 These are seven famous Asian dishes that everybody loves but are actually invented in America. Does orange chicken count as Asian food? Maybe it does because it's delicious but not top suey. That's not that good. We got to talk about it because this article says these American-born Asian cuisines represent immigrant ingenuity, cultural exchange, and in many cases adaptation. And there is a discussion in the comment section Andrew. Should these count as authentic Asian food or not because they're authentic to the Asian American experience even though you cannot find them in Asia. Alright guys please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the hot pot boys. One thing that is Asian and made in America and kind of made for everyone but you know made with Asian taste buds in mind is Smala sold out right now but check it out Smala. Hey from search one assist Lee. Interestingly enough Andrew Smala it goes well on these Asian American dishes but also Asian Asian dishes. Let's lead off Andrew with orange chicken. Made in America. They said that it is based off loosely a Hunan dish which is called Chang Ji which uses dried citrus peels. However the modern day iteration that is essentially like orange soda, Fanta, and chicken nuggets mixed together was invented in the 1980s by the head chef at Panda Express. Very delicious though. I will say this kind of tastes like candy. I will say this. This is the one almost one of the most universally loved Asian American dishes. You can't go against this one. Alright David now not all the dishes are Chinese. What's the next one? The California roll and there was a lot of debate about who invented it. Was it LA? Was it Vancouver? But basically invented in the 1960s got imitation crab in it avocado cucumber. Yeah you can't tell me that when you go to very authentic Japanese spots they don't really have imitation crab. I don't know is that a thing? No they would rather put real crab. Yeah but was that I don't know where imitation crab comes from. I want to say it was way cheaper and also some Americans only eat imitation crab which is actually made from fish. Exactly so California roll is obviously designed for Americans. By the way I think these dishes we have to note although they were invented and made by Asian people in America or in North America that they were kind of making this catering to the American taste buds. Yes yes yes most of these recipes were concocted in the 1930s 40s 50s 60s and 70s obviously orange chicken probably being the last one made up in the 80s. Since the 80s Andrew people have been leaning more into renditions like one-to-one copies of dishes from Asia. Right so David one of the other old school ones is chop suey. This is not a dish that I think even a lot of Chinese restaurants serve today. Well it's really just a concept. Chop suey. Chop suey in Cantonese just means just whatever you have left over chopped up throw it in a wok. Right I mean technically I guess if you take leftovers and you just chop stuff up and you stir fry it it is chop suey in some way but no one is going to order chop suey in probably most cities in America. Right they said it emerged in 1884 in Chinatown's SS New York. I heard now that I believe chop suey I'm not sure if that was designed only for Americans but even for maybe the Asian community Chinese community at that time. They said that people were even eating it in the the gold mines because you just had the scraps left over. Right it's kind of like a kind of born out of struggle. I mean it is sort of like throwing everything into a crock pot in a western sense. That's sometimes what people used to do with fried rice. Fried rice used to you can see fried rice as kind of less well you know you take the leftover thing and you put it in rice and egg and there you go. General So's chicken is up next Andrew this one is like more heavily debated. General So he was supposed to be a Hunan chef a lot of Hunan influence in this stuff more than you think and basically a lot of people argue over who created it. What's your opinion on General So's for me. I'm way more of an orange chicken guy. We just recently got General So's though we were at the Pittsburgh airport and we got some of Chai's Pittsburgh fusion cuisine because there's still more into like the old school 1970s recipes and remember what she told us because we asked the lady we said hey how come you don't serve orange chicken here but she was serving General So's and chicken and broccoli and then she goes well actually you know it's a Panda Express serves the orange chicken so we don't want to compete. We just specialize in the General So's and I thought their General So's was really good. If you think about Pittsburgh Andrew it's so throwback she's like no no no that's too modern the orange chicken is too cutting edge just keep a General So's apparently they didn't update that to the 80s firmware yet. Crab Rangoon actually emerged from a Polynesian sticky style restaurant called Trader Vix in the 1950s. There was an Asian-American chef who was working for a white guy called Joe Young and he basically took cream cheese and he put it in a wonton wrapper wrapped it up Friday called it Yangon which was at that time the capital of Burma but it nowadays