01x05 - What is Chop Suey Anyway?

[bunniefuu]

PADMA: I love it. ALI: I know.

PADMA: Wait,
let's see what they're doing.

ALI: They're so...

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

I think they're
playing Mahjong.

Yeah, it sounds like it.
But you really can't see.

Look, you can, right here,
through this crack

a little.

Oh, hi. BOTH: Hi.

PADMA: Sorry.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

PADMA: I came to
America when I was four.

I'm an immigrant,
and I'm not alone.

I've spent my life
writing about food

and tasting the world.

Now I want to explore who we are

through the food we eat.

My game is strong.

What exactly is American food?

And what makes us American?

I'm Padma Lakshmi.

Come with me as we
"Taste the Nation."

♪ ♪

[MELLOW ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

So, there's certain Frankenstein
Chinese things‐- Right.

That I know about,
like orange chicken.

Yeah. I like orange chicken.

I think orange chicken
is actually delicious.

But I don't feel like
it's rooted in anything

that I grew up eating.

PADMA: Chinese food
is everywhere in America.

There's a Chinese
takeout restaurant

in almost every town
in the country.

But what are we really eating?

Is it actually Chinese food?

Or is it something else?

If I think
about American food,

it's pizza, burgers,
hot dogs, and Chinese food.

PERSON: The American
pallet likes the saucy,

stir‐fried Americanized
Chinese food.

And‐‐and I can see why.

'Cause I love
the General Tso's chicken, too.

When I came to America

and my father owned restaurants,

half of the menu,
I don't even understand.

[CALM MUSIC]

PADMA: How did Chinese food

turn into chop suey?

And what the hell
is chop suey anyway?

There's a lot
of variations of chop suey.

We have carrots, celery,
some water chestnut,

everything in there.

I personally don't know

if I ever had
chop suey as a kid.

INTERVIEWER:
Have you ever tried chop suey?

PADMA: When the first
known Chinese immigrants

arrived in the U.S.
in the early 1800s,

they were immediately
marked as different

and relegated to certain
sections of the city

areas we now call Chinatown.

Many early immigrants
found a way to reach out

to their neighbors
and make a living

by selling simplified Chinese
grub for the American palate.

And thus, chop suey was born.

It came to define
what most Americans knew

and loved about Chinese cuisine.

But now some Chinese‐Americans

and recent arrivals
from the mainland

are rejecting this outdated dish

and others like it.

They're redefining

what Chinese‐American food
is today.

Do these pictures
tantalize you ever?

Does that work in luring you in?

PADMA: No, it doesn't.
I don't know why they do it.

It looks so wet.

It does. The food.

PADMA: The crab looks wet.

Ali Wong is my homegirl

and one of my
favorite comediennes.

She's Chinese and
Vietnamese‐American

and grew up in the Bay Area,

which makes her
the perfect person

to show me around Chinatown.

- Do they do that in China?
- Yeah.

Put pictures of all the food.

Like, where does that come from?

I don't know‐‐I think it's
to, like, appease to Americans.

To be like,
"There's wonton and noodles."

Those are things you understand.

But they're never gonna, like,
feature the feet.

♪ ♪

It's all,
"Don't be scared of us."

You know what I mean?

PADMA: Do you think that's
why chop suey was invented?

I think so‐‐I really
don't know what it is.

You don't know what it is?

I have no idea
what it looks like.

I was hoping
you could fill me in.

I could never even draw
[LAUGHS]

I had all these questions
I wanted answered.

Uh, no. Sorry.

I could tell you, like,
all things about the butthole.

I know the history of buttholes.

I know about, like,
new butthole fashion.

But, yeah, I don't anything
about the food.

So what's
a Chinese butthole like?

It has sort of a more
umami flavor.

[LAUGHING]

[CALM MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Ali doesn't even know
what chop suey is

because she grew up eating
Chinese food that was more authentic.

♪ ♪

ALI:
I grew up in Pacific Heights

in a really nice part
of San Francisco.

And coming here all the time
was a constant reminder

of where my dad had come from
and how far he had come.

'Cause he grew up here?

He grew up in Chinatown,
but the goal was always

to not stay in Chinatown.

But it was such
a big part of him growing up

that it was so important

for him that we‐Mm‐hmm.

That we spend a significant
amount of time here growing up.

