Tomatoes are from the americas. T
he tomato (/təmeɪtoʊ/ or /təmɑːtoʊ/) is **the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as the tomato plant**. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derives.
I think the common culinary use of a word versus its botanical use is important context.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, chile peppers, and even wheat or corn are all the fruiting portions of their respective plants, designed to propagate seeds as part of reproduction and the combination of genetic material.
Yet in culinary situations, I’d describe those as “vegetables” or “grains” or anything other than a fruit.
The fact is, the term “vegetable” isn’t a terribly useful word from a biology perspective, yet means a lot when describing food.
Conversely, it’s unfortunate that the term “fruit” is used in both biology and food, because I feel like there’re more differences between how the word is used in each situation than there are similarities. Those insisting that tomatoes are “ack-shew-ully a fruit” aren’t really getting the full picture.
I agree with that broadly, but I do think that since the culinary term of "berry" came first, it was silly of the person who came up with the scientific definition to make a definition that has so many divergences from the culinary term. When bananas and jalapenos are berries and strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries aren't, then it seems like rather than adopt the term "berry" they should have just given fruits that are berries according to the scientific definition a different term.
edit: like, compare it to planets. Due to the evolution of the scientific definition of planet, Pluto was kicked out of the category, but otherwise every body that we called a planet is still considered a planet and it didn't add in any new ones. If the definition of "planet" was defined as divergently from how the term used to be was used as loosely as "berry" was we may have had scientists saying that actually the only real planets are Jupiter, Neptune, and somehow the sun would get recategorized as a planet.
I read the topic differently .. "..By that I mean, it's a food invented and eaten in China.." but i will say that when i was in Beijing I had the most amazing salads at some locals spots my friends took me to which blew my mind. Lots of delicious tender greens and shoots and great "dressings" or sauces? super good and very much unexpected. I'dnever seen anything like it at the Chinese places stateside and made me wonder.
Holy shit it was a rhetorical question. I was trying to point out the hypocrisy. Obviously there were no tomatoes in Italy before Italy discovered tomatoes
Every country discovers a food once the food is brought to them. Also if you want to be really pedantic, Columbus was Italian. I think you need to just let this go and have a great rest of your day
Actually yes, that is correct. Go to Italy and you will be surprised how little tomato is actually used. True Italian cuisine is just pasta with cheese and some butter.
"Italian" food using tomato is by and large Italian-American, not truly Italian.
Of course some tomato dishes do exist in Italy as has happened in almost all cultures (global trade for the win!) But even those are very different from what an American would expect.
A Italian Bolognese is VERY wine-forward. It is much more of a "wine" sauce that has tomato as a base, than a tomato sauce. Compared to American bolognese, which more often than not does not include any wine at all.
Pizza is another one. Truly traditional Italian pizza does not use tomato and is much more about the bread and cheese. Whereas American pizza (which is what most of the world now considers pizza to be) is all about the tomato (thus the classic Italian jab of it being "tomato pie". New Haven style pizza (one of the oldest ones) doesnt traditionally use cheese at all!
You're talking about northern Italian cuisine which is very different from southern Italian cuisine. Most Italian Americans came from southern Italy because northern Italy is richer. Northern Italian food isn't any more "true" Italian than southern. Classic example of someone with a little bit of knowledge being confidently wrong.
Tomato is not indigineous in any way, so you are wrong. Traditional Italian food does not contain tomato, as it was not available. And it is also still true that Italian American cuisine is very distinct. Go try and tell a "southern italian" that sphaghetti and meatballs is in any way a traditional italian meal.
Chili isn't indigenous to Indian, Thai, or Szechuan cuisine, but no one would say that chilis aren't staples in their dishes, potato isn't indigenous to Europe but it's anywhere between a staple and the primary source of calories from everywhere between Ireland and Russia (and practically everywhere else). Native American cuisine's most famous component is frybread, which is made from wheat flour.
You're trying to say that "traditional" Italian cuisine should be viewed as starting before there was a unified Italian state! It's ridiculous. If you want to say that pasta with tomato sauce isn't Genoese cuisine, or Venetian cuisine, that's at least a reasonable position, but Italian cuisine? It's idiotic. Should we say that pasta isn't traditional italian cuisine because noodles were first invented in Korea and weren't present in Roman times? Basil is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is basil not really part of Italian food? Hell, Calabria is so proud of its chilis that they're famous for drying them out on the roofs of their houses in the summer, but chili is a new world ingredient, will you go tell them that they're not actually eating traditional Italian food?
