Do You Share Dishes at Chinese and Other Asian Restaurants?

[derspiess]

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants here are adjusted to westernized tastes and are usually for eating a lot for cheap (esp. buffets). Still, there's some authentic ones as well.

Well as I state before these supposedly westernized Chinese Restaurants are pretty popular among the Chinese.  Heck they are all Chinese owned so far as I can tell as well.  So I find it bizarre they are so different from what one would find in China.  I mean it would be weird to have restaurants owned by Italian immigrants with large numbers of Italian immigrant clients that were some sort of bastardized Italian food.

I guess I should be taking comfort in the fact this is evidence of integration

A few years ago I watched an hour-long special on Chinese food that explained how all the dishes we know were invented in the 1800s and early 1900s by Chinese cooks and restauranteurs trying to do what they could with mostly scrap ingredients.

But I'm still a little confused myself.  I'm not sure if I've ever had real Chinese food-- I know I've been to Chinese places that serve the authentic stuff.  Oh well, I'd probably like the "fake" stuff better anyway.  Kind of along the lines of how I like Tex-Mex much more than authentic Mexican.

[Malthus]

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants here are adjusted to westernized tastes and are usually for eating a lot for cheap (esp. buffets). Still, there's some authentic ones as well.

Well as I state before these supposedly westernized Chinese Restaurants are pretty popular among the Chinese.  Heck they are all Chinese owned so far as I can tell as well.  So I find it bizarre they are so different from what one would find in China.  I mean it would be weird to have restaurants owned by Italian immigrants with large numbers of Italian immigrant clients that were some sort of bastardized Italian food.

I guess I should be taking comfort in the fact this is evidence of integration

A few years ago I watched an hour-long special on Chinese food that explained how all the dishes we know were invented in the 1800s and early 1900s by Chinese cooks and restauranteurs trying to do what they could with mostly scrap ingredients.

But I'm still a little confused myself.  I'm not sure if I've ever had real Chinese food-- I know I've been to Chinese places that serve the authentic stuff.  Oh well, I'd probably like the "fake" stuff better anyway.  Kind of along the lines of how I like Tex-Mex much more than authentic Mexican.

Some foods in Westernized restaurants are indeed better than the "authentic" - because the "authentic" is characterized by poverty, leading to lack of really good ingredients. Though it should be noted that this can be very regional.

To give an example, I found the food in the the Issan province of Thailand to be, well, horrible. In each restaurant, the dishes all involved fish guts and cow udders and stuff like that (where did the rest of the fish and cow go?). I'd have infinitely prefered westernized Thai food. 

[Valmy]

Doesn't this exist? American Pizza and the like?

Um of course it does.

[Malthus]

Doesn't this exist? American Pizza and the like?

Um of course it does.

Ah. My sarcasm-o-meter needs resetting today. 

[Jacob]

A few years ago I watched an hour-long special on Chinese food that explained how all the dishes we know were invented in the 1800s and early 1900s by Chinese cooks and restauranteurs trying to do what they could with mostly scrap ingredients.

But I'm still a little confused myself.  I'm not sure if I've ever had real Chinese food-- I know I've been to Chinese places that serve the authentic stuff.  Oh well, I'd probably like the "fake" stuff better anyway.  Kind of along the lines of how I like Tex-Mex much more than authentic Mexican.

Yeah, most of the stuff that's being served in North America as Chinese food - especially the take out and delivery stuff - bears little resemblance to Chinese food in China. That doesn't make it bad or wrong, but it's definitely a different evolution of Chinese cooking - much like Tex-Mex and Mexicali food compares to Mexican food, the evolution of the pizza in the US etc.

Now, I'd argue that a whole lot of North American Chinese food is pretty poor because it uses crappy ingredients and is cooked with little care and so on, but that's no different than preferring a proper BBQ to BBQ flavoured processed meat from some fast food joint.

In fact, thinking about it I think there's definitely room in the foodie world for someone to do high quality versions of North American Chinese dishes at some point.

[Jacob]

Not sure if it plays any role, but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that many "westernized" Chinese restaurants here are run by Chinese from Indonesia, and that the "authentic" ones are much more likely to be run by Chinese from Taiwan or the mainland.

I think that kind of thing is pretty standard. Here in Vancouver we have a lot of Chinese operated sushi places and they tend to be much lower quality than the Japanese operated one, for example.

[Jacob]

Anyhow, if any of all y'all have reason to come to Vancouver I'll take you to what passes for good Chinese food here

[Martinus]

I don't think this is a particular feature of Asian restaurants but how the food is served, no?

