiled on a slow fire, or sliced meats and vegetables quickly stir-fried from a wok” (Liu 20). Finally, chow- chow can be reasonably assumed to be an American misnomer for what was at the time known as “tsap seui”, a Cantonese dish whose name roughly translates to “odds and ends” in English.

This dish is the predecessor of what would become the iconic Chinese-American meal, Chop

Suey.

Though based on an idea from Cantonese cooking, Chop Suey as we know it was created in America. However, its origins remain shrouded in myth and mystery. Though both are generally believed to be false, there are two legends surrounding the creation of this dish. First, and more plausibly, there is the story which supposedly took place during the early days of the

Gold Rush, at Norman Assing’s Macao and WooSung Restaurant. The legend goes that a band of drunken miners entered the restaurant late at night, demanding service. In response to their rudeness, the exhausted Assing went to the kitchen, scraped leftovers off of dirty plates, doused it in soy sauce and served it to the miners. The miners were so enthralled with the meal that they came back the next day asking for more “Chop Suey”, a failed interpretation of that which

Assing had simply referred to as a plate of “odds and ends” (Butler). The other story was created by inaccurate reporting surrounding the historic and highly publicized visit of Chinese Viceroy

Li Hongzhang to New York City in 1896. Newspapers incorrectly reported that at a banquet given in his honor, Hongzhang refused the Western dishes cooked for him, opting instead to eat a plate of Chop Suey prepared by his own cook (Coe 163). Regardless of its inaccuracy, this story caused the beginning of the Chop Suey craze which swept America. The deliberate choice of abandoning Chinese cultural authenticity to create dishes like Chop Suey and Egg Foo Yung set Overholt 19 the stage for the formation of Chinese-American cuisine, and it quickly gained mass appeal across the country.

In spite of its dubious origins, quickly following Hongzhang’s visit to the United States,

Chop Suey houses began to spring up en masse across the country. Furthermore, these shops found success with another dish, Chow Mein. Though this dish is in fact a dish found frequently in China’s Pearl River Delta, the version being served in American restaurants was simply Chop

Suey served over fried noodles rather than rice (Coe 168). With the cultural stagnation brought on by the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was repealed in 1943, these two dishes became emblematic of Chinese cuisine to the American public. As such, from the turn of the century through the 1940’s, Chop Suey houses were the predominant representation of Chinese cuisine in the United States. One such Chop Suey house whose fame is recognized even today is Los

Angeles’ Far East Restaurant, located in the Little Tokyo Historical District. Diners of all social classes and ethnicities flocked to this restaurant whose massive neon sign, emblazoned “Far

East- Chop Suey”, could be seen from blocks away.

(AsAm News)

Though no complete menus from this establishment exist, we can get a sense of the food served there through the nostalgic memories of its patrons. George Wakiji, a Japanese-American, Overholt 20 fondly remembers family dinners at Far East before World War II and Japanese Internment forced him and his family out of their home Los Angeles. He remarks that “we never failed to order the same dishes each time. There was always Pak Kai (sweet and sour pork), Pea Chow

Yuk (Chinese pea and pork), Chow Mein (with chicken and pan-fried noodles, and Wor Shu Op

(almond duck)” (AsAm News). Another account of Far East’s menu came in the 1975 Noir film

“Farewell My Lovely” starring Robert Mitchum. During a meeting at the restaurant, the menu item “Family Dinner No. 1” can be seen, serving four patrons and featuring “egg flower soup, chop suey, chow mein, fried shrimp, fried rice, almond pork [and] egg foo yung” (LATimes).

Though the menu was reported to be extensive, these quintessential Chinese-American dishes dominated the perception of what a Chop Suey house like Far East had to offer. During the duration of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Far East and restaurants like it clung to aspects of their authentic cultural tradition while being unafraid to thrive by capitalizing on the culinary innovations which had captivated the tastes of the average American diner.

Though its lasting legacy of anti-Chinese racism certainly still exists, after the 1943 repealment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the tastes of the American consumer slowly but surely began to broaden. One such restaurant which thrived during this period is the nationally famous

Sam Wo Restaurant in San Francisco. Sam Wo was founded in 1907, emerging from the ashes of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The restaurant thrived during the post-Exclusion era for two main reasons. First, they grew a dedicated following by serving their famous “barbecue pork rice noodles” and a Chinese porridge called Jook until the wee hours, staying open until three o’clock in the morning (Sam Wo). Second, they gained national media recognition because of their legendary server Edsel Ford Fung. Fung was known to harass the patrons of Sam Wo. In the words of Julie Ho, daughter of owner David Ho, he would “throw things at you, yell things at Overholt 21 you, order customers to serve other… people [would] come from all over just to get verbally abused by him (CT). Fung’s fame grew so large as to warrant references in popular movies, as well as a cameo in Chuck Norris’ 1981 film An Eye for an Eye. Though Sam Wo’s fame and popularity boded well for the acceptance of a more broad interpretation of Chinese-American cuisine, it remained and thrived within the confines of many negative stereotypes of Chinese-

American restaurants. The no-frills, rough and often rude service here was a facet of Sam Wo’s charm. However, as the American public came to expect this kind of experience rather than appreciate it, Chinese-American restaurants remained shackled to the idea that their cuisine was something to be accepted, but not cherished and respected.

One chef would revolutionize the way that America viewed Chinese, and Chinese-

American cuisine. Cecilia Chiang is the undisputed most influential Chinese-American chef, both because of her work at her restaurant The Mandarin, and her broader cultural impact. The story of Chiang’s journey to the United States, and to stardom, has become a legend in the

American culinary community. Chiang was born in Wuxi, a town near Shanghai, but moved at a young age to Beijing. The trials of her youth include a “six-month walk” from Beijing to

Chongqing to escape the Japanese Invasion of 1942, as well as fleeing to Tokyo to escape the

Communist Cultural Revolution (Geraci). Fatefully, while visiting her widowed sister in San

Francisco, she lent money to two friends from Tokyo in order to rent a space. These friends backed out, and unable to secure a refund, Chiang took it upon herself to start The Mandarin.