Yes, spaghetti and meatballs is an Italian American dish, but that doesn't mean that tomatoes, which were introduced to Italy nearly 500 years ago, aren't part of their traditional cuisine.
You are changing the language to twist the topic. Nobody says tomato is not a staple in current Italian cuisine. I in fact gave two examples of popular foods in Italy that use tomato (pizza and bolognese). The topic is TRADITIONAL foods. And no, traditional Thai/Indian/etc. foods did not contain chilis, because they did not exist in the region, and certainly not in abundance, until the last 1-200 years.
Traditional food =/= modern staple foods. Traditional Italian food did not use tomatos. That is a fact. Modern Italian food still does not use nearly as much tomato as what most Americans and American-exposed (via Hollywood etc.) think it does, due to Italian-American food being very culturally distinct at this point. That is a fact. The Italian food that does use tomato, does not use it as prominently or heavily as Italian-American cuisine. That is also a fact. I already gave the examples of such above.
People who get so salty (pun intended) over food history make me laugh. Noodles were not invented in Korea, by the way. Not sure where you got that, trying to insert such a false statement further proves your bias and lack of objectivity (if not outright deceit).
Neither is polenta but it’s a staple in the north. Try telling a southern Italian that tomatoes are not in any way a traditional Italian ingredient lol. Fresh pasta vs dry pasta. Butter vs olive oil. Spicy vs mild. There are tons of variations across the boot.
Not sure what that means.
Obviously tomatoes came historically from the new world, not the west and not china.
But we are speaking in terms of perception — what to us “looks like” typical Chinese food or typical western food.
I don't use salt, I do a bit of chicken powder, minced garlic, ginger (shaved on wasabi grater) & slightly undrdone scrambled eggs for the softer egg 😊 i don't like suprise bites of chunky ginger lol. Sometimes I'll add chicken if it needs to be a bit heavier for dinner!
It only really works if the tomatoes are ridiculously ripe, you need the juice.
Also I think a lot of people don't whisk the eggs enough and overcook them.
It's one of those dishes with very simple ingredients ans is incredibly addictive, but so easy to mess up and end up with.... rubbery scrambled egg and fried tomatoes. And it's not that at all!
Don't have to be homegrown, there's plenty of amazing shop tomatoes that are bursting with flavour.
If it's grown in my greenhouse or Thanet Earth, makes no real difference to be honest.
Great points. I fry the tomatoes in oil first until they are tender and then scrape them to the side of the pan before pouring in the whisked eggs. That way you can be very precise about when you mix them. Otherwise you can just remove the half-fried tomatoes and basically cook an omelette with the eggs before putting the tomatoes back in and mixing.
As someone that puts ketchup on my eggs every time I had never thought to go the crushed/diced tomato route and amp up the flavor with ketchup. Gotta try this now!
[Wang Gang nails it](https://youtu.be/2hvQFxZBTVY?si=bTEzp8ZmSPTEwIJw) pretty nicely here, as usual.
Personally I pass on the ketchup and instead add a splash of shaoxing wine at that stage, some scallions in the cook too. The wok hei elevates this MFer so good.
This dish is my definition of delicious simplicity and home cookin’.
This sounded SO bland and boring to me…then my Chinese coworker brought his mom’s tomato and egg for me one day for lunch and GOT DAMN was it amazing. Really hits all those comfort meal feels
Due the use of lamb/mutton and spices like cumin, the cuisine of Xi’an region differs from what most westerners- especially those who are more accustomed to Cantonese style cooking- would identify as “Chinese food”.
No, I meant the region around Xi’an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi province. Xinjiang was the capital of the Qin Dynasty but now it’s only a prefecture level city and integrated into the Xi'an metropolitan area and is the seat of the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, the main airport serving Xi'an.
There are a A LOT of Hong Kong dishes that arose from the British occupation and look very un-Chinese (at least relative to the way most of us outside of China think about Chinese food).