And, yeah, I'm so grateful.

Did you come here
to eat on weekends or...?

I'd come here
to eat on weekends.

We were not gathering at these,
like, phony‐a*s tourist traps.

We're gathering

at the Chinese restaurants
where Chinese people eat.

And so I think that did
always instill in me,

like, a deep interest
in my people, my tribe

and where we came from
and who we are.

I'm so excited to go here.

When I got married,
I got married at city hall.

I had a very low‐key wedding

with, like,


And then I had my banquet here.

[OVERLAPPING CHATTER]

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

ALI: For me,
my wedding was really about the food.

You're supposed to leave full.

Like, do you ever
go to a wedding

where you don't leave full?

All the time.

All the time. Shameful.

This is wood ear mushroom.

It's supposed to lower
your blood pressure.

I love wood ear mushrooms.

I like how chewy
and floppy they are.

And then this is geoduck.

- You know that, right?
- It's clam.

It's a clam
with that long‐a*s tongue,

In a lot of Chinese
restaurants, they put it‐.

Sorry. Thank you, Padma.

They put it in the front
to, like, you know‐.

To entice you. Entice you.

- It looks very phallic.
- It looks so phallic.

- Elephantine.
- You want some sea d*ck?

Come inside. [LAUGHING]

ALI: This is one of those things

that doesn't look that exciting

or sound that exciting.

It's beef and turnip.

It tastes like
a grandma cooked it.

- It's so good.
- It looks delicious.

- Mmm.
- See how it's, like, very‐.

Mmm! Very tasty.

That's so good. Yeah.

I don't think a turnip
has ever tasted this exciting.

I know. In my life.

Isn't that good? Whoo!

I just want to bathe
in that juice.

Oh, my God.

- Yeah, like, a take a hot bath.
- Mm‐hmm.

- With a turnip pillow.
- [CHUCKLING]

You've talked to me about,

like, getting your
sense of humor from your dad

and that
kind of inappropriateness.

I don't know if it's like
an immigrant‐parent thing

or just like a parent thing,
but he did raise me

with, like, certain proverbs.

And one of them was, like,

"Do not care
what other people say."

And he lived that, you know?

He was just‐‐he really

he cared about what our family
thought and what he thought.

PADMA: So I think we were lucky.

In our generation, we didn't
suffer as much from racism

or from being told constantly
that we're not welcome,

whereas, you know, the history

of Chinese‐Americans in this
country is not great.

Yeah, I mean, I think
about when my grandfather came

through Angel Island,

when he was by himself,
when he was eight years old.

And he worked as a house boy

for this wealthy family.

Lived in their basement.

And he had to do
all their cooking and cleaning.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

PADMA: By the time Ali's
grandfather came to the U. S.,

Chinese immigrants faced
almost a century

of exploitation and racism.

They labored in the gold mines.

They helped build the railroads

that transformed our economy,

but many were never
fully accepted

into American society.

In some places, they couldn't
even own their own land

or marry non‐Chinese people.

But the worst was yet to come.

In 1882, the U. S. Government

passed the
Chinese Exclusion Act,

which barred Chinese immigration

for the next 61 years.

That's a mighty long time
to feel unwelcome

in the place you call home.

Now that you have kids,
you know...

- Mm‐hmm.
- And they're still little,

but is it important
to you to pass down,

you know, all these stories

about your dad and your grandad,

but also the food and the
culture and things like that?

Yeah, I want them
to know no legacy.

- Nothing.
- Nothing about themselves.

Just eat hamburgers
and chickens.

- [LAUGHING]
- Yes, I mean, of course.

Come on, we're, like,
conscious women of color.

Of course we want our daughters

to have, like, a sense
of where they came from.

Again, because I want them
to have some grit.

And I want them to be grateful
for what they have.

And certainly,
if I caught my kids

eating at some bullshit
touristy chop suey restaurant,

I would be like,
"You are not my children."

[CHUCKLING]

Yeah. [LAUGHING]

[CALM MUSIC]

PADMA:
For Ali and many like her,

chop suey will never
be real Chinese food.

And some restaurant owners

have been fighting
that stereotype for decades.

♪ ♪

[UPBEAT STRING MUSIC]

♪ ♪

PADMA:
Yank Sing, my favorite place

for dumplings in San Francisco,

started in a small
Chinatown shop in 1958.