From the beginning, Chiang’s goal was to show the San Francisco community a different side of

Chinese cuisine, “no Chop Suey, no Egg Foo Yung, no Chow Mein!” (Geraci 74). The Mandarin was the first restaurant in San Francisco to serve Szechuan, Hunan, and Mandarin food. Chiang is credited with bringing such famous dishes as potstickers, hot and sour soup, and Peking duck Overholt 22 to the United States (SFGate). Furthermore, she became famous for her Smoked Tea Duck,

Beggar’s Chicken, Sizzling Rice Soup and Shark Fin (Geraci). After moving from her original location to the iconic Ghirardelli Square, Chiang made fans of and taught classes for such titans of the American culinary community as Julia Child, Alice Waters, James Beard and Vic

Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic (Krishna CC). The importance of The Mandarin cannot be understated. Chiang not only taught an American audience how delicious properly executed and authentic Chinese cuisine is, but she gave a glimpse into her culture for an American audience who were actively prejudiced against Chinese-Americans as a result of the communist politics which dominated China. By breaking these barriers, Chiang set the stage for a new era of

Chinese-American chefs who could make their own choices on how to interpret their cuisine, using more nuanced regional influences. Prominently, under her guidance, Cecilia’s son Philip

Chiang went on to create the ubiquitous chain P.F. Chang’s. Though Chiang’s focus was primarily on authentically Chinese cuisine, her advances allowed for the broadening and progression of the Chinese-American culinary movement. With more dishes becoming acceptable to the American palette, Chinese-American chefs were more free to experiment with their interpretation of this cuisine, creating a new form of Chinese-American authenticity, rather than relying fully on Chop Suey and Chow Mein as the sole staples.

Since The Mandarin closed in 1991, there has been a dramatic shift in how Chinese food is consumed in the United States. Though it had begun its decline before Chiang’s venture, by the 1990’s, the Chop Suey craze was all but dead. As the effects of Exclusion began to subside, the American audience began to crave more variety. Some entrepreneurial restaurateurs have sought to fill the void left in place of Chop Suey houses around the country. Chief among these businesses is Panda Express, and its interpretation of Chinese-American cuisine has come to Overholt 23 dominate the culinary narrative, especially outside of areas with a significant Chinese-American community. In 1973, Andrew Cherng and his father opened their first restaurant, the Panda Inn, in Pasadena, California. Panda Inn still exists as a chain of sit-down restaurants, but only in

California. In 1982, Andrew was joined by his wife Peggy Cherng, and they opened the first

Panda Express in the food court of the Glendale Galleria Mall (UGA). Since their first location,

Andrew and Peggy Cherng have progressed from mall locations to stand-alone sites, and have opened 2,200 restaurants spread across the United States and twelve other countries. The Panda

Express Group now reports an average yearly revenue of three billion dollars (PE). While many view Panda Express as a low-brow iteration of Chinese-American cuisine, the chain did not reach these heights without some distinct innovation. In 1987, Panda Express developed the recipe for Orange Chicken, a dish now synonymous with Chinese-American food. Furthermore, a large portion of their dishes, including such dishes as Orange Chicken, Beijing Beef, and

Honey Walnut Shrimp are characterized by a uniquely developed style. This style, geared towards the American palette, consists of deep-fried, crunchy meat soaked in a high-sugar and high-acid sauce, creating the signature sweet and sour flavor-profile which has become commonplace. While this seems par for the course when considering the menu of the average

Chinese-American eatery, its popularity is due in no small part to the expansion and success of the Panda Express franchise. As such, the Cherng’s importance as innovators of Chinese-

American cuisine is incredibly significant. While their food is uncomplicated and mass- appealing, it is these kinds of institutions which open the door to cultural acceptance, courting a broader base of Americans who are willing to eat Chinese-American food, much like the Chop

Suey era proceeding it. Overholt 24

Finally, there are some chefs and restaurateurs who have followed in Cecilia Chiang’s footsteps by progressing Chinese-American cuisine in the realm of fine dining. One such chef is

Brandon Jew, the head chef of San Francisco based restaurant Mister Jiu’s. Brandon Jew’s restaurant is housed in a historic building, and Mister Jiu’s is the third restaurant to have existed there. From the 1880’s to the 1960’s, it housed Hang Far Low, referred to in an 1885 travel guide as the “Delmonico’s of Chinatown” (Lucchesi). From the 60’s until 2014 the building housed the

Four Seas, a regal banquet-style Chinese restaurant. As such, since 2015 when Mister Jiu’s opened, it has been steeped in the history of Chinatown. Jew’s innovations include modern plays on dishes like Chop Suey and Egg Foo Yung, following in the path of his Chinatown predecessors, as well as interpretations of traditional Chinese dishes using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. One example of Jew’s iconic dishes which play on the history of Chinese-

American is his Ding Ding Chao Mian, an elevated interpretation of the Chow Mein so frequently found in Chinatown. Two others are his Wild Mushroom ‘Hokkien’ Fried Rice, and his Steak Fried Rice, which features interesting ingredients like beef heart and top quality steak.

After only six months of operation, Mister Jiu’s received their first Michelin Star, a colossal mark of honor in the culinary world. In an interview just following this award, Jew stated that he wants to “change the conversation about American Chinese food” (Michelin). By using high quality ingredients and using creativity guided but not bound by convention, Brandon Jew is creating an opportunity for the progression of authentically Chinese-American cuisine.

Furthermore, the fact that he has been internationally recognized as a Michelin quality chef is indicative of the fact that the culinary world is beginning to recognize the value of Chinese-

American food. Overholt 25

Having discussed the progression of this cuisine throughout America’s history, it is remarkable how intrinsically tied politics has been with culinary progression. The first Chinese to immigrate to the west coast were wealthy, educated and influential individuals. As such they brought the highest form of their cuisine to our country. Restaurants like Canton Restaurant and the Macao and Woosung were some of the finest to have existed in early San Francisco.