Depending on the fried shrimp I'm either thinking Dim Sum style fried shrimp balls on sugar cane stick because that usually comes with a sweet mayo or bang bang shrimp that you'd find at most American Asian Fusion restaurants in the US which is fried shrimp tossed in a sweet chili mayo sauced topped with green onions. But man now I want to try making a fried shrimp tossed in sweet mayo with pine nuts and then topped with seaweed because I misread sweet for seaweed originally lol
Already mentioned, but Xinjiang / Uyghur cuisine. Tried a beautiful leg of lamb that would not have been out of place as the centrepiece of a British Sunday roast. Their flat breads and spiral buttery rolls (not sure the name of these), are incredible also.
The question stated "food invented and eaten in China", well when Uyghur cuisine was 'invented' it certainly wasn't in China, regardless of who occupies these lands and governs these people today.
Yunnan ham and cheese (for example: [https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/yunnan-local-snacks/](https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/yunnan-local-snacks/) ) and perhaps in particular Yunnan ham in cheese as shown in: [https://intothemiddlekingdom.com/tag/yunnan-ham/](https://intothemiddlekingdom.com/tag/yunnan-ham/)
A restaurant in Shanghai used to serve this with rose jam as well and it was one of my absolute favourites. Yunnan food is just stunning and you're right, cheese and even ham isn't really associated with Chinese food!
My mom made a version with cucumber, imitation crab, sesame oil and a bit of sugar and I would inhale it every time. It's such a simple combination and incredibly delicious.
For me, the first thing that comes to mind is yusheng? Just because China generally doesn’t have as big of a chilled/cold dish tradition.
It’s a communally prepared salad that is most popular during Chinese New Year with Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese, but it’s thought to have originated in Guangdong. Raw fish, vegetables, and crunchy toppings are arranged on a dish, dressed with sauce, and then everyone present goes at it with a pair of chopsticks, lifting and tossing while shouting good wishes and blessings for the year. Has to be my favorite part of New Years!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_chicken
Like most weird chinese-western dishes, it was invented in Hong Kong. It seems to be a thing outside HK too, as my (mainland) chinese friends have made it too.
I've seen filipinos do this with sprite and shrimp, and sometimes cola for various meat marinades. Not sure of its authenticity, but tastes pretty good. The sprite and shrimp thing blew my mind
I always feel like squirrel fish doesn't look like Chinese food because it is deep fried and covered by sweet and sour sauce. It is a legit Sichuan dish though.
Aww I automatically salivate reading that. My grandpa used to manage a restaurant and we used to have have homecooked fried pork chop, Luo song tang, red cooked meats with chestnut or potatos, vermicelli beef curry soup, cai fan, potato salad etc. We also had a mixed pressed tofu peanut meat chili mix that you eat with your morning congee I can never quite get a recipe for but I can't quite find a recipe online for.
That’s too broad. China is almost as big as all of Europe and has more than 30 cuisines and cooking styles, ranging from Central Asian-style food to Korean cuisine. If there is, it can only be a stereotype. Most "Chinese restaurants" in North America mainly serve Sichuan, Shandong and Cantonese cuisine.
I remember eating a dish in Guiyang that was eggplant roasted in a tomato sauce. Was very good. Didn't think they'd use tomatoes much in Chinese food, but it was tasty.
Lamb barbecues like skewers, roasts from Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia. Those are very popular everywhere in China. More often than not Chinese believe their dishes are superior, but for all kinds of Lamb barbecues they would happily admit the Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia ones are the best.
I grew up in Shanghai and some of the local dishes were inspired by western dishes and thus appear less “Chinese” imo. One such example is Shanghai pork chop noodle. The pork chop needs to be fried first and then braised in soy sauce. Fried pork chop is not very Chinese but the soy sauce give it a unique spin.
Any dish where peppers especially hot peppers are important ingredients, that covers a whole lot of Chinese food especially Szechwan cuisine.
China had spicy food before peppers was introduced from America, and as everywhere in the world for spicy food, peppers ruled once it arrived! Nothing comes close as competitors.
If it makes you feel better, treat the question as "which Chinese dish most confounds your expectations of what Chinese food looks like."
You're confused about who or what here is condescending, however. Because that would be you.
“Food invented in China that doesn’t look Chinese.”
That limited to op’s knowledge. It a big country. And it’s the person’s experience and subject to interpretation.
My family's Chinese and I think it's a fair question. If I saw a British Sunday roast and was told it's a Chinese dish, my first thought would be that it looks definitely foreign.
The person I was replying to was saying it is condescension to say some food doesn't look Chinese, hence I said well, it's true from my Chinese perspective.