- We'll have one of everything.
- Okay.

[LAUGHING]

PADMA: Back then,
it was one of the only places

serving traditional dim sum.

♪ ♪

Can I offer you
some sticky rice?

Oh, my God. Yes, you can.

Vera Chan‐Waller,

the original owner's
granddaughter,

has taken over and kept
the family business thriving.

♪ ♪

Delicious.

I scored an invitation from Vera

to have lunch
with the iconic Cecilia Chang.

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

PADMA: It's very possible
that without Cecilia,

chop suey would still
be the norm.

I need all the luck I can get.

[CORK POPS, ALL LAUGHING]

I want champagne

to celebrate your upcoming


Hundred! Wow!

[LAUGHTER]

We're gonna
get along great, Cecilia.

- Okay.
- To your hundredth birthday.

Thank you! Happy hundredth!

Happy birthday.
Happy hundredth.

Thank you so much.

If you look back
on your life, Cecilia, what...

What is the thing
that you're most proud of?

When Cecilia came
to San Francisco in 1960,

chop suey passed
for Chinese food.

Having grown up in Beijing,
she wanted to show Americans

that Chinese food could be
diverse and complex,

unlike anything
they had ever tasted.

She opened The Mandarin,

a restaurant
that changed the course

of Chinese cuisine in America.

[LAUGHS] You're our superhero?

Why did you decide
to open a restaurant

that was so different

from all the other
Chinese restaurants?

Okay, so‐Yeah.

So chop of broken things.

VERA:
A mixture of broken things.

So the American‐born Chinese.

CECILIA: Most of them
from a little village in Canton.

PADMA: So the food
of this small village

that then gets Americanized

is really what's
representing Chinese food‐.

That's right. Okay.

Because they see you're Chinese.

Because I'm Chinese.

What did that feel like?

Coming here and experiencing
that kind of racism

and sexism and, in a way,

rejection from
the other Chinese?

[BOTH CHUCKLING]

[LAUGHS]

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Thank you. You're welcome.

CECILIA:
Thank you. Not too much.

VERA: Okay, just a little bit.

PADMA: This looks
delicious. What is this?

VERA:
This is our honey walnut salad.

It's just red cabbage‐‐.

VERA: Red cabbage, jicama‐‐.

CECILIA: Red cabbage
with sesame seed oil

and a little vinegar.

VERA: And if there's
anything you don't like,

feel free to leave it
on the plate.

I like everything. Mmm.

[CHUCKLES]

How did your grandmother
start Yank Sing?

In the late 1950s,

my grandparents
had to leave China

during the Communist Revolution.

PADMA: So the second
wave of immigration‐‐.

VERA: Right. PADMA: Okay.

When they came here,
they had nothing.

So, you know,
like many immigrants,

they started
in the restaurant business.

And so that was the birth
of Yank Sing in Chinatown.

They had the education, but
they didn't have the language.

And so, you know,
Chinatown sort of served

as a very safe sanctuary
for them.

Do you think that

Chinatown is a world
unto itself?

Well, second‐,
third‐generation restaurateurs

are now
going back into Chinatown

to open up restaurants.

Because they
no longer have to be afraid

of their ethnicity?

They can lean into it? Yeah.

They're proud of it,
this generation.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

I mean, I am proud to be
a Chinese‐American.

So each generation
in turn then makes anew

what it means
to be Chinese‐American,

what that looks like
and feels like

and tastes like. Yeah.

People who make that choice

to open up restaurants,
they are now able to showcase

the Chinese food that really
does represent Chinese people.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

- Ooh, what's that?
- This is a pork sausage.

We hand‐dice the fat. Mm‐hmm.

And then mix it with pork.

It gets pretty
traditional seasonings.

Rose wine and Shaoxing
and some five spice.

It's, like,
one of my favorite things.

I would put it in stuffing
at Thanksgiving.

Oh, yeah, we do. You do?

We absolutely do.

♪ ♪

PADMA: Mister Jiu's is a
Michelin‐starred restaurant

in the heart of Chinatown.

Owner and executive chef,
Brandon Jew,

is a second‐generation
Chinese‐American.

Brandon has trained in kitchens

from Bologna to Shanghai,

but San Francisco
has always been his home.

And here, his high‐end take
on Chinese food

pays respect to what
Chinese food used to be,

while also pushing the
boundaries of what it can be.

