The Story of Orange Chicken
I decided to move from China to the United States when I was 15. Many things changed along with this decision. Foreign language, foreign land, and foreign people. Everything is changing in my life. I tried to assimilate into this new environment by changing myself to be more Americanized. The first thing I need to change is my Chinese stomach. I deeply believed that once I start to eat like a true American, I will be embraced by this new Country. I was trying to change my taste of food in order to change my personality and erase my Chinese identity to be more westernized.
In the peak of puberty, I was ambitious, adventurous, optimistic, but also sensitive, insecure, and in need of recognition. After I enrolled in a private high school in Maryland, I noticed that white students are the majority and almost all of my classmates knew each other since kindergarten. There are two obvious challenges in front of me: I am Asian and I don’t know anyone. Not only I don’t know anyone in the school, but I also don’t know anyone in the entire North American continent. No one speaks Chinese, watches Chinese shows, and eats Chinese food. Although I speak English, I don’t speak the same English my classmates speak. They speak the English of Disney Channel, the English of American Pie, the English of Mac and Cheese. My English is simply just not “white” enough. The more lonely I felt, the more I wanted to fit in. I started to eat pasta, steak, salmon, and other food which never appeared on a Chinese dining table before. I also consciously avoid eating authentic Chinese food around my friend so they won’t think I am “too Asian”. That’s when I realized that the only Asian food is Orange Chicken and it is quite popular.
There was a moment I stared at my plate and I wished I could be like Orange Chicken — Asian on the outside, but westernized on the inside, and loved by Americans.
Orange Chicken is not the first dish Chinese brought to the US, but it is the most famous dish that survived in America (General Tso, 12:16–13:18). However, Chinese food is not just about Orange Chicken. As for the Chinese, food is more than just taste, or pleasures on the table, it has profound influence embedded in the culture. During ancient times, people believed food and alcohol were a bridge to communicate with their gods and ancestors. Benefiting from China’s large territory, Chinese food has developed into very different regional cuisines due to the different availability of resources, climate, geography, and history. There are eight main regional cuisines and each cuisine is separated into high-end fine dining and low brow farmhouse cooking and street foods. It is a shame that a strong and flourishing cuisine system is demolished and condensed into one single dish Orange Chicken, to fit the American taste bud. In Ugly Delicious, the famous Chef Dave Chang, owner of Momofuko, shared his method to separate mainland Chinese food and American Chinese food: if white people will eat this or not (Ugly Delicious, 2:17–4:46). For a long time, I struggled to reshape myself to cater to the American taste buds. I imagined my life will be much easier world if I just play by the American rulers. I will no longer be the outcast from an Eastern country but be accepted by my peers and taken seriously by society.
The value system is dominated by the White voice. Therefore, how we evaluate a cuisine is based on western taste. Everything foreign will be viewed as culturally unacceptable. Regardless of how excellent a Chinese restaurant is, it will never get a four-star in NY Times or be put into a fine dining column (Ugly Delicious, 18:28–19:09). The western culture decided that Chinese cuisine is not worthy to be taken seriously because it is disparate from what people are familiar with. Society tends to resist and oppress novel foreign concepts to ensure the superiority of their own culture by deeming anything foreign as unworthy. America seems to be a diverse nation with different cultures and races, but there is only one voice playing a major role beneath the mask of multiculturalism. The voice of White culture. Western culture is like a giant colander which throws out the part of a culture that displeases the western taste bud, and only leaves a small portion that adapts to the western taste.
No doubts, Chinese food, and culture have been oppressed in America. The pressure to assimilate and be recognized by western culture is bestowed upon every Chinese immigrant when they first move to the US. Many people are eager to get rid of their original identity in return for less judgment from society. Just like Paulo Freire discussed in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “during the initial stage of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become the oppressors, or ‘sub-oppressors’” (Freire, 46). My experience could be a perfect example to support this statement. Instead of striving for my culture and food, I choose to give them up. I became my own oppressor. I am not a sole example. Aside from pressure from white culture, many international students choose to oppose their Chinese side in searching for social acceptance when they first arrived in America. Freire further explained this situation by pointing out that “their [the oppressed] ideal is to be men, but for them, to be men is to be oppressors” (Freire, 46). In American society, western culture and value is the ideal example. Every foreign culture should attempt to assimilate them, otherwise, they will become an outcast. The reason Chinese food is always considered inferior to European cuisine is that it does not fit into the western judging system. It is different from what people used to eat. Dissembled by the White Supremacy is the fear to be overridden by other immigrant cultures. However, culture monopoly is never a sustainable solution, multiculturalism is the future. However, should we oppress every exotic cuisine or every foreign culture because we are afraid to try new things? The fear of multiculturalism will not only put a ceiling on how far cuisine can go but also how far culture could develop. Single-lens is never the correct answer to build a liberal society.
I realized that regardless of how hard I pretended to be westernized, I still have a Chinese stomach. I tried really hard to reshape my identity in favor of western society, but I failed. No significant things have happened in my life to make me come to this realization. I just always crave dumplings more than Mac and Cheese. My connection with Chinese culture is engraved in my bones. After growing up in China and receiving a Chinese education for 15 years, it is impossible for me to simply cut the Chinese side of me off. It is exhausting to keep trying to be someone I am not. There is nothing wrong with the food I like or being “too Asian” or “too fobby”. The only thing wrong is to judge foreign culture with the only western lens.
Not only me, many new immigrants might lose themselves and try to assimilate because of the pressure from society, but it is important to remember who you are and where you come from. Over the years, Orange Chicken still remains as one of my favorite dishes, but I have learned to not fear to show my preference for tastes and to accept my identity. I stop trying to transform myself into the orange chicken.
Bibliography
Cheney, Ian, director. The Search for General Tso. Amazon, Jennifer Lee, Amanda Murray , 2015, www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.cca9f762-19a9-357a-c948-5f182ed6471d?autoplay=1&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb.
Schmidt, Eddie, et al., directors. Ugly Delicious. Netflix Official Site, Tremolo Productions, 23 Feb. 2018, www.netflix.com/title/80170368.
“Chapter One.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, Continuum., 2005, pp. 41–67.