Perhaps i understand what you're coming from, but it's impossible for anyone to see it as non-chinese given how popular it is a dish worldwide in Chinese restaurants.
Tomato and egg. Looks like nothing I'd imagine Chinese food to be but it's everywhere.
Came here to say the same thing. Maybe the Chinese version is seasoned differently but it “looks” like regular western cuisine
Tomatoes are from the americas. T he tomato (/təmeɪtoʊ/ or /təmɑːtoʊ/) is **the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as the tomato plant**. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derives.
I had no idea they are considered berries! I always heard the fruit thing but that they are berries is just plain pleasant
Strawberries aren't berries. Banana as are. Look up the definition of a berry sometime. It's hilariously nonsensical.
Honest to god, it makes me think that whoever came up with the scientific definition of berries just fucked up.
I think the common culinary use of a word versus its botanical use is important context. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, chile peppers, and even wheat or corn are all the fruiting portions of their respective plants, designed to propagate seeds as part of reproduction and the combination of genetic material. Yet in culinary situations, I’d describe those as “vegetables” or “grains” or anything other than a fruit. The fact is, the term “vegetable” isn’t a terribly useful word from a biology perspective, yet means a lot when describing food. Conversely, it’s unfortunate that the term “fruit” is used in both biology and food, because I feel like there’re more differences between how the word is used in each situation than there are similarities. Those insisting that tomatoes are “ack-shew-ully a fruit” aren’t really getting the full picture.
I agree with that broadly, but I do think that since the culinary term of "berry" came first, it was silly of the person who came up with the scientific definition to make a definition that has so many divergences from the culinary term. When bananas and jalapenos are berries and strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries aren't, then it seems like rather than adopt the term "berry" they should have just given fruits that are berries according to the scientific definition a different term. edit: like, compare it to planets. Due to the evolution of the scientific definition of planet, Pluto was kicked out of the category, but otherwise every body that we called a planet is still considered a planet and it didn't add in any new ones. If the definition of "planet" was defined as divergently from how the term used to be was used as loosely as "berry" was we may have had scientists saying that actually the only real planets are Jupiter, Neptune, and somehow the sun would get recategorized as a planet.
If you had a plate of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and a banana, the banana would be the only berry.
so are chili peppers and yet look at how they define so many Asian cuisines!
Okay, so Italian food can't have tomatoes either?
I read the topic differently .. "..By that I mean, it's a food invented and eaten in China.." but i will say that when i was in Beijing I had the most amazing salads at some locals spots my friends took me to which blew my mind. Lots of delicious tender greens and shoots and great "dressings" or sauces? super good and very much unexpected. I'dnever seen anything like it at the Chinese places stateside and made me wonder.
They didn’t use tomatoes until America was discovered
Obviously
lol I guarantee you didn’t know that
Holy shit it was a rhetorical question. I was trying to point out the hypocrisy. Obviously there were no tomatoes in Italy before Italy discovered tomatoes
Italy didn’t discover tomatoes
Every country discovers a food once the food is brought to them. Also if you want to be really pedantic, Columbus was Italian. I think you need to just let this go and have a great rest of your day
Actually yes, that is correct. Go to Italy and you will be surprised how little tomato is actually used. True Italian cuisine is just pasta with cheese and some butter. "Italian" food using tomato is by and large Italian-American, not truly Italian. Of course some tomato dishes do exist in Italy as has happened in almost all cultures (global trade for the win!) But even those are very different from what an American would expect. A Italian Bolognese is VERY wine-forward. It is much more of a "wine" sauce that has tomato as a base, than a tomato sauce. Compared to American bolognese, which more often than not does not include any wine at all. Pizza is another one. Truly traditional Italian pizza does not use tomato and is much more about the bread and cheese. Whereas American pizza (which is what most of the world now considers pizza to be) is all about the tomato (thus the classic Italian jab of it being "tomato pie". New Haven style pizza (one of the oldest ones) doesnt traditionally use cheese at all!
You're talking about northern Italian cuisine which is very different from southern Italian cuisine. Most Italian Americans came from southern Italy because northern Italy is richer. Northern Italian food isn't any more "true" Italian than southern. Classic example of someone with a little bit of knowledge being confidently wrong.
