O Say Can You See?

Pu pu platters versus birthday cakes

In my previous posts I’ve mentioned how growing up in a Chinese restaurant was a fantastic experience. Let me tell you about one peculiar cultural mash up: birthdays and pu pu platters.

Check out the beads in the back

Of course my parents wanted me to celebrate my birthday with friends and family, and the festivities involved all the trappings: gifts, games, and food—oh, the food! I don’t think any of my friends were ever really ready for what they experienced. My parents showered all the guests with wave after wave of tasty goodies, culminating in the ever popular pu pu platter.

Pu Pu platter. Image courtesy Ned Raggett.

For those of you who don’t know what a pu pu platter is, it’s a partitioned wooden platter filled with various classic Chinese food appetizers. You get spare ribs, egg rolls, golden fingers, teriyaki strips, crab rangoon—the list can go on for quite a while. But the real draw was the center of the platter, which held a cast iron brazier that had its own fire! You can see why a bunch of 10-year-olds might go gaga over the meal. Who can resist “cooking” their food over an open fire? (Although we quickly found out that the chemically fueled fires really didn’t leave a good taste.) And then, when all was said and done, my parents would bring out the birthday cake. I can still remember the refrain to this day, “There’s cake too!!" and thinking, "Oh man, I don’t think I can make it.”

Playing with giant umbrellas for the tiki drinks!

Pu pu platters gained popularity during the Polynesian-style food craze of the 1950s and can be found on most Chinese menus today. I was surprised when I met people who didn’t know what the dish was, or didn’t get the same experience with birthday pu pu platters I did when I was a kid. But this illustrates one of the fun things about Chinese food in America: regional delicacies. Whether completely new inventions or alterations of previous recipes, dishes pop up all over the country and become local favorites. Have you ever tried a Chow Mein Sandwich while in Rhode Island, or the St. Paul Sandwich, from St. Louis? What about a fun night with Scorpion Bowls?

St. Paul sandwich. Image courtesy Oldtasty.

While we continue the preparations for our new exhibit on Chinese food in America, tell us: what are your favorite regional delicacies? Were you surprised that your favorite dish was unknown outside your hometown? Did you discover a rare dish while traveling across country? Let us know in the comments section below.

 

 

Cedric Yeh is Deputy Chair and Associate Curator in the Division of Armed Forces History at the National Museum of American History.

 

"Who Will Chop Your Suey When I'm Gone?"

Can you believe that chop suey was once the most famous Chinese dish in America? The dish’s popularity helped fuel the growth of Chinese restaurants throughout the U.S. during the early 20th century. But its heyday has long since past. Today you hardly ever see it on the menu let alone in popular songs.

As super research specialist Noriko Sanefuji continues her collecting adventures, this month we sought all things Chop Suey and our research led us to Hawai`i. Why Hawai`i? It has one of the largest and oldest Chinese communities in America. Most of the Chinese immigrants in Hawai`i arrived in the mid-to-late 19th century; many came as contract laborers to work on sugar plantations. After their contracts expired many Chinese immigrants opened businesses in an area which later became Honolulu’s Chinatown.

One of the local Chinese restaurants Noriko visited, which has been in existence for over half a century, is Tasty Chop Suey. She met with Mrs. Liu, the current owner, who took over the business in 1985.

 
Left: Mrs. Liu and Noriko Sanefuji. Right: Mrs. Liu with plates donated to the museum.

Miraculously, she had kept a few samples of the original dishware with restaurant logos, and she generously donated them to the museum along with a current menu.

Tasty was opened in 1956 by the Wong family. Mr. Wong served in the U.S. Army as a cook during World War II. After the war, he worked at several Chinese restaurants as a cook before opening Tasty. During the 1960’s, due to a freeway being built, they had to move to the current location. Fortunately, they kept the original neon sign and logo. Noriko also talked to Dennis Wong, the original owner’s son. Dennis had saved not only the original menu of Tasty but also chopsticks and a few other items with Tasty Chop Suey’s logo on them. The best part of Noriko’s trip might have been discovering Tasty’s original slogan, “Hungry for God’s word–Go to church! Hungry for Chinese food–Come to Tasty Chop Suey!” Now that is something you can sink your teeth into.