However, as xenophobia and racism mounted, Chinese-American chefs smartly adapted their cooking so as to capitalize on the tastes of an audience who were only willing to try things which were simple and approachable. Unfortunately, as racist policy dominated United States politics around the turn of the century, this clever innovation became a constricting norm. This can be identified as the “Chop Suey Era”, where unwitting Americans came to identify Chinese-

American cuisine with a handful of dishes which were a far cry from the potential this cuisine has achieved today. As exclusion ended, conditions bettered, and the American palette grew slightly more accepting of novel flavors and preparations in areas where they became available.

However, it took a visionary to truly kickstart growth. I believe that Cecilia Chiang’s prime can be marked as the turning point in Chinese-American cuisine. By the end of The Mandarin’s influence, the titans of the fine dining community were fully ready to accept innovation in a cuisine which was previously demeaned. These important figures, such as critics and authors, were able to relay their acceptance of authentic Chinese food to a broader American audience and thus set the stage for growth on all levels of the American foodscape. This acceptance allowed for a new generation of chefs to incorporate broader Chinese influences into their

American interpretation, vastly expanding the potential of a new and authentic Chinese-

American cuisine. Out of this environment rose Panda Express, which has become one of

America’s most successful and widely known food chains. More importantly, this higher level of Overholt 26 acceptance set the stage for chefs like Brandon Jew, who are and will continue to progress this cuisine creating even broader opportunities for chefs who follow in their legacy. If Chinese-

American food can be worthy of a Michelin Star in a time where it is still broadly misunderstood, this cuisine can and will go on to be one of the most important pillars of the

American kitchen. The stage has been set for a new and valid version of culinary authenticity, where it has become clear that the American adaptation of Chinese cuisine can rival the original in complexity and value.

Overholt 27

Chapter 4: Menus (Italian)

Though they arrived later than the beginning of the mass-migration for Chinese-

American immigrants, the Southern Italians who entered America beginning in the 1880’s were in an extremely similar situation to their Chinese-American counterparts. Both regions had been ravaged by social unrest and famine, and as such the majority of those who arrived in America were young males who were poor and seeking opportunity. It is important to note that prior to the wave of Southern Italian immigration there were already wealthy Italian-Americans of

Northern Italian descent who had made their mark on our country. For example, the first restaurant opened by those of Italian descent in the United States was Delmonico’s, arguably

America’s most influential restaurant. Delmonico’s invented such American classics as Lobster

Newburg and Baked Alaska, but their focus was not on the Italian cooking tradition, rather the

French. I will be focusing on restaurants representative of Southern Italian cuisine as this region has had by far the largest influence on what we now know as Italian-American cuisine. As with the previous chapter, I will be examining restaurant histories and menus spanning each major period of the late 1800’s to the present, with two different interpretations defining the pinnacle of modern Italian-American cuisine, both within the fine dining community.

Though the vast majority of Southern Italian immigrants made their way into New York

City and remained there, the first restaurant opened in America by a Southern Italian could not have been further away. In fact, the restaurant Fior D’Italia which was opened in 1886 was founded in San Francisco. Angelo Del Monte, the founder of Fior D’Italia, came to California as many others did seeking wealth in the gold trade. However, in the same fashion as many

Chinese-American San Franciscans, he quickly realized that the prospect of gold was fading and Overholt 28 there was money to be made in building the city of San Francisco. Furthermore, Del Monte also recognized the exorbitant prices being paid for a decent meal, and having been raised in an

Italian boarding house, he knew how to create satisfying food at a reasonable price. Though the vast majority of records predating the 1906 earthquake and fire were destroyed, interestingly there is a surviving copy of Fior D’Italia’s first menu, published on its first day of business in

1886.

(Fior Book 17)

Though Del Monte was of Southern Italian heritage, his first chef was from Liguria in Northern

Italy and as such their initial menu represented an amalgam of Northern and Southern Italian influences. Similar to restaurants like the Macao and Woosung, oral histories of the early days of

Fior D’Italia report that both “the world’s most humble and the world’s most celebrated dined at its tables” (Fior Book 18). Though not strictly in the heritage of Southern Italian cooking, Fior

D’Italia represents an important point in Italian-American history. Businesses like this were an Overholt 29 early opportunity for Southern Italians to establish themselves as successful in the United States, and to escape the prejudices assigned to them on the grounds of racist eugenic conceptions.

Moving back to New York City, around the turn of the century in 1905, America was given perhaps the single most influential dish in our nation’s history, Pizza. Though the origins of the first American pizzeria are debated, the first pizzeria registered in public business records was Lombardi’s Pizza, located in Little Italy. Gennaro Lombardi was born in Naples in 1887 and made his way to New York on the S.S. Calabria, which docked in the United States on

November 23rd, 1904 (PHB). In 1905, Gennaro opened Lombardi’s, serving Pizza for five cents a slice to the local working population. Though there are records stating Gennaro had made pizza in Naples, his innovation arose simply from resource scarcity and necessity. In Naples, pizza is rooted in an intensely binding tradition. Neapolitan Pizza in Gennaro’s time would have been made exclusively with Mozzarella di Bufala, or mozzarella cheese made with the milk of buffalo native to Campania. Furthermore, the types of flour used in Neapolitan pizza dough are chosen specifically to create its light and fluffy crust. However, these products were not available in the

United States. As such, Gennaro began using Fior di Latte cheese, which is mozzarella made from pasteurized cow’s milk, as well as high gluten bread flour. Finally, because the majority of his customers were workers for whom he would tie up a slice with string and paper for their lunch, the moist style of Neapolitan pizza wouldn’t do. So, Gennaro switched to using low- moisture mozzarella, and thus the New York-Style Pizza was born (Falcone). Gennaro’s influence has shaped our country. According to Pizza Today, a magazine covering the food in

America with over 40,000 subscribers, there are around 70,000 pizzerias in the United States making up a 38 billion dollar per year business (The Week). With these numbers in mind, the opening of Lombardi’s Pizza is clearly a major moment in American culinary history. Overholt 30

Furthermore, New York-Style Pizza represents one of the first uniquely American innovations in

Italian-American cuisine. Though it takes influence from its Italian predecessors, Gennaro’s innovation set the stage for authentically Italian-American cooking.