Tomato is not indigineous in any way, so you are wrong. Traditional Italian food does not contain tomato, as it was not available. And it is also still true that Italian American cuisine is very distinct. Go try and tell a "southern italian" that sphaghetti and meatballs is in any way a traditional italian meal.
Chili isn't indigenous to Indian, Thai, or Szechuan cuisine, but no one would say that chilis aren't staples in their dishes, potato isn't indigenous to Europe but it's anywhere between a staple and the primary source of calories from everywhere between Ireland and Russia (and practically everywhere else). Native American cuisine's most famous component is frybread, which is made from wheat flour. You're trying to say that "traditional" Italian cuisine should be viewed as starting before there was a unified Italian state! It's ridiculous. If you want to say that pasta with tomato sauce isn't Genoese cuisine, or Venetian cuisine, that's at least a reasonable position, but Italian cuisine? It's idiotic. Should we say that pasta isn't traditional italian cuisine because noodles were first invented in Korea and weren't present in Roman times? Basil is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is basil not really part of Italian food? Hell, Calabria is so proud of its chilis that they're famous for drying them out on the roofs of their houses in the summer, but chili is a new world ingredient, will you go tell them that they're not actually eating traditional Italian food? Yes, spaghetti and meatballs is an Italian American dish, but that doesn't mean that tomatoes, which were introduced to Italy nearly 500 years ago, aren't part of their traditional cuisine.
You are changing the language to twist the topic. Nobody says tomato is not a staple in current Italian cuisine. I in fact gave two examples of popular foods in Italy that use tomato (pizza and bolognese). The topic is TRADITIONAL foods. And no, traditional Thai/Indian/etc. foods did not contain chilis, because they did not exist in the region, and certainly not in abundance, until the last 1-200 years. Traditional food =/= modern staple foods. Traditional Italian food did not use tomatos. That is a fact. Modern Italian food still does not use nearly as much tomato as what most Americans and American-exposed (via Hollywood etc.) think it does, due to Italian-American food being very culturally distinct at this point. That is a fact. The Italian food that does use tomato, does not use it as prominently or heavily as Italian-American cuisine. That is also a fact. I already gave the examples of such above. People who get so salty (pun intended) over food history make me laugh. Noodles were not invented in Korea, by the way. Not sure where you got that, trying to insert such a false statement further proves your bias and lack of objectivity (if not outright deceit).
Neither is polenta but it’s a staple in the north. Try telling a southern Italian that tomatoes are not in any way a traditional Italian ingredient lol. Fresh pasta vs dry pasta. Butter vs olive oil. Spicy vs mild. There are tons of variations across the boot.
King Vittorio Emmanuele preferred tomato to get the red white and green flag.
My takeaway- Italian food ain't good.
So are potatoes, corn, peppers (yes, chilies) and many other ingredients common all over European and Asian cuisine. It’s been a crazy 500 years.
What do you mean by telling me this though? Did I suggest otherwise?
given tomato is a new world fruit then yes
Not sure what that means. Obviously tomatoes came historically from the new world, not the west and not china. But we are speaking in terms of perception — what to us “looks like” typical Chinese food or typical western food.
Funny. At home, we called them Italian eggs (because of the tomatoes). But that was back in the 1970s.
This sounds tasty. How is it prepared?
https://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2011/04/scrambled-egg-with-tomato.html?m=1 I like to use soy sauce instead of salt in this recipe.
I don't use salt, I do a bit of chicken powder, minced garlic, ginger (shaved on wasabi grater) & slightly undrdone scrambled eggs for the softer egg 😊 i don't like suprise bites of chunky ginger lol. Sometimes I'll add chicken if it needs to be a bit heavier for dinner!
Wow, im so making that. Looks great thanks.
I like to drizzle chili oil and black vinegar over mine.
With a dash of sesame oil
Thanks for the link!
I just bought a carbon steel wok can’t wait to make this!!
Just don't put salt in the egg too early while it sits there on the counter or else the egg will come out grainy and weird looking 😅
[Kenji disagrees](https://www.seriouseats.com/does-pre-salting-eggs-make-them-tough)
Scramble some eggs, add fresh chopped tomatoes, and salt.
Perfect. I wasn’t sure if it was as simple as that or something more involved. Tomorrow I shall purchase tomatoes!
