Culinary Chronicles

Joyce Chen: Changing the Perception of Chinese Food and Culture 
Joyce Chen was born in the Northern City of Beijing, China in 1917 and immigrated to Cambridge, MA in 1949 during the Chinese Communist Revolution. When trying to cook traditional Chinese cooking, she encountered several issues. She could not acquire the necessary ingredients and the Chinese restaurants in the area served food with little resemblance to cuisine from Northern China.  In response, Chen opened her first restaurant, Joyce Chen Restaurant, which focused on Northern Chinese food—one of the first to do so. After her restaurant received positive feedback, she wrote Joyce Chen Cookbook in 1962. Her cookbook teaches Americans how to cook easy and delicious Chinese dishes. Although she was highly respected, Chinese Americans faced decades of racism in the United States. As more Chinese restaurants opened in the 20th century, the popularity for Chinese food grew, but so did the racism towards Chinese immigrants, and Chinese food came to signify inexpensive “ethic” food. Finally, with a shift of attitudes in the US in the 1920’s, Americans started to turn to acceptance, but not in the same regard as other cuisines, such as French. 

Immigration and Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
In 1847, the first Chinese immigrants came to the US. During this time, there were a few select groups who were allowed entrance: male merchants, diplomats, and scholars. In1850, roughly 50 males Chinese were annually allowed to enter the US. During the California gold rush, the number of Chinese immigrants dramatically increased to about 13,000. That all changed with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. From 1882-1943, Chinese immigration was essentially banned, with few exceptions. Even when the US government repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act, a limit of 100 Chinese immigrants who could enter every year remained. In post-war America, US officials considered Chinese immigrant labor crucial to the economy. The jobs that were performed were labor intensive—agriculture, fishing, and mining--but poorly paid. 
Despite the Exclusion Act, Chinese restaurants had opened in the United States, at first to feed the male Chinese immigrants. Open in enclaves, or Chinatowns, non-Chinese diners flocked to the restaurants out of curiosity, adventure, and excellent tasting food. The most notable was Chin Lee’s which opened in 1921 in NYC. Chin Lee’s was run by Chinese immigrant families, and their goal was for Americans to accept Chinese immigration and understand Chinese cuisine. In particular, Chop Suey, became de rigueur for sophisticated Americans, and later mainstream Americans, to eat. Eventually, Chin Lee’s reached ‘merchant status.’ Gaining merchant status meant the business was becoming accepted into American culture. Immigrants were able to sponsor their families in China to come to the US for more opportunities. By 1930, Chinese restaurants became one of the largest industries which employed Chinese immigrants, and it was through training new immigrant that workers in Chinese restaurants adopted the practice of numbering their dishes. Today, Chinese restaurants outnumber “western” fast food restaurants in the US.

 
Americanized Chinese Food and Chop Suey 
The Joyce Chen Cookbook was written to introduce Americans to more traditional Chinese food in the United States. In the preface she writes, “Some dishes considered Chinese, had been so adapted to American kitchen, grocery stores, and tastes’ that the dishes they describe are not really Chinese at all'' (Chen). The recipes themselves are traditional, but the methods are not traditional to most Chinese homes. When cooking classic Chinese food, rather than using a written recipe, it is cooked by intuition. For example, chop suey was made by Chinese immigrants solely for American tastes, but the idea was not particular to one dish. Rather, it was a term to encompass a specific category or dishes. The term that Chinese citizens used to refer to these types of dishes was ‘stir-fried’, but Americans could not understand what that term meant. Chop Suey was a worldwide phenomenon in the United States during the exclusion era. American citizens loved chop suey and chow mein style dishes. In the 1920’s, these two dishes were said to be a part of American diets alongside the classics: ham and eggs, coffee, and all-American pie. To avoid confusion for her American audience, Chen is specific with the names of her dishes in her cookbook. This way, American readers understand exactly what they will be cooking.  Chen does not include a recipe for chop suey, nor any dish that has ‘stir-fry’ in the name and instead uses a name which describes the elements of the dishes, such as chicken with broccoli. The removal of these names reaches Chen’s goal of making a traditional Chinese cookbook, but there are still some factors that might point to the Americanization of Chinese cuisine. Guotie, (锅贴) was renamed Peking Ravioli by Chen to appeal to the Italian immigrants in Boston. Although the name ‘ravioli’ is not an American term, it illustrates the rich history of immigration to the US.  

Joyce Chen as an Entrepreneur
Ten years after Chen wrote her cookbook, she began to release her own line of cooking utensils and equipment. Chen sold equipment that is most traditional to Chinese kitchens, such as woks, knives, steamers, and teapots. Chen also created and patented the ‘Peking Wok,’ a flat bottom pan for stir fry, which is an amalgamation between a wok and a standard sauté pan, that can be used on an American stove, while still using the ‘stir-fry’ technique. Chen was an important entrepreneur through her creation of products for her American audience. Lastly, alongside her cookbook and line of kitchen equipment in 1984, Chen manufactured and bottled Chinese sauces and oils for Americans to purchase at their non-specialty grocery store. 

Conclusion 
Today, Chinese cuisine is one of the most popular choices for Americans when deciding what is for dinner. Chinese food in America has a racialized past that was perpetuated through the US government and popular culture. Chinese culture went from exclusion to ignorance to infatuation among subgroups; yet issues remain. At the start of the 2020 pandemic, there was an increase in violence toward Asian—especially Chinese Americans and their businesses. ‘Stop Asian Hate’ was a national coalition working to educate and end the prejudice.  

For Further Research
Alexander, Kerri. “Biography: Joyce Chen.” Joyce Chen Biography, 
Coe, Andrew. Chop Suey. Oxford University Press, 16 July 2009, pp. 180–210.
Chen, Joyce J. “The Impact of Skill-Based Immigration Restrictions: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.” Journal of Human Capital, vol. 9, no. 3, 2015, pp. 298–328. 
Chen, J. (1962). Joyce Chen cook book. J.B. Lippincott Company 
Chen, Stephen. “Joyce Chen: Chinese Chef, Restaurateur, Entrepreneur, WGBH Host.” Joycechenfoods.com.
Debbie Kuo, Jou Lan. “The History of Chinese Immigration to the United States.” Www2.Hawaii.edu.
“Joyce Chen Healthier Asian Products - Gluten Free, Kosher.” Joycechenfoods.com.
Lee, Heather R. “The Untold Story of Chinese Restaurants in America.” Scholars Strategy Network, 20 May 2015, scholars.org/brief/untold-story-chinese-restaurants-america.
Lee, Heather. “In Pursuit of Merchant Status: The Migration Strategy of Early Twentieth Chinese Restaurant Owners under Chinese Exclusion.” Organization of American Historians.
Mendelson, Anne. Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey. New York Columbia University Press, 2016.
Wang, L. Ling-chi. “Roots and Changing Identity of the Chinese in the United States.” Daedalus, vol. 120, no. 2, 1991, pp. 181–206.