As the first half of the 20th century progressed, racial prejudices against Southern Italians began to fade. Their high level of participation in both World Wars engendered respect, and as such Southern Italian restaurants began their rise to popularity. One restaurant emblematic of this rise is the iconic Brooklyn restaurant Bamonte’s. Bamonte’s was founded by Pasquale Bamonte, an Italian-American immigrant from Salerno, a town less than an hour from Naples (Rosner).

While Pasquale founded the restaurant in the year 1900, it didn’t rise to its peak of popularity until Pasquale passed ownership to his son Pasquale Jr. in the 1950’s. Pasquale Jr.’s remodel of

Bamonte’s set the stage for its rise as one of New York’s iconic “red sauce joints” (Cobb). The term “red sauce joint” has become emblematic of the type of restaurant that defines Italian-

American food. Famous dishes of this style include Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Parmesan,

Baked Ziti and Marinara Sauce, all of which were Italian-American inventions, and all of which reside on the Bamonte’s menu (Horowitz). This hearty and satisfying cuisine brought Bamonte’s soaring success, and combined with its iconic atmosphere, signified by its tuxedoed staff and red color scheme, it attracted some of New York’s most famous. These include former regulars such as Joe DiMaggio, and a host of New York’s most notorious gangsters (Cobb). Since the rise of

Bamonte’s and restaurants like it, Italian-American food has skyrocketed in popularity. For example, chains like Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden, Carrabba’s and Maggiano’s have spread across the country with thousands of locations combined. The ubiquity of this Italian-American invention confirms it as an important part of our national cuisine; however, as with Chop Suey houses, the limits imposed by a dining base looking solely for dishes like Spaghetti and Overholt 31

Meatballs has enforced somewhat of a creative vice on those looking to break the mold set more than seventy years ago.

When one investigates the proliferation of chain Italian-American cooking, it becomes clear that cultural assimilation has led to these restaurants being more corporate asset than cultural passion-project. While some were started by Italian-American families, the majority of the most successful chains were subsequently acquired by large corporate entities who spread them across the country. For example, the chains Olive Garden, Carabba’s and Buca di Beppo are all owned by larger corporate partnerships. The only one of these three actually founded by an Italian-American family is Carabba’s. This chain was created by Johnny Carrabba and

Damian Mandola, whose families had immigrated from Sicily to Houston in the 1890’s. In 1986, they opened Carabba’s, and in a lucrative deal, Outback Steakhouse, Inc. acquired the rights to

Carrabba’s in 1995. Unlike the Italian-American heritage of Carrabba’s, Olive Garden was founded in 1982 by General Mills, and now operates as the lead asset of the publicly traded company Darden Restaurants. Though it wasn’t founded by Italian-American immigrants, Buca di Beppo provides an interesting insight into the proliferation of red-sauce joints across America.

Founded in Minneapolis in 1993 by restaurateur Phil Roberts, it sought a sort of satirical view of

Italian-American cuisine. Because there were no such restaurants in Minneapolis at the time,

Roberts decided to accentuate the facets of the red-sauce restaurants of the Northeast for his audience. He wanted the “décor to be tacky, the portions to be enormous, the atmosphere to be boisterous” (Krishna BB). Furthermore, Roberts said he wanted it to be a place “that was intentionally in bad taste, but good-natured bad taste” (Krishna BB). Though some corporate misconduct led to their acquisition by Planet Hollywood in 2008, Buca di Beppo has remained a household name and is representative of how many Americans view Italian-American cuisine. Overholt 32

This overwhelming success provides an interesting angle on the assimilation of Italian-American cuisine in America. Here is a restaurateur, not of Italian heritage, who has created an openly satirical take on Italian-American cuisine. Furthermore, it has rarely if ever been cited as a problematic instance of cultural appropriation. This is further evidence of the full assimilation of

Italian-Americans into American culture, their acceptance is so great that even somewhat disrespectful takes on their culture are deemed acceptable. These have become perceived to be parodies of American culture as a whole, not of an ethnic group whose history includes severe marginalization and judgement. In some ways this represents a positive shift, the end of racism towards a group, and in others it has stifled creativity through reliance on a cultural archetype.

However, during the mass proliferation of these restaurants, several innovative chefs have made attempts to innovate inside and outside of that archetype.

One of the first successes in breaking the commonly held conceptions of Italian-

American food was Babbo, which was founded in tandem by Chef Mario Batali and Joe

Bastianich, son of the legendary Italian-American culinary figure Lidia Bastianich. I’d like to preface this paragraph by addressing the current situation of the restaurant. As of 2017, Chef

Batali is no longer involved with Babbo as a string of corroborated sexual misconduct allegations caused him to be cut financially from any ties with the business (Plagianos and Greenwald). By praising the culinary innovations made in this restaurant I in no way intend to praise Batali himself, rather simply the contributions Babbo has made to the development of Italian-American cuisine. With that said, Babbo truly defied conventions after its opening in 1998. In the words of

Bastianich, their vision is to “use the best local ingredients and serve them with flourish and joy.

As a Tuscan cooks in Chianti, as a Neapolitan cooks on the Amalfi coast… at Babbo we cook as an Italian might in the Mid-Atlantic/Hudson Valley region” (Babbo). Babbo attempted regional Overholt 33

Italian Cuisine and Italian-American cuisine in a fashion which hadn’t been done before. Ruth

Reichl, then the New York Times food critic, echoes this perception by titling her glowing three star review “A Radical Departure With Sure Footing”. Some of Reichl’s favorite dishes were

“fresh anchovies with warm testa (that’s head cheese)”, “ravioli filled with beef cheeks and topped with crushed squab livers” and “a big bowl of squid” (Reichl). One could not depart further from the conventions of red sauce restaurants unless they shifted into an entirely new cuisine. However, the two Italian-Americans who created this restaurant managed to find a way to remain authentically American, using local ingredients and modifying techniques to accompany them, while being simultaneously Italian. This leap of creativity has set the stage for young chefs taking risks in their interpretation of the beloved Italian-American cuisine that

America has come to love.