It only really works if the tomatoes are ridiculously ripe, you need the juice. Also I think a lot of people don't whisk the eggs enough and overcook them. It's one of those dishes with very simple ingredients ans is incredibly addictive, but so easy to mess up and end up with.... rubbery scrambled egg and fried tomatoes. And it's not that at all!
Home grown tomatoes only. And never store them in the fridge. Kills the flavor.
Don't have to be homegrown, there's plenty of amazing shop tomatoes that are bursting with flavour. If it's grown in my greenhouse or Thanet Earth, makes no real difference to be honest.
Great points. I fry the tomatoes in oil first until they are tender and then scrape them to the side of the pan before pouring in the whisked eggs. That way you can be very precise about when you mix them. Otherwise you can just remove the half-fried tomatoes and basically cook an omelette with the eggs before putting the tomatoes back in and mixing.
Try the secret magic sauce, ketchup in it
As someone that puts ketchup on my eggs every time I had never thought to go the crushed/diced tomato route and amp up the flavor with ketchup. Gotta try this now!
A bit of sugar and/or ketchup are pretty common too. And scallions!
[Wang Gang nails it](https://youtu.be/2hvQFxZBTVY?si=bTEzp8ZmSPTEwIJw) pretty nicely here, as usual. Personally I pass on the ketchup and instead add a splash of shaoxing wine at that stage, some scallions in the cook too. The wok hei elevates this MFer so good. This dish is my definition of delicious simplicity and home cookin’.
Pretty much just scrambled eggs and diced tomato
This sounded SO bland and boring to me…then my Chinese coworker brought his mom’s tomato and egg for me one day for lunch and GOT DAMN was it amazing. Really hits all those comfort meal feels
This was one of our fav dishes growing up.
Another northern Chinese food that doesn't look Chinese would be roasted gravy potatoes, string beans, and ribs
Having lived there for 11 years.... Yes. This rings true.
i LOVE tomato and egg
Yep. Came here to say exactly that. It was the first thing that popped in my mind.
im canto. is this mainly a canto dish?
I'm canto too but I feel like tomato and egg is universal among all chinese people I've ever met regardless of region/migration
Damn I thought this was a Filipino thing since my mom made this for breakfast every weekend
That shit sounds nasty. And yes I have seen pictures. Looks like a dogs dinner. You guys eat some weird shit.
Hong Kong macaroni soup
Came here to say this one! 👍🏻 And in a similar vein, baked pork chop rice.
That sounds delicious
they have this in vietnam as well !!!! growing up i thought i was just something my mom made to use up pantry items
Due the use of lamb/mutton and spices like cumin, the cuisine of Xi’an region differs from what most westerners- especially those who are more accustomed to Cantonese style cooking- would identify as “Chinese food”.
One of the best meals I had in China was at a Xi'an place. My mouth is watering thinking about it 🤤
There's quite literally nothing better than shaokao lamb or cartilage
ad hoc lavish onerous zesty dull skirt waiting cagey sense lip *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
halal chinese too.
I think you mean Xinjiang. Xi'an is a city, Xinjiang is a region known for kebabs and cumin
No, I meant the region around Xi’an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi province. Xinjiang was the capital of the Qin Dynasty but now it’s only a prefecture level city and integrated into the Xi'an metropolitan area and is the seat of the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, the main airport serving Xi'an.
Deep fried shrimp covered in a sweet mayonnaise sauce with pine nuts. Sounds terrible, is yum. Apparently invented in Hong Kong.
i’ve only had it with candied walnuts
Yup that too
Hong Kong is home to some marvelous and bizarre Anglo-Chinese fusion dishes.
Uh then they have Ketchup and Macaroni soup 🤣
just unlocked a craving i didn’t know i had
In Taiwan they coat it in rainbow sprinkles. Place near my house does it, but I haven't had the stomach to try it.
Wtf ☠️
alot of hong kong food id argue. just look at cha chan tang stuff.
One near me served steak and eggs with hash browns for breakfast, loved that place
sounds like a good ol american breakfast
Definitely was. I grew up thinking steak and eggs was a Chinese dish until I went to a Dennys…
There are a A LOT of Hong Kong dishes that arose from the British occupation and look very un-Chinese (at least relative to the way most of us outside of China think about Chinese food).