Personally, I'm fine with having family-style apettisers but prefer individual meals for the main course.

[Martinus]

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants here are adjusted to westernized tastes and are usually for eating a lot for cheap (esp. buffets). Still, there's some authentic ones as well.

Well as I state before these supposedly westernized Chinese Restaurants are pretty popular among the Chinese.  Heck they are all Chinese owned so far as I can tell as well.  So I find it bizarre they are so different from what one would find in China.  I mean it would be weird to have restaurants owned by Italian immigrants with large numbers of Italian immigrant clients that were some sort of bastardized Italian food.

I guess I should be taking comfort in the fact this is evidence of integration

A few years ago I watched an hour-long special on Chinese food that explained how all the dishes we know were invented in the 1800s and early 1900s by Chinese cooks and restauranteurs trying to do what they could with mostly scrap ingredients.

But I'm still a little confused myself.  I'm not sure if I've ever had real Chinese food-- I know I've been to Chinese places that serve the authentic stuff.  Oh well, I'd probably like the "fake" stuff better anyway.  Kind of along the lines of how I like Tex-Mex much more than authentic Mexican.

Some foods in Westernized restaurants are indeed better than the "authentic" - because the "authentic" is characterized by poverty, leading to lack of really good ingredients. Though it should be noted that this can be very regional.

To give an example, I found the food in the the Issan province of Thailand to be, well, horrible. In each restaurant, the dishes all involved fish guts and cow udders and stuff like that (where did the rest of the fish and cow go?). I'd have infinitely prefered westernized Thai food.

I don't think this is as much poor ingredients vs good imgredients as stuff you are used to vs stuff you are not used to.

[Martinus]

For example, I've met people who thought caviar is disgusting and refused to eat it.

[Jacob]

I don't think this is a particular feature of Asian restaurants but how the food is served, no?

Personally, I'm fine with having family-style apettisers but prefer individual meals for the main course.

It is a particular feature of Chinese restaurants that the food is served family style as it's apparently called. There are exceptions, of course, but the standard is family style.

My impression is that family style - or you could call it tapas style as well - is fairly common for Japanese and Korean restaurants, but that it's more varied.

[Malthus]

I don't think this is as much poor ingredients vs good imgredients as stuff you are used to vs stuff you are not used to.

Perhaps.

It's worth noting though that Issan is the Thai province most associated with high levels of rural poverty/exploitation. It would make a certain amount of sense that the locals would have to make do with the less attractive sources of protien.

[Martinus]

I don't think this is a particular feature of Asian restaurants but how the food is served, no?

Personally, I'm fine with having family-style apettisers but prefer individual meals for the main course.

It is a particular feature of Chinese restaurants that the food is served family style as it's apparently called. There are exceptions, of course, but the standard is family style.

My impression is that family style - or you could call it tapas style as well - is fairly common for Japanese and Korean restaurants, but that it's more varied.

But you yourself use the word "tapas" which is obviously a feature of Spanish cuisine - which is my point in that a lot of ethnic restaurants serve food this way and not just Asian. I have been eating food that style in Lebanese, Spanish, Italian, Indian etc. restaurants. And at the same time I have been to Asian restaurants that did not have this (at least not as a default feature).

[Malthus]

But you yourself use the word "tapas" which is obviously a feature of Spanish cuisine - which is my point in that a lot of ethnic restaurants serve food this way and not just Asian. I have been eating food that style in Lebanese, Spanish, Italian, Indian etc. restaurants. And at the same time I have been to Asian restaurants that did not have this (at least not as a default feature).

It certainly is not unique to Chinese food. It is just a style that is very often associated with Chinese food. At least, it is here in Canada.

[Jacob]

But you yourself use the word "tapas" which is obviously a feature of Spanish cuisine - which is my point in that a lot of ethnic restaurants serve food this way and not just Asian. I have been eating food that style in Lebanese, Spanish, Italian, Indian etc. restaurants. And at the same time I have been to Asian restaurants that did not have this (at least not as a default feature).

Like I said, there are exceptions. However, the bulk of restaurants in China serve their food that way - from hole-in-the-wall eateries with plastic chairs and sloppy floors to high end restaurants in fancy places. I figure that sets the standard.

Similarly, while there are places where it's done differently, the standard for French restaurants is individual servings.

I have no opinion on what the standard is for Asian restaurants as that's much too nebulous a category IMO.