Revising it again,it seems grammar mistakes never die out. however, it is interesting, isnt it?hope you like Chinese food and Chinese cookers like me. The Chinese Food Culture in Boston Food makes a culture. The concept of “Food is the first necessity of people” is one of most essential ideas in Chinese thought. For thousands of years, Chinese people have created a very long and splendid food culture. With their movement and settlement all over the world, Chinese people also bring Chinese food culture to the world, as a Chinese proverb would say, “We the Chinese conquered the world --- through our food.” (Robert, P9) Mr. Roberts also uses this saying as the opening statement for his book China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. “The popularity of Chinese restaurants reflects how an Asian cuisine was transplanted to American society and developed there.”（Liu，P1）As one of the biggest and earliest Chinatowns in the world, Boston’s Chinatown provides a good example. The essay will discuss how Chinese food became one of the most popular cuisines in Boston and a major component of the whole Boston culture that deeply influenced the eating habit of Bostonians. The history of Chinese restaurants in Boston is more than one hundred years. As more Chinese people come to Boston, Chinese food is steadily becoming more popular. According to the Boston Landmark Commission Chinatown Survey Presentation, the earliest Chinese settlement in Boston can be dated to 1875. “The listing of laundries shows Lee Sing at 110 Harrison Avenue as a Chinese laundry in 1875 with two other Chinese laundries on Tremont Street and Shawmut Avenue also in 1875”（Boston Landmark Commission Chinatown Survey Presentation,P1）.The Presentation also points out that the first Chinese restaurant in Boson is Hong Far Low restaurant of 1896, which still lies at 36 ½ Harrison Avenue. The balcony of the building was typical of the Chinese style at that time. One hundred years later, the number of Chinese restaurants has increased tremendously. According to the Yellow Pages Book for Chinatown in Boston, there are currently more than 40 restaurants in Chinatown, which have a diverse range of names such as Gourmet Dumpling House, East Ocean Restaurant, Taiwan Cafe, Hei La Moon Restaurant, New Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, Hong Kong Eatery, Peach Farm, and The Best Little Restaurant. This dazzling variety of store brands is certainly an outstanding characteristic of Chinatown that contributes to a wonderful scenery which I think no one could fail to be attracted towards. As the Chinese food restaurants grew in number and became better in their food quality, the types of dishes served at the restaurants also became more varied, and the customer base was gradually expanding outside of the Chinese community. At first, the early Chinese restaurants in Boston only provided several dishes, such as chow mein, chop suey, low mein and egg foo yong for “Chinatown residents and Chinese from outside Chinatown living in the suburbs or other parts of Massachusetts and New England”(Wang,P1). Accordingly, the store signs and menus of the restaurants were written in Chinese characters with a simple design. Then around 1950, the Chinese restaurants began to offer a wider array of Chinese dishes to non-Chinese customers. (Refer to Wang’s essay: Boston’s Chinese Restaurants: 1900-1960.) In our time, the restaurants serve all kinds of Chinese dishes. The eight famous Chinese Cuisines, such as Cantonese food, Beijing food, Sichuan food, and many more, can be found in the Chinatown. In addition, some Chinese restaurants also serve local Bostonian food to the customer such as lobsters. For this reason, far more customers going to those restaurants today are non-Chinese. For Bostonians, these restaurants have become ideal places for partying. During tourist seasons, Chinatown is full of visitors from other countries or states who are attracted to the Chinese restaurants for the reputation of their food. Of course, the menus also provide the English names of dishes next to their Chinese characters Which food is thought of as “Chinese food?” In his book China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West, J.A.G. Roberts devotes one chapter to “Chinese food,” and lists some typical sorts of “Chinese food,” such as rice, steamed dumplings and noodles, doufu, Chinese cabbage( bok choy), water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, lotus boot, lotus, lily, fungi, lychee, longan, Star anise and tea. In fact, in the early Chinatown of Boston, it was difficult to find out this Chinese food because of the difficulty of transportation and making a living. With the increase in Chinese immigrants and development of trade between China and the US, more and more brands of Chinese food arrived at Boston and were introduced to Westerners. In 1947, the oldest Chinese market Sun Sun Co. and Market was established by Wong Gow Sue at 18 Oxford Street, which “has been a staple of Boston’s Chinese Community for over 70 years”(Business Online,Website). From then on, the market has always provided a large variety of Chinese food. After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976 and Chinese government began to turn its focus from political struggles to economic development, there are ever more Chinese people emigrating from Northern China to America. They are different from earlier Chinese immigrants who mainly came from Guangdong province (Canton).The new generation of Chinese immigrants comes from all regions of