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Which is better: authentic Chinese food or Chinese food as it exists in America?
Authentic Chinese cuisine is remarkably distinct, not only in comparison to traditional American fare, but when considered against the food at American Chinese restaurants. The differences are numerous and striking. For one, soy sauce - so ubiquitous a presence at Chinese-American restaurants that no table seems complete without it - is usually treated as no more than a cooking ingredient, and therefore stays in the kitchen. Condiments in general have proved conspicuously absent from most meals. Occasionally a phial of pepper sauce, garlic, or vinegar might be provided, but only at some establishments, and never in the company of salt, ground pepper, or ketchup. The burden of seasoning Chinese dishes seems to reside squarely on the shoulders of the chef; if a patron doesn't like the way a certain dish tastes, he has little recourse but avoidance.
To be fair, most Chinese dishes taste much bolder than their Chinese American counterparts. Spices are preferred to salt, and few if any dishes are seasoned with butter. Dairy products, as a rule, are difficult to come by. Milk and yogurt are sold in supermarkets, but cheese, butter, and ice cream are mostly confined to use by foreign chains (like Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen) that use them as ingredients in their signature dishes.
At breakfast, all drinks are served hot - not only tea, but also milk and fruit juice. Hot tea accompanies every meal, including lunch and dinner. The combination of spicy food and hot drinks can upset an unaccustomed American palette, so many of us have found it necessary to order cold drinks at lunch and dinner.
The biggest difference between Chinese and Chinese-American food has to do with the treatment of meat. Americans enjoy meat, but eat it in a peculiar way. We often express discomfort with the idea of eating the flesh of once-living animals, so we prepare our meat in such a way that onlookers won't think of it as an ex-organism. We prefer the texture of muscle to other tissues - like bone, sinew, intestines and vital organs - so we tend to leave guts and gristle on the slaughterhouse floor. Finally, we believe for whatever reason that some animals just shouldn't be eaten, and leave them off the menu at all but the most desperate times.
The Chinese, for better or worse, have no such qualms. Fish and fowl are served with their heads and eyes intact. Bones can constitute as much as half of a meat dish, and can make for a very unpleasant surprise if unexpected; and although only one member of our company was adventurous enough to try the sheep-entrail soup served with our first lunch on campus, it was very popular with our guides. Last night at dinner, Justin, Max and I had the opportunity to try donkey (which was delicious), and jelly fish (which was not), and this is only week one of the trip.
So the question remains: if given the choice between the China Inn and an inn in China, where would I rather nosh? I think that ultimately, they're different enough that I couldn't choose one or the other. I've been craving American Chinese food since I got here, and nothing I've eaten yet has satisfied that urge. On the other hand, I'm fairly certain that nowhere in Louisville could I find that delectable donkey meat. I'll have a more definite conclusion by the end of the trip.
Adam Dahmer, from Fisherville, Ky., is a senior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville and is currently studying in the People's Republic of China. He is majoring in Spanish with a political science minor.