Food Blogs Archives
Chinese Restaurants in America
Chef's Ma Paul Tofu (Wu Liang Ye Restaurant, NYC)
What most Americans know as Chinese food would be more properly termed American Chinese food, a category that includes chop suey and lemon chicken, dishes born in the U.S. Given, as Lee points out, that there are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., "more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined," Chinese food might be our national cuisine. "Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie," she writes. "But ask yourself. How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?"
Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous, usually taking the form of urban carryout shops and suburban buffets. But how did these restaurants flourish across the American landscape? For the most part they are independently run, so how is it they seem to share similar characteristics, such as gigantic menus filled with egg rolls, garish red sweet and sour sauce, and General Tso's chicken?
Each chapter answers these questions and more, examining soy sauce, the distinctive shape of takeout boxes favored by Chinese restaurants, and fortune cookies, which Lee discovers are Japanese in origin.
"West eats East: A fact-filled look at Chinese food, which just might be America's national cuisine," by Bich Minh Nguyen, ChicagoTribune.com, March 1, 2008
More
- Author's blog: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
- Chinese Restaurants on Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide
- Chinese Restaurants on A Guy in New York
- "Review: 'The Fortune Cookie Chronicles'," by Heller McAlpin, Special to Newsday, March 2, 2008
- "Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie," by Jennifer 8. Lee, The New York Times, January 16, 2008
"100 Ways to Say Delicious"
Attention aspiring food bloggers, The Kitchen Review posts "100 Ways to Say Delicious" ... but we only see 32 ... congratulations on the 100th post!
Update: now up to One Hundred and Ten Ways to Say Delicious ....
The Amateur Gourmet's 1000th post is "My 1000th Post: How To Start a Food Blog" ... (pssssst, "filters" are also called "editors") ... congratulations on the 1000th post!
Bleg - Comedy FoodBlogs
We're looking for other comedy food blogs ... like ... The Bruni Digest ... and Drones Club ...
Drones Club, written by Cornelius Bear, is a satire of food blogging ... our only complaint is that Mr. Bear doesn't post more often ... some of our favorite posts:
The Bruni Digest, by Jules Langbein (a member of the Weiner Philaharmonic) ... "In which I sit on a dirt mound somewhere in Brooklyn with my ears pricked, waiting for New York Times head restaurant critic Frank Bruni, who I imagine to be a Venetian count in a huge ruffled collar, to dole out stars from the inside breast pocket of his brocaded chamber robe. This blog is predicated on the suggestion that every Wednesday, in the Times Dining Out section, Frank lays a huge faberge egg of hilarity." ... includes many funny photos ... some of our Digest favorites are
Cendrillon: I Almost Entrechat Myself
Koi: If I Could Turn Back Toro
BLT Fish: Don't Tell Rita!!!! Tom Hanks Has a Bastard Baby...
If you know of other comedy food blogs, please let us know about them in the comments ... or send us an email aguyinnewyork [at] gmail