The exhibition team considers itself lucky to be collecting such wonderful objects from across the country. We have had success in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Hawai`i. Now we are setting our sights on one of the most important cities for Chinese food in America, San Francisco.

Would you like to be a part of our search? If you know of an object that can represent the Chinese restaurant story, especially if it’s from San Francisco or about chop suey, please let us know. You can use the comments below or email us with the subject “Chop Suey.” Flyers with more information in Traditional and Simplified Chinese are also attached below.

Download Simplified Chinese Flyer

Download Traditional Chinese Flyer

Cedric Yeh is Deputy Chair and Associate Curator in the Division of Armed Forces History and Noriko Sanefuji is a research specialist in the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.

Origins of a fortune cookie

Earlier this year we invited Jennifer 8 Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, to meet with our staff and share her insights into the mysteries of Chinese food. One topic that really caught our attention was the origin of the fortune cookie. You might be surprised to discover that fortune cookies are not a Chinese creation but rather an American one by way of Japan. I know I was surprised and I grew up around fortune cookies, although I always preferred almond cookies.

Excited about this revelation, research specialist Noriko Sanefuji went out to investigate. Armed with information from Ms. Lee, Noriko contacted Gary Ono, whose grandfather, Suyeichi Okamura, an immigrant from Japan, is one of the claimants to the original fortune cookie in the U.S.

Noriko Sanefuji (left) and Gary Ono (right).

In 1906, Suyeichi started Benkyodo, a Japanese confectionery store in San Francisco. The store supplied fortune cookies (Japanese fortune cookies are a regional delicacy and much larger than the ones we know) to Makoto Hagiwara, who ran the Japanese Tea Garden at the Golden Gate Park.

Mr. Ono showed Noriko a selection of antique sembei iron kata (hand skillet mold), which were used in the Japanese Tea Garden to make the fortune cookies one at a time. Although some of the katas were plain, others had engraved initials (M.H. for Makoto Hagiwara) or had logos for the Tea Garden (Mount Fuji with “Japan Tea”). Mr. Ono was kind enough to donate three katas to the Smithsonian.

 

Senbei irons. Gift of Suyeichi & Owai Okamura family, Benkyodo Co., San Francisco. Photo credit: Gary Ono.

(Left) Senbei iron with engraved initials, M.H. for Makoto Hagiwara.(Right) Senbei Iron with Japan Tea logo. Gifts of Suyeichi & Owai Okamura family, Benkyodo Co., San Francisco. Photo credits: Gary Ono.

Benkyodo continued to be the Japanese Tea Garden’s sole supplier of fortune cookies until the outbreak of World War II, when Japanese Americans in California were sent to internment camps. Chinese businessmen used the opportunity and started to produce their own fortune cookies, selling them to Chinese restaurants, and setting in motion an association between cookie and restaurant that continues today.

So what do you think? Did you know that about fortune cookies? I didn’t even get to the fortune part of the cookie. So I’ll leave you with this question, what is the best fortune you’ve ever gotten? And for those wondering, Gary says his grandfather resumed making fortune cookies after the war ended.

Cedric Yeh is Deputy Chair and Associate Curator in the Division of Armed Forces History and Noriko Sanefuji is a research specialist in the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.

No chop suey here

How long is a long bean? And who was General Tsao? These are questions you might ask after you visit our Stars and Stripes Cafe during the month of May. In celebration of Asian Pacific American heritage month we are featuring Asian-inspired dishes. I tried the long beans and fried rice today, and the beans are at least 12 inches long. They are delicate string beans, lightly stir fried.

When we wanted to infuse our cafe with interesting Asian food, we went straight to our Chef William Bednar. Chef William never disappoints, and this was no exception. He was undaunted about serving Asian food to thousands of unsuspecting visitors. We gave him some ideas of popular and authentic Asian dishes, but that was really not necessary. Chef comes with years of skills, knowledge, experience, and his own wok.