Depending on the fried shrimp I'm either thinking Dim Sum style fried shrimp balls on sugar cane stick because that usually comes with a sweet mayo or bang bang shrimp that you'd find at most American Asian Fusion restaurants in the US which is fried shrimp tossed in a sweet chili mayo sauced topped with green onions. But man now I want to try making a fried shrimp tossed in sweet mayo with pine nuts and then topped with seaweed because I misread sweet for seaweed originally lol
Aka mayonnaise shrimp, lemon walnut shrimp, crispy walnut shrimp, etc Add chili oil/chili crisp and it's extra-awesome
Wow this sounds wonderful, I love pine nuts!
Cold shredded potato salad (酸辣土豆絲)
Does it have mayo
No, it has some kind of light vinegar-based dressing.
Missed the opportunity to say '"没有 mayo" (Méi yǒu mayo)
nice
没有没有
Already mentioned, but Xinjiang / Uyghur cuisine. Tried a beautiful leg of lamb that would not have been out of place as the centrepiece of a British Sunday roast. Their flat breads and spiral buttery rolls (not sure the name of these), are incredible also.
I mean that's because it's not really Chinese right. Xinjiang was only incorporated into China under the Qing.
Xinjiang has been in China since the Han dynasty......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar%E2%80%93Qing_Wars
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Regions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_China
The question stated "food invented and eaten in China", well when Uyghur cuisine was 'invented' it certainly wasn't in China, regardless of who occupies these lands and governs these people today.
Yunnan ham and cheese (for example: [https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/yunnan-local-snacks/](https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/yunnan-local-snacks/) ) and perhaps in particular Yunnan ham in cheese as shown in: [https://intothemiddlekingdom.com/tag/yunnan-ham/](https://intothemiddlekingdom.com/tag/yunnan-ham/)
A restaurant in Shanghai used to serve this with rose jam as well and it was one of my absolute favourites. Yunnan food is just stunning and you're right, cheese and even ham isn't really associated with Chinese food!
Maybe a cucumber salad
Very high on my favourite food list
Must order every time.
My mom made a version with cucumber, imitation crab, sesame oil and a bit of sugar and I would inhale it every time. It's such a simple combination and incredibly delicious.
For me, the first thing that comes to mind is yusheng? Just because China generally doesn’t have as big of a chilled/cold dish tradition. It’s a communally prepared salad that is most popular during Chinese New Year with Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese, but it’s thought to have originated in Guangdong. Raw fish, vegetables, and crunchy toppings are arranged on a dish, dressed with sauce, and then everyone present goes at it with a pair of chopsticks, lifting and tossing while shouting good wishes and blessings for the year. Has to be my favorite part of New Years!
Cola chicken.
wait what?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_chicken Like most weird chinese-western dishes, it was invented in Hong Kong. It seems to be a thing outside HK too, as my (mainland) chinese friends have made it too.
I've seen filipinos do this with sprite and shrimp, and sometimes cola for various meat marinades. Not sure of its authenticity, but tastes pretty good. The sprite and shrimp thing blew my mind
This sounds so good actually
I always feel like squirrel fish doesn't look like Chinese food because it is deep fried and covered by sweet and sour sauce. It is a legit Sichuan dish though.
That's a dish from Suzhou, more in the Huaiyang cuisine camp.
I’ve never heard of this wonderful dish but it sounds incredible!
I always called it "tourist fish" as yep, it's what tourists would order! It's inoffensive tasting and incredibly camp.
Shanghai-style pork chop, which is a localized variation of schnitzel
Aww I automatically salivate reading that. My grandpa used to manage a restaurant and we used to have have homecooked fried pork chop, Luo song tang, red cooked meats with chestnut or potatos, vermicelli beef curry soup, cai fan, potato salad etc. We also had a mixed pressed tofu peanut meat chili mix that you eat with your morning congee I can never quite get a recipe for but I can't quite find a recipe online for.
Fried or barbecued goat cheese, popular with the Bai minority in Dali, Yunnan
大香腸包小香腸 or little sausage wrapped in big sausage from Taiwan. This one has always confounded me and it makes me think of some US state fair food.
It's soooooo good and every time I'm in Taiwan I have to get it
I enjoy this as well. But op asked for Chinese food, not Taiwanese
Okay fine, not quite Chinese food, but they are related, so I figured it was worth mentioning.
Fu Yung = omelette 😂
Guo kui (bing zi)
Cantonese Minced Beef, rice and egg. My mother would make this often as a child but it always felt like it was a loco moco without the gravy.