One such young chef is Mario Carbone, who puts his play on Italian-American cuisine on display at his eponymous restaurant Carbone. Mario was born and raised in Queens, eating frequently at Red Sauce Italian restaurants much in the vein of Bamonte’s. After culinary school, he worked at Babbo, then for such famed chefs as Daniel Boulud and Wylie Dufresne. After forming the restaurant group Major Food Group, Mario and his partners chef Rich Torrisi and

Jeff Zalaznik opened Carbone (MFG). In an interview conducted by Eater NY with the three partners, they expound on their vision behind the restaurant, which is to take the Italian-

American cuisine they grew up on, and give it “the attention it deserved” (Ulla). Essentially, their aim was to create a restaurant in the style of a mid-century red sauce joint, while using the quality of ingredients and the tenets of service expected in a fine dining institution. Similar to

Chef Brandon Jew’s reverence for the tradition and grandeur housed in the Four Seas building which now holds Mister Jiu’s, Carbone keenly emulates the ambience which has continued to Overholt 34 make restaurants like Bamonte’s so special. However, as the current New York Times food critic

Pete Wells wrote in his review, “the old tropes get an injection of technique that acts like a syringe of epinephrine plunged into the heart” (Wells). Some standout dishes at Carbone are their plate sized Veal Parmigiana, a colossal Lobster Fra Diavolo, and the “remarkable”

Tortellini al Ragu (Wells). Where Babbo took a philosophy of cooking and turned it into an innovative interpretation of Italian-American cuisine, Carbone uses respect for the past with attention to modern detail and technique to achieve a similarly innovative result. Furthermore,

Carbone’s attempt at revitalizing red sauce Italian-American cuisine has been validated by a

Michelin Star as well as a three star review from the New York Times.

In many ways, the progression of Italian-American cuisine has mirrored the progression of Chinese-American cuisine in that it has proceeded in accordance with racial politics. The first

Italian-American restaurateurs opened highly regional restaurants, as there is not a general

“Italian” cuisine, especially in this time where Italy had only recently been unified. With the heightening of American racism, both in practice and in politics, Italian cuisine began to recede into practicality, serving a community of other Southern Italian-Americans. It is from this era we have innovations like pizza as Americans have come to know it, a humble food originally meant to serve working class patrons. These inventions set the stage for the creation of a new and authentic Italian-American cuisine. As Italian-Americans began to be more culturally accepted, after the World Wars and during the Civil Rights Movement, their cuisine hit the mainstream and remained there. The romance of “red sauce” cuisine swept the country, and became a fixture in nearly every city, whether it was a family-owned restaurant or one of the monolith of Italian-

American chains like Olive Garden. However, by building such a prevailing norm on the interpretation of Italian-American cuisine, it stagnated and lost much of the passion which took it Overholt 35 into the hearts of the American consumer. Chefs like the team at Babbo and Chefs Carbone and

Torrisi have now played their part in defying this norm and reopening the American public, at least in the world of fine dining, to a new interpretation of this beloved cuisine. Further progression is all but assured as young Italian-American chefs take ownership of their heritage, whether it be breaking the mold or respectfully playing on and updating tradition.

Overholt 36

Chapter 5: Cultural Identity

The pursuit of American iterations of cuisine has always been beleaguered by conversations about authenticity. This poses an interesting problem for the progression of cuisine in the United States. In both China and Italy, there are rules for cooking which have been set over thousands of years. However, when Chinese and Italian immigrants came to the United

States, those rules were invalidated. In a situation where they were minorities, and where ingredients integral to the “proper” method of cooking were unavailable, these new Americans adapted. What has arisen out of their adaptations is, in fact, uniquely authentic and original.

These cuisine choices were made in the very same way they were made thousands of years ago by chefs who attempted to appeal to their audience with the ingredients made available to them.

However, many chefs see Chinese-American and Italian-American cuisine not as an innovation, but as a bastardization of something pure. In my opinion, this misconception comes as a result of varying conceptions of cultural possession. In the Old World, ethnicity is clearly and rigidly defined. Italians are Neapolitan because they come from Naples, or Chinese are Hunanese because they come from Hunan Province. If an Italian or Chinese person were naturalized in another Old World country, say England, they would continue to be defined and to define themselves by their national ethnic identity, or more specifically as their regional identity. This ethnic possession bears an obligation to remain loyal to one’s culture for purposes of respect and identity preservation. This can be seen evidently in the cultural backlash faced by chefs who break these cultural molds. For example, Massimo Bottura, whose restaurant Osteria

Francescana would go on to be the top ranked restaurant in the world, was granted with little initial success and much criticism for defying the norms of the Italian kitchen. However, Overholt 37

Americans who respect the vision our country was founded upon hold identity in a different manner. To be an American, one is not defined by ethnicity, as the vast majority of our country is not ethnically “American”. To hold stake as a part of American culture, or to be considered

American, is a property garnered by birthright or naturalization. As such, though I respect her immensely, I disagree with the term “ABC” used by Cecilia Chiang in several interviews. This term stands for “American-Born Chinese”. However, I don’t think this captures the way non- racists in our country view ethnic identity. Once one becomes an American citizen, they belong here and are entitled to the full breadth of opportunities this young culture has to offer. In this vein, I believe a better term would be Americans of Chinese or Italian descent. By prioritizing

American identity, one becomes shielded from authenticity-based insults, and he or she is free to explore their own personally informed authenticity. In this chapter, I will lay out arguments made on both sides of the issue by influential chefs and food writers to try and get at the core of the value of authenticity.

There are many chefs who guffaw at the idea of value in what we have come to know as

Chinese-American cuisine. One such Asian food evangelist is David Chang, the owner of the immensely successful worldwide Momofuku chain. Though Chang is of Korean heritage, he has used his considerable influence to take the mantle of advocating for all varieties of Asian food in

America. In his show Ugly Delicious, Chang spends a considerable amount of time discussing the state of Chinese-American food. In a roundtable with fellow chefs and industry personnel,

Chang said that “one of my big pet peeves when people talk about Chinese food is like ‘oh I love

Panda Express but I won’t eat this, I love P.F. Chang’s, that’s Chinese food’, and I’m like, no, no it’s not” (UD FR). Another influential chef, Cecilia Chiang of The Mandarin, had a particular bone to pick in the creation of her restaurant. Chiang was understandably frustrated when she Overholt 38 opened her restaurant to a sea of questions asking “Is this a Chinese restaurant?” (Lastoe).