On the surface,
people might say,

"Oh, Chinatown‐‐
it's always the same.

You know, like thirty
or fifty years ago."

But, in fact, it's not.

PERSON: A lot of people
come to Chinatown

for cheap Chinese food.

I've always wondered, like,

"Why does Chinese food
have to be cheap?"

PADMA: Why this location?

BRANDON: You know, Chinatown

it's a place that
has this amazing history.

But it's also having
a hard time of understanding

how to move
from what it used to be

into what it could be.

And I felt a sense
of responsibility

to make it look great again

for another generation
of people.

PADMA: What's this guy?

BRANDON: That's habanero powder.

- That's what I thought.
- [CHUCKLES]

- I got to put my glasses on.
- Yeah.

- Can I try this green pepper?
- Sure.

BRANDON: And these
are the two varieties of...

BOTH: Sichuan.

PADMA: Oh, okay.
BRANDON: Yeah, so...

But you don't have to try it‐‐
you just‐‐.

PADMA: No, no. I can try it.

And these are the‐‐
that's the green Sichuan.

- Oh, my God, it smells like...
- Super floral, right?

Black pepper and mint.

That's really intense. Hmm.

Yeah, really intense.

Do I dare? You could.

It's a little numb‐y.

- Pretty good, though.
- [CHUCKLING]

This is rare, and I want to‐‐
This is fun.

Yeah, whatever. [CHUCKLES]

[WHIMPERS] Keep talking!

[CALM PIANO MUSIC]

Are both your parents
born here or...?

BRANDON: They were.

They were able to balance
the Chinese traditions

that they wanted to keep,
but also having this, like, American life,

you know, and that balance
is something that...

I think comes out in our food.

♪ ♪

What I wanted to do
is learn how to make

the things that people
were buying in the store.

We could easily buy all the
things for a Chinese pantry.

- The hoisin.
- The hoisin, right?

But the food's gonna taste
just like everyone else's.

And having this restaurant

be a version of Chinese food

that defines San Francisco
Chinatown is the intention.

PADMA: How do you make hoisin?

Our is made with, like,
fermented black bean.

It has molasses,

but instead of using
emulsifiers,

we use peanut butter.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

This viscosity is coming

from the peanut butter
that we make,

and then it gets a lot of
different kinds of seasonings.

PADMA: It looks like chocolate.

Yeah, just take a‐taste it.

It does taste peanut butter‐y.

Right?

Are peanuts
traditionally in...

Mm‐mm.

No? Mm‐mm.

PADMA: Brandon's hoisin
beautifully represents how he grew up

fusing classic Cantonese cooking

with an American childhood
favorite.

How did your interest in food,

and specifically Chinese food,
come about?

It was my experience
with my grandma

that was, like,
a little bit more, like,

tied into Chinese tradition.

Both my grandmas passed away
before I felt like

I could really, like, get some
of the recipes that I wanted.

And part of what motivated me
to open this restaurant

was

it was a sense of not

accessing my grandma
as much as I thought I should,

because grandma cooking
is so much feel‐.

Of the skin. Of the skin.

A lot of it is being
next to them,

asking those questions,
doing it with them.

- Yeah, you have to be present.
- Right?

- And were you not?
- I wasn't enough.

It comes back to how I value
Chinese cuisine

and how I value the customs

and the traditions
of Chinese cooking.

This is so important to me now.

I'm dropping these knives,
I'm picking up a wok,

I'm picking up a cleaver.

I'm dedicating the rest of
my career to Chinese cuisine.

♪ ♪

You are an established chef.

You are Chinese‐American.

What the hell is chop suey?

I mean, chop suey is, like‐‐
it's a philosophy.

It's like a loose construct of
just using what's around you.

Chop suey is not Chinese,

but it is Chinese‐American.

We are trying to

redefine

maybe people's limitation

on what they believe
Chinese‐American food is.

♪ ♪

PADMA: For Brandon,
chop suey is not a relic of the past,

but rather a concept

and an opportunity
to create something special

that reflects his values
as a chef

and a Chinese‐American.

[SOFT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Brandon's desire to put
his own spin on Chinese food

led him to Scott Chang‐Fleeman.

Scott figured out how to grow
rare Asian vegetables

on American soil.