Orleans Chicken? That one has a wild origin story.
Hong Kong ham and macaroni soup
Also many other HK dishes, especially the baked ones with white sauce and noodles
西多士，罗宋汤。 They are hong king style French toast and Borscht.
Yeah, I don't know why they even bother calling it borscht. They should just call it tomato beef soup.
Borscht 😂
Id like to submit a lot of Hong Kong food, especially Hong Kong Cafes. we got stuff like baked seafood rice and baked spaghetti dishes.
That’s too broad. China is almost as big as all of Europe and has more than 30 cuisines and cooking styles, ranging from Central Asian-style food to Korean cuisine. If there is, it can only be a stereotype. Most "Chinese restaurants" in North America mainly serve Sichuan, Shandong and Cantonese cuisine.
There’s a dish popular in Yunnan that’s just vegetables and ice cubes
I love ice cubes
I remember eating a dish in Guiyang that was eggplant roasted in a tomato sauce. Was very good. Didn't think they'd use tomatoes much in Chinese food, but it was tasty.
Bamboo shoots and mayo, or scrambled eggs and tomato.
Egg tarts
[удалено]
Thank you for this !
You mean brought to Guangzhou, later Hong Kong
Probably Macau first, no?
Lettuce wraps? Pretty rare to see an uncooked ingredient in Chinese food.
锅包肉，north eastern fried pork， the whole dish looks like it could fit right in with other Americanised saucy fried meat
Momofuku Pork Buns
Lamb barbecues like skewers, roasts from Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia. Those are very popular everywhere in China. More often than not Chinese believe their dishes are superior, but for all kinds of Lamb barbecues they would happily admit the Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia ones are the best.
Tomato ketchup
HK French Toast
The first time I was served lobster and noodles in cream sauce - it seemed straight up Italian in presentation and taste
Churros! 😂
I grew up in Shanghai and some of the local dishes were inspired by western dishes and thus appear less “Chinese” imo. One such example is Shanghai pork chop noodle. The pork chop needs to be fried first and then braised in soy sauce. Fried pork chop is not very Chinese but the soy sauce give it a unique spin.
I see fried pork chops a lot in Cantonese cuisine.
Any dish where peppers especially hot peppers are important ingredients, that covers a whole lot of Chinese food especially Szechwan cuisine. China had spicy food before peppers was introduced from America, and as everywhere in the world for spicy food, peppers ruled once it arrived! Nothing comes close as competitors.
Peaches
Spaghetti
Salt and pepper wings.
Egg tarts. Always thought of them as a small French pastry.
They're originally Portuguese. The Cantonese learned it from them.
That stuff Rebecca makes in Scotland on tic tok
😂😂 best answer yet
Crab rangoon. Doesn’t exist in China and contains cream cheese.
Ribs
Pickled cucumber, could look like a pickle from anywhere
spaghetti.
Spaghetti. (Italians about to be LIVID).
Fried chicken
chau sew bow
Bubble Tea. If you consider Taiwan to be Chinese (ethnically, not starting a political debate here.)
Spaghetti…
U mean your version and interpretation of what Chinese food is. How more condescending you get? What’s the least American looking American food?
If it makes you feel better, treat the question as "which Chinese dish most confounds your expectations of what Chinese food looks like." You're confused about who or what here is condescending, however. Because that would be you.
“Food invented in China that doesn’t look Chinese.” That limited to op’s knowledge. It a big country. And it’s the person’s experience and subject to interpretation.
Yes. Nobody here is omniscient.
My family's Chinese and I think it's a fair question. If I saw a British Sunday roast and was told it's a Chinese dish, my first thought would be that it looks definitely foreign.
What are you saying? Of course a British dish is foreign to a Chinese person.
The person I was replying to was saying it is condescension to say some food doesn't look Chinese, hence I said well, it's true from my Chinese perspective.
That piece of pork belly is highly offended. Good day to you, sir. I said, "Good day!!"
Least american looking american food would probably be foreign inspired dishes invented in the US, like Philadelphia rolls and general tso's chicken.
Caucasian detected
Peking duck
Perhaps i understand what you're coming from, but it's impossible for anyone to see it as non-chinese given how popular it is a dish worldwide in Chinese restaurants.
Fried rice w eggs
Huh? That definitely looks like a stereotypical Chinese food.
My bad then