正文翻譯
How is the Chinese food Americans eat different from the food eaten in China, and when and how did the changes happen? What do Chinese people think of American Chinese food?
美國人吃的中餐和中國人吃的有什麼不同？這些變化是什麼時候、怎樣發生的？中國人怎麼看美國的中餐？
評論翻譯
Joseph Wang
Most of the changes seem to be made to adapt Chinese food to middle class American tastes and the fast food environment. Lots of sauces, lots of sugar, heavy on the meat. Everything is fried.
One very odd thing is that there are cuisines that are more similar to Chinese food than American-Chinese food. My wife would buy food in the Hispanic part of Austin, Texas because that food was more similar to Taiwanese food than what you’d find in a American Chinese restaurant. My father would take food trips to the African-American part of town for the same reason.
A lot of this has to do with cooking techniques. The people I know who ran Chinese restaurants for Americans ended up cooking food like McDonalds because that’s what people wanted and it made money.
大部分的改變似乎是為了讓中餐適應美國中產階級的口味和快餐環境。大量的調味料，很多糖，大量的肉。一切都是油炸的。
一件非常奇怪的事情是，有些菜系更像中餐，而不是美式中餐。我妻子會在得克薩斯州奧斯汀的西班牙裔區買菜，因為那裡的菜更像臺灣菜，而不是你在美國中餐館裡能找到的菜。出於同樣的原因，我父親會帶著食物去鎮上的非裔美國人區。
這和烹飪技巧有很大關係。我認識的那些為美國人開中餐館的人最後都做了像麥當勞那樣的食物，因為這是人們想要的，而且能賺錢。
Honghao Bi
500 years ago, chili peppers were taken back from the new world and introduced into China. Chinese started to make spicy dishes. Today, Chinese are running restaurant in America famous for spicy food.
There are many opinions about American Chinese food, but I guess I am the open-minded Chinese.
It's true that American Chinese food is just Chinese style American food, and it tastes like deep-fried sugar. But I don't think it's a joke. Actually, it's one of the greatest things happening in this world.
Although many Chinese dishes are claimed with historical value, the reality is most of the popular Chinese cuisines didn't exist until 100 years ago. Without enough material from all over the world, some dishes are not possible to be invented.
For example, the dish “Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs” is a very common Chinese dish we can see today. Almost every Chinese student start cooking with this dish. There are many different styles of tomato and scrambled eggs, and this dish is one of the most favorite dishes across the whole China.
But, this dish was only invented within the recent 70 years, after Chinese were aware that tomatoes were not toxic.
Another example is spices. Most Chinese dishes we are tasting now require a spice like this:
With high density trains running in and out, spices from all over China gathered in Henan. This makes it possible to produce spice mix with all different kinds of spices. People from all over China came to Henan, providing customers and market for 13 spice mix. In turn, 13 spice mix was invented and gained huge success.
Let’s come back and take a look at American Chinese food. American Chinese food was invented when the first generation Chinese came to America after 1840s (much older than the dishes and spices we talked above). At the beginning, Chinese dishes were not welcomed among Americans. Rumors said Chinese eat mice. That’s actually because Chinese labor had to work and live in very terrible environment, with a lot of mice running around.
It was not until late 1800s, when the dish “Chop Suey” was invented by Wong Chin Foo, that Chinese dishes became accepted by Americans.