China and brings all kinds of Chinese food to Boston, as a result of which, Cantonese food and Cantonese language have lost their formerly dominant position in Chinatown. The most popular cuisine of those brought by the new immigrants is the Sichuan cuisine which is famous for its spice. It has become so popular that almost every restaurant serves Sichuan dishes to its customers now. Nowadays if you walk into Chinese supermarkets, C-Mart Supermarkets, almost everything you can find in the markets of China also can be found in Boston. The rich diversity of food available in Boston often surprises Chinese tourist when they discover that they can find in this city all dishes offered in restaurants back at home. As a sign of the increasingly smaller gap between the cuisines of Boston and those of Chinese mainland, in recent times even some chain branches of large restaurants of China, such as The Q Restaurant, have opened up in the city. During the time of Anti-Chinese period (1882-1904), Chinese food was also targeted for exclusion by American society. For a long time, eating Chinese food and being in Chinese restaurants was considered embarrassing. Now, however, the attitude of Bostonians and general Americans to Chinese food and Chinese culture has changed extremely. Today, it is difficult to find a Bostonian who has never eaten at a Chinese restaurant. The popularity of Chinese food and Chinese restaurants is such that they have altered the eating habit of Bostonians; in the same way, the preferences of Boston customers also have cause changes to the Chinese food served there. This is a prime example of how cultural differences can lead to a synthesis that is different from the two original two cultures. In his essay, Prof. Liu gives a typical example of this kind cultural exchange: Chop Suey. Before 1960s, Chop Suey was seen as the symbol of Chines food and restaurants. However, in the essay of Prof. Liu proves that Chop Suey is “an imagined authentic Chinese food”(Liu,1). There is no actual Chinese dish in China actually called Chop Suey, in fact. Rather, Chop Suey was the result of a complex cultural negotiation between Chinese and America. In fact, the cultural negotiation can be found anywhere in Chinese restaurants in Boston. From the dishes to the cooking methods, from the dressing to the services, the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown have created an original food culture. One of the best examples is a lobster dish from Ocean Wealth Restaurant, which is typical negotiation of Chinese methods and Boston food, and welcomed by both Chinese and Bostonians. This cultural exchange is the key reason why Chinese restaurants are more and more popular in Boston and America. Meanwhile, a new food culture has been created. Besides, along with this new food culture, the Chinese immigrants also bring to Boston “their own lifestyles, labor, and vocational, skills, business expertise and capital, family rituals and traditions, religious and philosophical beliefs.”(Liu,Website) This Chinese culture gradually has been integrated into Boston’s culture and adds a special favor to Boston. There are three annual festivals in Boston’s Chinatown: Chinese New Year Festival, Main Street Festival, and August Moon Festival. To celebrate these three festivals, an outdoor party is hold in Chinatown in which Chinese traditional activities, such as Chinese Lion’s Dance, Kungfu, Lantern, Chinese handwriting, couplets attracts lots of visitors, Chinese and non-Chinese. Eating Chinese traditional food is one of the most attractive things in these festivals, such as different types of dumplings, which have become the symbol of Chinese food culture in America. These festivals attract lots of Chinese and non-Chinese and gradually have became the traditional festival of Boston, such as the August Moon Festival. August Moon Festival is held on August 15 of the Gregorian calendar in Chinatown every year for past 43 years. In fact, this festival should be celebrated on August 15 of the lunar calendar. Because the lunar calendar is difficult to calculate and remember for Americans, the time of the festival was changed into August 15 in the Gregorian calendar (Another case of cultural negotiation). Like Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, which have become the popular tourist attractions in Boston, this festival has become the common festival of all Bostonian people. In the festival, you can even get to eat one of most famous Chinese traditional food---moon cake，a delicious food similar to the pastry. Source Books. 1 Roberts.J.A.G. China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. London:Reaktion Books,2002.9.Print. Essays: 2 Boston Landmark Commission Chiantown Survey Presentation. “Earlisest Chinese Settlement in Boston Dated 1975.” Journal of CHSNE Newslettter.4.1.(1996):1-2.Print. CHSNE represents Chinese Historical Society of New England. 3 Liu Haiming. “Chop Suey as Imagined Authentic Chinese Food: The Culinary Identity of Chinese Restaurants in the United States.” Journal of Transnational American Studes.1 (1), 2009.Print. 4 Wang Kenneth. “Boston’s Chinese Restaurants:1900-1960.” Journal of CHSNE Newslettter.5.1.(1999):1-3.Print. Online： 5 Liu Haiming. “Asian-American Ideas (Cultural Migration). New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 2005. Encyclopedia. (Nov. 25, 2013). . 6 Sun Sun Company.Business Online.2009-2013.Web.22,Oct.2013.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 20:29:50 +0000
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