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Old Nov 13, 2016 | 8:39 pm
  #26  
tcl
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: In a hotel somewhere trying to repack everything I brought (and bought) in to a carry-on smaller than my last one.
Programs: UA, Asia Miles, Southwest, IHG
Posts: 1,108
Americanized Chinese Food

Sysco or rather the New York and CA Chinatown versions of Sysco. While the cooking techniques are loosely rooted in actual Chinese culture, there is a menu of pre-made "American" sauces that these kitchens finish their dishes with. That is why the Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Broccoli Beef taste practically the same no matter which state you are in. Every one of these "takeout" restaurants order their sauces and spice mixes from one of the two suppliers. As customers expect their "Chinese" food to taste a certain way, that is the way most dishes are made. The exceptions obviously being the "hidden" menus or "hidden restaurants"

The same phenomenon is in Canada, where Chicken Balls (Canadian Version of sweet and sour chicken) is the same across the entire country except in the Chinese communities where the dish is non-existent. It's both sad and amusing when someone orders Chicken Balls and the same fried doughy lump shows up covered in day-glo crimson jello-sauce.
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