Because Chiang didn’t serve Chop Suey or Chow Mein, the two definitive Chinese-American dishes of the era, her novel regional Chinese approach was met with much confusion. Chiang goes on to say that “Most ABC, American-born Chinese, even they didn’t know about Chinese food. Never having been to China, this group needed to be educated on the difference” (Lastoe).

I fully understand the concerns of Chefs Chiang and Chang. Because of a lack of cultural exchange with mainland China throughout our nation’s history, Americans have been misled as to what actually defines the regional and complex cuisines of China. However, where these chefs go wrong is extending their critiques to value and scope. This is a nomenclature issue, and as the expansion of mainland Chinese cuisine continues in American cities, I believe that an increasing number of Americans will be better able to make the distinction between whether they are choosing to eat Chinese-American food or specifically Chinese food. However, this distinction should not belittle Chinese-American food. If our culture belittles Chinese-American food then we make the disrespectful mistake of ignoring the legacy of innovative Chinese-Americans who, in these chefs’ point of view, have created something totally unique from Chinese food prior to assimilation in America. Furthermore, if we belittle this cuisine then we prevent new chefs from expanding the concept beyond the old standards which have caused these chefs frustration.

With these kinds of critiques in mind, Chinese-American cuisine is at a crossroads in its history. Though they have their value, dishes like Chow Mein and General Tso’s Chicken as they are traditionally presented can have the function of holding back progress. Two chefs fighting for the progress and value of Chinese-American cuisine are Brandon Jew and Jonathan Wu. Each of these chefs have taken a different approach to updating this cuisine which reflects their locations, with Jew residing in Chinatown San Francisco, and Wu in the Lower East Side of New York Overholt 39

City. Though Chef Jew’s Mister Jiu’s broke barriers in the world of fine dining, his recent venture Mamahuhu speaks to his respect for what is commonly known as Chinese-American cuisine. This restaurant serves updated versions of dishes like Beef and Broccoli, Kung Pao

Chicken and Crispy Egg Rolls at affordable prices and in a relaxed environment. When interviewed about the inspiration behind this restaurant, Jew said that as he spent more time in

Chinatown, he “gained a greater appreciation for the history of the Chinese-American standards that he grew up eating — how dishes like mushu pork and sweet-and-sour chicken came to be, and the ways they allowed generations of skilled Chinese immigrant cooks to make a living in their adopted homeland” (Tsai). By embracing these dishes and the history behind them, Jew has afforded himself and others the ability to tinker with them and put them on display in a way that values their contribution to the American diet. Wu has taken a slightly different approach which is informed by his and his family’s personal histories as a Chinese-Americans. Chef Wu cites his mother’s cooking as a major source of inspiration “Often times it was Chinese food; sometimes it was Western, and sometimes it was these funny fusions. Our pantry was very eclectic” (GRM).

One of his signature dishes is a dried date, stuffed with shredded duck confit which is then battered and fried. Though the inspiration comes from a relative’s recollections of street food in pre-Cultural Revolution Shanghai, Wu says that it “taste[s] like American barbecue” (GRM). Wu and Jew are key examples of what America stands to gain by valuing Chinese-American cuisine.

Their cooking has the ability to bring us all closer to our collective national heritage, while simultaneously advancing it, and inspiring others to keep pursuing its betterment.

Southern Italian cuisine is as rife with rules and traditions as any on the planet. Because of its origins as a “peasant food”, it has been passed down through generations primarily within familial groups. As such, generations on generations have learned techniques and guidelines Overholt 40 which have changed very little. Chef Ali LaRaia of New York’s The Sosta spoke in an interview about what she believes Italian-American chefs get wrong in their interpretation of Italian cuisine. First she brings up a perceived lack of moderation whether it be in sauce, cheese or portion size, which is characteristic of regional Italian cuisine. Next are points on how Italian cuisine dictates that pasta and meat should be served in separate courses, never together, and how the Italian-American overuse of butter and garlic drowns out the true flavor of a meal

(Kravitz). I believe that Chef LaRaia makes valid points when they are looked at in a vacuum.

However, when you examine the cultural causes of these choices, both in Italian and Italian-

American cuisine, it can be seen that these weren’t necessarily successes or failures on either side, rather products of a socioeconomic environment. Before its arrival in the United States,

Southern Italian cuisine was dictated by poverty. In this agrarian environment, there simply wasn’t space or resources to make the owning of animals a common characteristic. With scarce resources and a lack of easily accessible protein, Southern Italian cuisine developed its signature simple deliciousness. However, when Italian-American immigrants arrived in the states, they were met with vastly different monetary constraints. While they often transitioned into the same labor-based jobs available in Southern Italy, the wages paid were seven to eight times as high.

For this reason, meat became more common in their cooking and portion sizes grew (Horowitz).

Though some would call it excess, these shifts were in a way a celebration of escaping the generational poverty they left behind. Furthermore, the characteristic grandeur of the red sauce restaurant was popularized just around the time that prejudice against Southern Italians began to fade, and upward mobility became a more apparent reality. Though I’m not arguing that either cuisine is better than the other, I think that the criticisms commonly thrown at the authenticity of Overholt 41

Italian-American food lose some of their weight when one can see them in the context of a cultural history.