500年前，辣椒從新大陸帶回中國。
中國人開始做辣的菜。今天，中國人在美國經營著以辛辣食物聞名的餐館。
關於美國中餐有很多觀點，但我想我是一個思想開放的中國人。
沒錯，美式中餐就是中式的美國菜，吃起來像油炸糖。但我不認為這是個玩笑。事實上，這是世界上最偉大的事情之一。
儘管許多中國菜被認為具有歷史價值，事實上，大多數受歡迎的中國菜系直到100年前才出現。沒有來自世界各地的足夠材料，有些菜是不可能被髮明出來的。
例如，“炒番茄炒蛋”是我們今天看到的一道非常常見的中國菜。幾乎每個中國學生都是從這道菜開始烹飪的。西紅柿炒雞蛋有很多種不同的風格，這道菜是全中國最受歡迎的菜餚之一。
但是，這道菜是近70年來才發明出來的，因為中國人意識到西紅柿是無毒的。
另一個例子是香料。我們現在品嚐的大多數中國菜都需要這樣的調味品：
隨著高密度列車進進出出，來自中國各地的香料聚集在河南。這使得生產各種香料混合料成為可能。來自全國各地的人們來到河南，為客戶和市場提供13種香料組合。接著，13種混合香料被髮明出來，並獲得巨大成功。
讓我們回來看看美式中餐。美式中餐是19世紀40年代後第一代中國人來到美國時發明的(比我們上面談到的菜餚和香料要古老得多)。起初，中國菜不受美國人歡迎。
有傳言說中國人吃老鼠。這實際上是因為中國勞工必須在非常嚴酷的環境中工作和生活，而那些地方有很多老鼠跑來跑去。
直到19世紀末，當王清福發明了“雜燴”這道菜時，中國菜才被美國人接受。
Catherine Feng
As a Chinese person that has eaten American Chinese food, I can say that there are many fundamental differences between American and true Chinese food. I think the differences are mainly based on the tastes and preferences of the people. American Chinese food caters to Americans, while Chinese food caters to Chinese.
One main thing that I notice is that American Chinese food is often a lot sweeter and also oiler than Chinese. I also tend to notice the usage of a lot of sweet soy sauce. Chinese food tends to be lighter and is often less sweet (the sweetness of American Chinese food strikes me as being too strong). I’ve also found that American Chinese food doesn’t get to be as spicy or flavorful as true Chinese food. Chinese food often contains different spices and condiments, and you can often taste the difference.
There are also many different branches of Chinese food, each of which originates from different parts of China. Each branch tastes different. Some are known for being extremely spicy, or for being sweet. It all depends on which area of China.
I believe all of these differences and changes occurred when Americans first began imitating and making Chinese food. I believe the main difference is often the materials used, as well as the seasoning. Americans season food differently than the Chinese, so I think the change happened naturally as Americans began making Chinese food.
I’m not sure how all Chinese people think about American Chinese food, but I tend to avoid it. Personally, I dislike how it tastes heavier than true Chinese food. I think that as a whole, Chinese people would see American Chinese food as a completely different version of their own dishes (like a separate branch of the cuisine or a different cuisine).
作為一個吃過美國中餐的中國人，我可以說，美國菜和真正的中餐有許多根本的區別。我認為差異主要是基於人們的品味和喜好。美式中餐迎合美國人的口味，而中餐則迎合中國人的口味。
我注意到的一件主要事情是，美國中餐通常比中國菜更甜，也更油。我也注意到很多甜醬油的用法。中國菜一般比較清淡，也不太甜(我覺得美國中餐太甜了)。我還發現美式中餐沒有真正的中餐那麼辣或美味。中國食物通常含有不同的香料和調味品，你經常可以嚐到不同的味道。
中國食物也有許多不同的分支，每個分支都起源於中國的不同地區。每個分支嚐起來都不一樣。有些以極辣或極甜而聞名。這完全取決於中國的哪個地區。
我相信所有這些差異和變化都發生在美國人第一次開始模仿和製作中國食物的時候。我認為主要的區別在於所用的材料，以及調料。美國人的調味方式與中國人不同，所以我認為這種變化是在美國人開始做中國菜時自然而然發生的。
我不知道所有中國人是怎麼看待美國中餐的，但我傾向於避開美國中餐。
就我個人而言，我不喜歡它嚐起來比真正的中國菜味道更重。我認為，總體來說，中國人會把美國中餐看作是他們自己菜的完全不同版本(就像一個菜系的分支或不同的菜系)。