Our idea was to have something at each of our food stations. The barbeque station that serves hot entrees would be pretty easy. Chef took it beyond easy when he offered smoked duck and shredded duck with a raspberry hoisin glaze. He created Asian chicken salad sandwiches and lettuce wraps for the sandwich board and had wakeme (seaweed) salad and cold sesame noodles in the salad bar. But pizza? I thought that would be a stretch but the pizza with an Asian plum sauce was actually delicious.

Chef even created exotic Chinese desserts. “Almond Lake” looked like white triangles of tofu, but it is a mixture of almonds, sugar, water, and agar agar. (A thickening agent.) To be honest, not many people tried it, but I did and liked it. There was also “Forbidden Black Rice” a sweet and sticky rice dessert. Here chef took some creative license, as the “real” recipe calls for purple rice. The food supplier we use drew the line at purple rice, so he defaulted to the black. I still loved it.

I was curious if everyone was as intrigued with our specialties as me, admittedly a brave eater. Turns out that our visitors enjoy the dishes they are most familiar with—egg rolls, fried rice, and General Tsao’s chicken. Museum staffers, frequent patrons of the cafe, have been very pleased with the new additions to the repertoire and have embraced these unfamiliar specialties. Some of their favorites are the seafood dumplings with the chef’s homemade mustard, nappa slaw, and vegetarian spring rolls. The kitchen staff is enjoying this break from routine as well. They have enjoyed cooking with different ingredients and recipes, and eating it as well.

The month is not yet half over, so there are many more chances to experiment and enjoy. On the chef’s menu is pad Thai, spare ribs braised with pineapple, and beef with broccoli. I am hungry for my next lunch.

And who is General Tsao? I don’t know, but he had a great recipe for chicken.

Kathy Sklar is the business program manager at the National Museum of American History.

Sweet & Sour: Memories of a Chinese restaurant

Do you like Chinese food? What is your favorite dish? Me, I love za jiang mein, it’s an eastern version of spaghetti with meat sauce. For ordering out, you can’t go wrong with ma po tofu and fried rice.

Whatever your preference, have you ever thought about the Chinese menu—the glossy volumes in restaurants or the pieces of paper littering apartment lobbies and kitchen drawers? I know I didn’t. Did you know that menu isn’t just a means to order food? It is also a historical timeline. How? Why? Well, the foods that you commonly find on today’s Chinese menu represent over a 150 years of different waves of immigrants, from different parts of China, each adding their own recipes. Well the ones that sold at least. It is an American immigration story wrapped up in duck sauce and crab rangoon.

Year of the Pig, 1971. Chinese New Year

Full disclosure: I grew up in a Chinese restaurant. I was that kid you saw running around the tables and playing. I had access to some great things—pu pu platters for my birthdays, all the almond cookies I could eat, and when I was old enough I could use the Fry-A-Lator to make dinner. (You will not believe how fast things cook in boiling oil.) It was never something I really thought about. It was home. If you had told me then that my Chinese restaurant experience was the result of over a century of Chinese American stories, I would have told you that you were cuckoo and that I wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers.

Xi’an Restaurant, 1973. Playing around.

Now that I am all grown up, it is my job as a curator at the National Museum of American History to tell you these stories about the American experience, to increase awareness and understanding of Asian Pacific American (APA) history and culture. Join me as I begin a series of blog posts to document the creation of a small exhibition case on Chinese restaurants and food in America. Tell me your favorite Chinese restaurant experiences and dishes and I’ll tell you some of the stories behind them.

To kick-off this project and in celebration of APA Heritage Month, we will explore the mysteries of Chinese cuisine with Jennifer 8 Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. The free program starts at 2:00pm, Saturday, May 8th. At the end of the program, Lee will be on hand to sign books. Throughout May, the Stars and Stripes Cafe will be serving APA related dishes. On May 8, the menu has a particularly savory line up. Come early and try them out.

Jade Inn, 1982. Were lounges still a good idea in 1982?

Cedric Yeh is Deputy Chair and Associate Curator in the Division of Armed Forces History at the National Museum of American History.