There are many professionals operating in the culinary industry who stake their claim that

Italian-American cuisine is the natural evolution of Italian cuisine in a new environment. One such individual is Francine Segan, a six-time James Beard nominated cookbook author and food historian. Her take on Italian-American cuisine is that it “started when the first Italian immigrants came to America and couldn’t cook their favorite dishes because certain ingredients were either missing or simply didn’t taste the same” (Celenza). This led to Italian-American chefs flexing their creativity, both out of necessity to recreate the tastes of home and out of drive to gain the favor of a hungry American audience. Perhaps the most influential Italian chef of the modern day has lauded this culture of innovation. Massimo Bottura, the chef and creator of

Osteria Francescana, which is formerly the number one restaurant in the world and has been credited with a major advance to the Italian kitchen, said that “the best ingredient I discovered in

America was ‘freedom.’ The freedom to experiment in the kitchen and the freedom to be open to those experiments in the dining room” (Celenza). With these opinions in mind, it seems that

Italian-American cooking can be equated to Italian cuisine mixed with a new landscape of ingredients and an environment of creative freedom. In an interview in another episode of Ugly

Delicious, Mario Carbone states that one of the driving goals behind Carbone’s creation was to

“prove that Italian-American food was a regional cuisine” (UD SP). In saying this he echoes the

Babbo mission, which is to cook like an Italian would by sourcing fresh, seasonal ingredients and preparing them in a style which resembles the Italian culinary tradition. By treating Italian-

American cuisine as something of value, the United States has access to a culinary tradition Overholt 42 which has the potential to constantly adapt and progress in line with the bountiful biodiversity that America offers.

Cuisine is something deeply emotional, it is tied up in one’s national heritage, family heritage and personal experiences. As such, it makes perfect sense that Chinese and Italian chefs would claim ownership and superiority as the original. However, to deny progress of any fashion is to cause stagnation, and for that reason it is clear that the advances made in Chinese-American and Italian-American cuisine are positive. In many ways, Americans are culturally lucky.

Because of the overwhelming lack of a unifying national heritage, American chefs are able to stake claim to both their familial background and their national identity. This presents a bit of a conundrum in how to place these cuisines. Some call these cuisines “fusion”, but I believe that this is misguided. Fusion implies the melding of two established food cultures, but in many ways the American kitchen is too underdeveloped and loosely defined to “fuse” it with another. This is why I believe these culinary innovations are something uniquely authentic, devoid of any overwhelming tie to a guiding national cuisine. Many culinary professionals want to put Chinese and Italian-American cuisine in a box, saying that they are either totally separate from or poorly done imitations of the original, but this is not the case. Due to our status as an immigrant nation,

Chinese-American and Italian-American chefs are able to treat their cooking as a regional cuisine, adapting to location and taste just as every region of the countries their cuisine originated in have. To say that the American adaptations are “just too different” is a brash misinterpretation. The truffles and veal of Piedmont look nothing and taste nothing like the sardines and caponata found in Sicily. Furthermore, the braised fish and sea cucumber of

Shandong Province look and taste nothing like the Shu Mai (open-top dumplings) or Char Siu

(roasted pork) of Guangdong Province. So, it is within reach to say that American adaptations Overholt 43 can easily be considered regional cuisines. However, the benefit only presents itself fully when one considers the vast variety of food cultures found in America. In addition to being a form of regional cuisine, Chinese and Italian-American chefs have the full ability to create a cuisine that is simultaneously authentically American. This means creative access to the influences of every other major cuisine represented in the United States. It is only when one realizes this duality of heritage that it becomes apparent how truly exciting the opportunity of progressing an American cuisine can be. The possibilities for innovation are endless, and so long as our culture chooses to support those taking brave new chances in advancing their respective cuisines, America has the chance to house the most diverse, authentic, and exciting culinary environment in the world.

Overholt 44

Chapter 6: Conclusion

When I began this project, I set out with the goal of identifying unifying characteristics of

Chinese-American and Italian-American cuisine to prove a point. I was hoping to find some traits which would make the argument for me that these cuisines were worthy of worldwide approval, contrary to the opinions that I had heard in popular media. However, this isn’t the result I came away with. There are some unifying trends, a progression towards crisp and fried dishes, as well as a heavy emphasis on sauce. Another non-culinary unifier of the progression of these two cuisines is the imposing specter of racism which has restricted freedom and innovation. What is remarkable is the parallelism in how innovative Chinese and Italian-

American restaurateurs and chefs were able to deal with these unfair conditions. In many cases, they didn’t just survive, they thrived by making keen observations, using the ingredients newly available to them and creating dishes they knew would appeal to the American palette. At the turn of the 20th century, Chinese-American food swept the country in a way that hadn’t been seen before. In the span of a decade, Chop Suey went from being unheard of to being one of the most iconic dishes in American history. Similarly, by the 1950’s Italian-American pizzaiolos and chefs had created a host of totally new dishes which now exist in every corner of the country.

Yet another unifying characteristic is stagnation as the American audience couldn’t get enough of these novel cuisines. This, however, is not unique to our country, in fact after contact with the

New World, Italians ate so much corn polenta over a one-hundred year period that they created an epidemic of vitamin deficiency. Finally, and most importantly, each cuisine had innovators who sought to break the culinary complacency. Whether it was Cecilia Chiang or the team at Overholt 45

Babbo, these innovations deserve as high of praise as any in American culinary history. After this turbulent history, we are left once again at a culinary crossroads.

In writing this thesis, I came to a stark realization. Chinese-American and Italian-

American cuisine are not yet to the level of complexity and expertise that have been achieved by master chefs from China and Italy. Chinese and Italian cuisine have had more than a thousand years to refine and regionalize themselves. However, where American cuisine wins the day is in the level of opportunity available to those willing to pursue it. In China and in Italy, chefs are bound by respect for their own culture, and are in many ways prohibited from thinking outside the box and creating something new. This couldn’t be further from the case in America. Not only do today’s Chinese and Italian-American chefs have the opportunity to experiment free from constraints with these parent cuisines, they have the opportunity to play on the history of the

American adaptation as well, and the ability to draw from the hyper-diverse culinary influences offered in the modern American kitchen. This plethora of creative opportunities and influences can only bring good things for the future of these cuisines. In my opinion, chefs like Brandon

Jew, Jonathan Wu, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi are only the very beginnings of the progress that is to be made in the next era of these cuisines.

