Features
Not just emptying take-out boxes
By Helen Sternberg ’20
September 29, 2016
Tags features
The food culture in America is unlike any other. Traditional“ American” food doesn’t exist in the same sense that it does in Italy or Mexico. Americans tend to adopt the food culture of other countries and then blend those ingredients and flavors into a quasiforeign variation of the original.
Chinese food is perhaps one of the greatest examples of this culture blending. Americanized Chinese food is so distinctly non-Chinese, that in many cases popular Americanized dishes aren’t even something remotely comparable to traditional dishes. For example, the Chinese do not typically have broccoli nor do they usually have beef, so the popular “Beef and Broccoli” dish you might find here cannot be found in China.
Most Americans do not seem to care that they are not eating real Chinese food, and many most likely do not even realize there is a difference. “I had a lot of friends who didn’t know a lot about Chinese food,” Astor Chen ’20 said. “I guess most foreigners don’t have a concrete idea of what actual Chinese food is.” Chen has recently pioneered the formation of a club on campus, aptly named the “Let’s Have Some Real Chinese Food” club, which aims to educate its members, as well as others on campus, about actual Chinese culture through traditional Chinesefood. “[The name of our club] is actually a funny story because when I applied for the club, you have to submit an application to the student activities office, and one of the officers emailed me back to make sure we weren’t messing with them. He wanted to make sure we weren’t just another club that wanted to order Chinese take-out,” Chen said. The club wants to showcase traditional Chinese food for a few reasons. Chen explains that she wants not only to dispel the myth that what one might get a Chinese restaurant here is nothing like it would be back at home for her, but also to share the beauty and complexity of Chinese culture through a medium that stu- dents are willing to interact with. “When people talk about Chinese culture, they don’t realize a huge part of it is related to food. When they talk about our culture, the first thing that comes to their mind usually isn’t food, but it’s actually a very important part of this culture,” Chen said. “If you don’t understand the meaning behind the food, then you won’t actually be able to get to know Chinese culture.” The club is currently planning on hosting cooking events, which will be open to the whole campus, regardless of whether or not students are actually registered for the club. The first event will be held this Saturday, and the club will be making mooncakes, a traditional Chinese dessert.
Looking into the future, along with cooking events, Chen wants to push the club to expand and experi- ence the culture in other ways as well. While the club has no desire to become “just another Asian student association,” they do hope to get many students involved and become active members who are willing to learn and experience new things.
“[We hope to attract] any kind of people. People who like food, people who are interested in Chinese culture or anyone who wants to get a better understand- ing of what we are do- ing here,” Chen said.
The Let’s Eat Some Real Chinese Food club is currently still trying to find footing and build a membership, and most of the leaders in the club are friends of Chen’s. However, within a few months, these leaders hope to expand the e-board and open up new positions for people across campus to join. Another thing to expect looking into the future are weekly club meetings. Currently, the club is only planning campus- wide events, but those in charge hope to have enough members to conduct member-only club meet- ings in which they can brainstorm new ideas and continue to learn about Chinese culture through its cuisine.