It's a really cool nod
to his mixed identity.

So cool.

Yeah, you can kind of
see these‐.

It smells like fish.

SCOTT: Yeah,
so all of the baby plants get watered

with fermented fish emulsion.

And this is lettuce?

That's a Chinese stem lettuce.

- Can I taste it?
- It's gonna taste like fish.

You don't want it
with fish emulsion

♪ ♪

I think it's a common paradox
and question

that a lot
of biracial folks have.

That in your early, mid‐20s,

you finally start to, like,
address a lot of conflicts

that you've had in yourself.

And you're like, "Okay, now it's
time to finally take a look at this."

The farm has been a great way
for me to create

a physical manifestation
of really, like,

celebrating my whole self
and my identity.

We can lean into those things,

even if it's
by just literally growing...

Mm‐hmm.

Chinese culture
on American soil.

SCOTT: Chinese‐Americans
have been in California forever,

and at what point

does that become its own
regional cuisine?

- Is that your cuisine?
- Yeah, yeah.

I think that's what we've been
trying to define is, like,

yeah, Bay Area
Chinese‐American cuisine.

Is this the pineapple weed?
Right?

- BOTH: That's chamomile.
- It is chamomile.

PADMA: Are you
impressed that I knew that?

Am I stepping on anything?

Um, a little bit.

sh**t. [LAUGHS] It's okay.

Please tell me. I don't want
to be a rude guest.

What's this?

- This is Chrysanthemum.
- It's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah.

Cilantro is a big crop for me
this season and

I'm geeking out right now.

I'm, like, taking something
out of the ground

and putting it in my mouth.

Yeah. [LAUGHTER]

The way, I think,

a lot of people relate to their
culture is through food.

You know, it's a nice language

in which to develop an identity.

And I think that
biracial identity crisis

that you were talking about

affects millions of Americans,
you know?

This is even something that
Brandon and I have talked about

as being, like,
a third‐generation Chinese‐American is,

like, sometimes you feel not
Chinese enough to be Chinese,

but not, like, white enough or
American enough to be American.

- I totally feel like that.
- Yeah.

Like, the farm has now given me
something that I can kind of start

to enter and engage more deeply
with the Asian‐American community

with something
that I can hold and give.

♪ ♪

[LAUGHS]

Oh, yeah.

These are really nice right now.

♪ ♪

With the celtuce,
you peel off the outer leaves.

They're one of my favorite
vegetables, actually.

They're really delicious,
stir‐fry green.

Yeah. Yeah.

PADMA: I'm rethinking all my,
like, priorities right now.

[LAUGHTER]

So what are we having for lunch?

BRANDON: So chop suey

there really is not a lot
of recipes that are definitive.

PADMA: Okay, so what's
in our chop suey today?

So we got our cucumbers,
we got our celtuce.

What are these?
Are these little...

They're daikons
that Scott was growing.

So how long have these
been fermenting?

Those have been fermenting
about three weeks.

So you should try one.

Just three weeks? Yeah.

- That's a lot of funk.
- I know.

For just three weeks, right?

Daikon goes fast.

Mmm!

♪ ♪

Do you want this split? Sure.

Okay. Yeah, that looks nice.

It's pretty, right? Yeah.

I like that you might get
a couple textures

in one bite like that, too.

This is a little, like,
traditional Chinese cut,

just like a little roll cut.

♪ ♪

[SIZZLING]

I think the really
creative thing about chop suey

is that it's kind of left
in the hands of the chef.

♪ ♪

It's hard to find what
that recipe actually is

because each store
had their own,

that they could create
their own thing.

♪ ♪

Here, you do this. Okay.

[LAUGHTER]

It is heavy.

Okay, I'm gonna, like, get us
a little plating area here.

♪ ♪

Tomato isn't an ingredient

in traditional Chinese cooking,
is it?

No, but, like,
in Chinese‐American cuisine,

there's a good amount of tomato.

♪ ♪

PADMA: It's so gorgeous.
It's almost too pretty to eat.

♪ ♪

It's so good.

It's so fresh.

- I love the layers of acidity.
- Mm.

You have the vinegar,
you have the tomato water,

you have the ginger.

This is a lovely dish.

I think you should put this
chop suey on your menu

tomato water and all. Yeah.

