This Fortune Cookie Can Make You A MILLIONAIRE!
Got your attention, didn’t I? Well, it’s true! I will tell you how in just a moment. First, take a look at this Chop Suey: a classic Chinese food…or is it?
And speaking of legendary chinese food recipes: what about this General Tso and his famous chicken dish?
“The Search For General Tso”!
Yes, a documentary was released that searches for the origin of General Tso’s chicken…and that is all part of a great book about the origin of chinese food and how fortune cookies can make you rich!
Moo Goo Gai Pan! Chop Suey! Who Knows?
Behold the classic Chinese dish: Moo Goo Gai Pan. Wait, perhaps it’s Chop Suey. It doesn’t really matter, since neither one of them – OR GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN – was ever cooked in China!
Here is a fascinating book that blows away all of your misconceptions about Chinese food, both here in the US and over there in China – and I have included a terrific Chinese food recipe to satisfy your craving, because these books will make you hungry!
First up, a great book that looks at how the lottery inspired the Author to go off on a mad Chinese food adventure!
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures In The World Of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee
Here’s what started it: In one single week, dozens of people from all across America all won the lottery. They ALL used the EXACT SAME NUMBERS!
How is that possible? Well, this book shows you what happened – they all picked numbers they got from a fortune cookie – and those fortune cookies all came from Chinese restaurants!
Using this amazing beginning, Author Lee decides to dig deeper into the phenomenon – and to find out why Chinese food has such a mystical hold on America – now only that, she explains how America’s love affair with Chinese food began.
The Fortune Cookie!
You’ll find out the origin of the fortune cookie, including the impact it had on early immigrants and their struggles in America- and she also tells how “chop suey” came to be… you will go back in time – and revisit how Chinese immigrants originally came to this country, and how Chinese food helped save them.
it’s a fascinating book – a tour through a uniquely AMERICAN food – CHINESE FOOD – and the origins of this so-called “Chinese food” in the US – it’s fascinating, and Lee’s obsession with the topic makes it all the more fun to read.
Guess Who’s To Blame For All Those Take-Out Food Flyers?
Yep, Lee reveals the origin of the dreaded paper menu that is stuffed in your mailbox or front door…and you will visit the greatest Chinese food restaurant in the world – wait until you find out where it is!
And you’ll find out what Confucius REALLY said.
Yes, this book is full of great facts and trivia!
This book is so entertaining, you will never look at an egg roll the same way again!
Now that’s I’ve whetted your appetite, time to feed you!
Here you go, make some classic Chop Suey!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups diced pork loin
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup hot water
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can bean sprouts, drained
and rinsed
1/3 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
Directions:
1. Heat shortening in a large, deep skillet. Sear pork until it turns white, then add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add celery, hot water, salt and pepper. Cover skillet and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sprouts and heat to boiling.
2. In a small bowl combine the cold water, cornstarch, soy sauce and sugar. Mix together and add to skillet mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened to taste.
Enjoy!
Now that you have eaten, take a look at the secrets behind your TV dinner!
Sixty-three years ago, two great American traditions were changed forever: watching TV and eating dinner. Thanks to the invention of the “TV dinner”, Americans could step away from the stove and leave the home cooking to someone else!
Yes, delicious meatloaf, green beans, tater tots AND a chocolate brownie could be served in a beautiful tin plate – overworked Americans finally had a way to eat a delicious, well-balanced meal without having to cook!
If you have any curiosity about food, then this is another great book to give any food lover – the true story of how one man created a frozen food future!
Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man
From the terrific food writer who gave us “Cod”, “Salt”, and other informative bestsellers, it’s the first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.
Here is what Amazon says:
“Kurlansky…places Birdseye in the same category as Thomas Edison: amateurs who got curious about a problem, played around with it (sometimes for years) and eventually figured it out. Birdseye had many more interests than frozen foods, writes the author; he invented, among other things, a kind of light bulb and even a whaling harpoon.”
The Beginning Of The “Frozen Food Section” Of The Grocery Store!
Birdseye’s curiosity was key to taking frozen food to the next level!
It was in the North that he began to wonder why foods frozen there—naturally—tasted so much better than the frozen foods back home. He discovered, of course, that it was quick-freezing at very cold temperatures that did the trick. He eventually invented the process that produced vast amounts of good frozen food, but then had to wait for the supporting infrastructure (transportation, storage, etc.).
Kurlansky tells the exciting tale of Birdseye’s adventures, failures and successes (he became a multi-millionaire) and his family, and he also offers engaging snippets about Velveeta, dehydration and Grape-Nuts as well.
Swanson’s TV Dinners!
And of course, the world was never the same once Swanson mass produced three-course dinners for a generation unwilling to take the time to cook!
Birdsye’s frozen vegetables were the reason for THIS:
Without Birdseye’s breakthroughs, the whole concept of frozen ANYTHING tasting edible when it arrived on your plate was unlikely, but thanks to him, Swanson could continue to refine, expand, and “upscale” their efforts, to a ravenous America:
Thanks to Kurlansky, and this week’s Wednesday Bookmobile, you can dig right in to these great books about the food that has transformed the way we live!
Click here for more of Kurlansky’s book plus some other terrific food books as well:
If you want an edgier look at the world of food, this memoir by a renegade Chef is for you:
Chef Brandon Baltzley is brilliant – but has had a controversial life, which he doesn’t shy away from in this riveting memoir….clikc here to see more of his fascinating life:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Food, Food Pictures, Food Writing, Recipes, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten a Tv dinner, John. This information about Chinese food isn’t really a surprise to me.
Robbie, “TV Dinners” took over America in the 60’s and still exist in a different way…
Yes, I’ve used ready made meals but only when desperate. Too much salt and sugar.
Yes Robbie, here in the US they have dozens of “ingredients”, all sounding like a lab experiment…and the fat and sodium levels are shocking!
American ‘Chinese food’ was the first ‘exotic’ food that I ever remember eating with my family. this was living on the edge for them. of course it was chop suey, and egg fu yung. so funny looking back, but it seemed daring at the time. also was huge, huge fan of tv dinners! one of my fav things when I was young. especially eating on a tv tray in front of the tv watching a series I loved.
Thanks for the great comment!
The very first Chinese food I ate way back then was such a treat for us and that restaurant is still there..TV dinners were not something I ever ate we had to sit at the table ..no TV either at mealtimes funny how mealtimes vary between cultures…an interesting post , John 🙂
Thank you Carol!
We have been eating Chinese food in the UK since I was very young, and it is still as popular today. However, I found out long ago (in my teens) that it is not remotely what you would be served in China. Then when I went to Beijing in 2000, I saw that was true.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pete we really want to get to China and you are so correct, the americanization of Chinese food here is laughable – but delicious!