The History of General Tso's Chicken
When people ask me what type of food I miss most from the U.S., I have two answers depending on what type of mood I'm in.  Sometimes, if I'm craving spicy, I'll say Mexican food, which is really the only foreign cuisine that has not been duplicated properly in Shanghai.  The second answer is Chinese food, or what I know to be "Chinese food."  And I say this because as an American living in China, I quickly learned that what I thought was Chinese food isn't that at all.  It's American Chinese food, and while not authentic, I find myself craving its simplicity, its greasiness and its unique flavor.  I thought when I got to China, I'd be eating egg rolls and and beef and broccoli for dinner most nights.  I've been here a long time now and I am yet to find either on a real Chinese menu.  Another such American Chinese staple dish is General Tso's Chicken, which despite being the most popular Hunanese dish on America's east coast, the half-spicy half-sweet dish cannot be found in Hunan province.  So how exactly did General Tso's Chicken take off in the States?  And an even better question: who the hell is General Tso?  Well, the dish was invented by a Hunanese chef who fled to Taiwan after the Chinese civil war and in 1973, moved to New York City where he opened the Chinese restaurant where the dish was first served.  At this time, Hunanese food was unknown in the Big Apple.  Now, it's everywhere.  He named the dish after a 19th-century Hunan general name Tso Tsung-t'ang, who as legend has it, enjoyed eating a similar recipe.  However, according to a New York Times Magazine article Sunday, the general never ate the chicken named for him.  The story of General Tso's Chicken is quite complex, one that cannot be told without mentioning Mao Zedong or Henry Kissinger.  Yeah that's right, Henry Kissinger.  So the next time you go to Hunan Garden/Balcony/Palace and tell your waiter "just gimme what the General ordered (that's what I like to do)," you are not only making a solid lunch order.  You are partaking in one of the richest American-Chinese culinary traditions.

•NYT: The Way We Eat - Hunan Resources

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