PADMA: In that moment,

cooking Brandon's version
of chop suey,

I remember how growing up
between cultures

can be a dance
between two identities.

But Brandon's found a way
to make his two halves whole

with food that's traditional
in spirit

but modern and fresh
in its approach.

This is not at all
what I expected to eat

when you said, "We're gonna
make chop suey."

Perfect. My plan worked.

Your plan... [LAUGHTER]

♪ ♪

[PERSON SPEAKING
NATIVE LANGUAGE]

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

[CONTINUES SPEAKING NATIVE
LANGUAGE]

Oh, my God.
[SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE]

[SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE]

Amy? Hey, hi, Padma.

Hi, nice to meet you.
We were waiting for you.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

PADMA: The recent tech
boom and growth at Silicon Valley

has led to the latest wave
of Chinese immigration

young, educated professionals

bringing their culture
from all regions of China.

Meet Amy Duan.

She arrived in California
ten years ago for college

and saw that what most Americans
referred to as good Chinese food

was far from anything
she recognized.

In true Millennial fashion,
she started a website,

Chihuo, Mandarin for "foodies."

It's a resource
for Chinese immigrants

looking for the good stuff.

AMY: When I first come
to United States,

when I looked up Yelp,
like, a restaurant is

a Chinese restaurant,
five‐star rating.

But when I went there,
it's just‐‐this totally sucks.

[CHUCKLES]

But my friends recommended
a restaurant,

but I looked at Yelp,
it's like 2.5 stars.

But I went there,
I feel, "Oh, my God.

That's this really home‐‐
tastes from home."

So, for Chinese restaurant,
I feel I can do better.

So we started blogging,
and we grew to, like,


in the first week.

Wow.

AMY:
We have accounts in Chicago...

PADMA: Mm‐hmm.
AMY: Boston, Seattle,

Toronto, Vancouver, I. A.

How many followers do you
have with all the accounts combined?

I will say
more than one million.

Yeah. Not bad.

To me, it sounds like
what you're doing

is kind of building
this community,

whereas you know, before,

Chinese in America
had Chinatown.

- Mm.
- But now it's hard
to build community.

So, in a way, your site
has the possibility

of becoming a digital Chinatown.

I think that's what
we're trying to do

because we wanted
to unite all the people

with the same passion
about food.

PADMA: Amy and her team are
bringing the Chinese community

and its food into a new era.

AMY: Yeah, that's good.

You can just, uh

you just dip into it very quick.

PADMA: That's the spiciest one.

What was your first impression
of Chinatown

here in the Bay Area
when you first came?

Oh, my God.
That was really shocking to me.

[LAUGHS] It was like older,

you know, like 1980s in China.

So that's the first impression,
but it's changing.

The whole Chinatown,
I will say, it's evolving,

and I will recommend some very
good Chinese restaurants there.

Not, you know, Americanized‐‐
Chop suey.

- No, no, no.
- Are you saying chop suey?

- Have you ever had chop suey?
- No.

- Do you know what it is?
- I know.

What is it?

It's like a stir‐fry
combination something.

Like vegetables and meat stuff,

but we don't eat it that way.

But I think that's
a very good invention

to make people who didn't know
what Chinese people

didn't know Chinese food,

to give them
a first understanding.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[SOFT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Ah, God damn it. [LAUGHTER]

People are hungry
for more, right?

They want to see
what else Chinese food can be.

- This is really hot.
- It's hot.

It's good.

Mmm!

Each wave
of the immigrant from China,

they change the Chinese food
scene in America.

I think my favorite
is this tofu.

Yeah. Out of everything.

AMY: It's the golden age

for regional Chinese food here.

More and more
new Chinese immigrants

are from different regions,

and they have
a huge potential market

to go to such restaurants.

Also, for Americans,

they care more about
the culture behind the food,

and they start paying attention
to authenticity

and the experiences of the food.

♪ ♪

PADMA: It's an exciting moment
for Chinese food in America.

We've gone beyond chop suey
and General Tso's chicken.

The full spectrum
of food from China,

a massive and diverse country,

is settling quite nicely
on American soil,

and traditional Chinese cuisine

is thriving alongside modern
and exciting new food.

It's taken 200 years,

but we're beginning
to understand the vastness

of Chinese food.

♪ ♪

It's so good.

You can just enjoy it slowly.
It's fine.

[LAUGHTER]