• themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Orange chicken is not a traditional food in China. It was invented in the USA at chinese take out restaurants using locally available ingredients.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      I thought this too, especially after I lived in China for years, but I just went to Southern China and tangerine chicken is a traditional food used for celebrations.

      Even if you don’t eat it, since it’s sweet, it’s like a traditional celebratory good luck food to always have with your feasts at weddings or promotion dinners or family get-togethers.

      First time I ever saw orange chicken in China, but apparently it is a traditional food down south, as far back as anyone I talked to remembers, and it’s important to note that in the south, every spring festival every family and business buys a tangerine tree like a Christmas tree, so definitely not an original Hawaiian creation in 1987 or whatever that cook says it was.

      And not based off general tso’s either, from what I can tell.

    • vexikron@lemmy.zip
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      7 months ago

      No, it isn’t a traditional Chinese recipe, but many American Chinese restaurants have figured out a way to do an analog of it as I described, due to many Americans now expecting it as a basic staple of ‘Chinese food’.