There are some other interesting factors influencing the further growth of Chinese and

Italian-American cuisine. One such change is the growing prevalence of regional “authentic” versions of Chinese and Italian cuisine. Slowly but surely, Americans in large population centers are beginning to be able to distinguish Southern and Northern Italian food, as well as Sichuan cuisine from Hunanese cuisine. I am an ardent supporter of this kind of growth, and I believe that it will not only help to continue breaking cultural boundaries, but it will positively influence the growth of Chinese and Italian-American food. In many ways, the adaptations of these two Overholt 46

cuisines were bred from isolation. As racist policies stifled immigration in the early 20th century, cooks were left to innovate using memories of familial meals as well as the guidance of the

American palette. This gave us some of America’s most iconic dishes, but it could only progress so far. As such, these restaurants stagnated, serving Chop Suey and Spaghetti and Meatballs to the adoring masses, but not continuing to innovate. As regional Italian and Chinese restaurants become more common in the United States, chefs pursuing American adaptations will only have more fodder for their creativity. A better understanding of these cuisines will allow chefs a broader ability to break the constructs of what the American public has come to know as Chinese and Italian-American food. I believe the growing coexistence of these uniquely authentic restaurants will only produce better outcomes for American cuisine as a whole.

Another tricky influence on the progression of these cuisines are non-ethnically based adopters, or white, non-Italian Americans trying their hand at cooking Chinese and Italian-

American food. For Italian-American cuisine, this discussion is far simpler. Virtually no anti-

Italian racism exists in America today, at least not in an institutional fashion. As such, restaurants like Buca di Beppo, which is a satirical take on Italian-American food started by a non-Italian

American, have achieved great success with little criticism. Italian-Americans are so assimilated into the culture of the United States that other than by the most hardened racists, no distinction is made concerning their race. The situation gets vastly more complicated when concerning

Chinese-American food. Though things are by all means better than at any other point in United

States history, Chinese-Americans still face racism on a day to day basis. For example, during the current Covid-19 outbreak, a group of Chinese-Americans told the New York times that

“they were afraid—to go grocery shopping, to travel alone on subways or buses, to let their children go outside. Many described being yelled at in public” (Tavernise and Oppel). This Overholt 47 complicates use of their heritage, as Chinese-Americans are victimized on a day to day basis because of it. Similar problems arise in the culinary space. For example, “Chinese Restaurant

Syndrome” is a term which has been popular in America for over 50 years. This refers to the

“sickness” which results in eating foods seasoned with Monosodium Glutamate, better known as

MSG (Bawaskar). Though it is possible that MSG could give rise to such symptoms, the underlying racism is laid bare when Americans are confronted by the mass of popular American foods containing MSG. Doritos, Pringles, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Chick-Fil-A breading, and

Campbell’s Chicken noodle soup all contain MSG, yet there is no “Snack Food Sickness” or

“Fast Food Sickness” along the same lines (Myers). This racism has led to troubling results when white restauranteurs open Chinese-American restaurants. For example, The Infatuation, a popular restaurant review platform, wrote in a review of King’s County Imperial, a Brooklyn- based Chinese-American restaurant from a white chef, that “you can get gross and roll around

Chinatown or Flushing” and that “It’s rare you find a hip, cool, fun Chinese restaurant free of meat sweats and MSG” (Dai). This blatantly racist prioritization of restaurants run by white chefs over Chinese-American chefs is a major boundary. As such, there are good arguments for keeping white chefs out of the space, so as to provide opportunities for Chinese-American chefs to explore this cuisine without these boundaries. Even Chris Shepherd, the Houston restaurateur who has made his career promoting culinary diversity in Houston, has faced backlash for taking the spotlight from chefs of color, notably from the ex-head chef of his most popular restaurant

Underbelly, Chinese-American Chef Justin Yu. These problems are difficult to remedy. Because of the popularity of Chinese-American cuisine, many Americans have taken a liking to it and as such many non-Chinese-Americans will continue to try their hand at the cuisine. However, the current white-washing of this cuisine cannot persist if it is to continue its progression. Though Overholt 48 white Americans may play a role in popularization, they will never be able to provide the insight that heritage provides. What unifies the world’s best chefs is a passion for their heritage, whether it be Massimo Bottura revolutionizing the Italian kitchen, or Cecilia Chiang advancing the influence of Chinese cuisine across the globe. I believe that whether it be in Chinese or Italian-

American cuisine, true progress will only come from those with a heritage relationship to both underlying influences. As such, it is of paramount importance that Chinese and Italian-American chefs be supported in their endeavors both in media and patronage, while culinary adopters take a valid, but less important back seat.

With these various influences in mind, if I were to make a prediction about the future of

Chinese and Italian-American cuisines, I would guess that progress will continue to mirror politics in our country. Though immigration is no longer as pressing an issue for these groups, representation still stands as an important boundary to cross for Chinese-American chefs.

However, if our country is able to progress past these racial boundaries, I believe that the idea of these cuisines as a “fusion” will cease to exist. As cultural contact, appreciation and understanding continue to grow among heritage groups in the United States, what is now sometimes called fusion will simply become the reality of an Americanized cuisine. Not only will one generally be able to consider themselves a regional cuisine as Italian-American or

Chinese-American, but as Southern Chinese-American, or Western Italian-American. These advances will inevitably accrue influences from other Americanized cuisines such as Tex-Mex,

Cajun and Southeastern African-American. With this breadth of cultural bounty, as well as the furthering of awareness about the regional cuisines which proceeded them, American cuisine has the potential to become something truly groundbreaking. It will be a cuisine defined by its lack Overholt 49 of barriers, and in time I believe it could come to rival the heritage and tradition of any food culture across the planet.

Overholt 50

Biography

Cameron Overholt was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 30, 1998. In 2016, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin and studied Philosophy as well as Plan II Honors. In college, he participated in the Plan II theater troupe The Broccoli Project, as well as holding leadership positions in the Texas Blazers organization and running a successful Student

Government Executive Alliance Campaign. He graduated in 2020, and plans to pursue a career in the wine and spirits business, starting at Rootstock Wines Inc. in Austin, Texas.

Overholt 51

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