Rangoon. This one the story of the crab Rangoon is always very interesting to me because it's not just Chinese it's like at a Polynesian Tiki restaurant but named after a Burmese city white owner a white American chef who was probably twice and then now crab Rangoon is sold everywhere even at super Americanized Thai restaurants and Chinese restaurants. I believe Trader Joe's has crab Rangoon. Oh yeah no they're pretty good honestly Trader Joe's and Tiki themed they have a lot of like these 1930s dishes but this next one is not served by Trader Joe's. Ed Foo Young was invented in the 1930s it's been around for a hundred years it's a pancake filled with eggs vegetables meat and seafood they said they invented at the St. Louis Missouri in 1930 this dish is low-key actually kind of good I've had it before for the first time I think I had it like five years ago I'll tell you this this dish actually actually David we you would see it sometimes at the larger Chinese buffets back in the day like this was like when we were growing up probably not anymore no and I would never get it because it just looked like a pile of eggs but actually as I got older I think I might even appreciate this dish a little bit more right which is funny even though it's not like a dish I'll look out for I'm just saying if there's a good fresh egg Foo Young and I happen to be at that buffet I might take a scoop it's better than people think yeah moving on Andrew we've got the fortune cookie fortune cookie actually invented by a Japanese immigrant Makato Hagiwara in the early 1900s but then it has become associated with Chinese cuisine yeah we looked into this they have been eating these as part of the Shinto ritual for hundreds of years in Japan but they only eat it once a year for new years right and there is no Confucius saying inside I don't think right yeah but but you know what's funny David this is one of the two main food things that gets accredited to Chinese that's actually from Japan you know what the other one is MSG a jet Aji Moto that's the that's the main MSG brand it was invented in Japan but obviously Chinese restaurants kind of get the bad rep for it anyways guys I will say this there's a couple things that got left off this list Andrew in the south and in the Midwest they like bourbon chicken okay I want to say that was invented possibly in the 90s bourbon chicken is like essentially grilled chicken but it's kind of served at the Asian buffet there may be some Asian barbecue sauce in there mixed in with the regular but it's not that Asian of a dish it's not that Asian uh uh you know what else is in there almond chicken almond chicken and cashew chicken but you know why a lot of people don't know about those some of these like dishes they only stayed in that region like I know you know what I mean like I mean in the Midwest or something I mean I think it goes the same for lemon chicken all these other right lemon chicken that's not from China right I know in um parts of Canada they eat strawberry beef yeah or they eat like tangerine beef or something like that like basically these are like regional things like so these are dishes kind of designed to serve the American market and American taste buds and we're going to talk about American taste buds but I want to shout out to some Asian Asian dishes that were invented in America for other Asians in America I mean these are Asian enclave dishes they don't exist in the motherland yeah like these weren't invented in Asia but they were made for the Asian community in America scallion pancake beef roll from Taiwanese which is the neurodrembing neurodrembing one of my favorite foods originally based off this uh Chun Bing from Shandong where they just got this big ass green onion in it but then they added beef and hoisin and other things right they kind of made it a sandwich LA Calbee which is the short rib Calbee as in Korea they didn't start eating that short rib Calbee until LA did LA came up you mean with the bone in it yes and then short rib for I'm pretty sure correct me if I'm wrong that was invented in America where we have the big beef ribs don't you want to say that that was just invented like 10 years ago yeah that's a pretty recently new thing and then any Asian buffet in America kind of is sort of for Asians but sort of for Americans anyways anyways David what is your major takeaway before we get into the comment section um I'll say this man it's really interesting to see different like age ranges of people in their relationship with American invented Asian foods some people think they're legit some people think they're not legit and other people are just being more sensible where it's like I just enjoy it when I like it and I'm feeling really American but hell no it's not authentic food no because it was originally conceived to cater to make money right so it's kind of like how do you so how traditional or authentic of Chinese food are these dishes or are they fake Chinese food I don't really agree with the term fake Chinese food but it's definitely not authentic Chinese food yeah it could still be good but obviously it's done with a completely different philosophy in mind typically older Americans enter from the 1950s 60s 70s their palates are very simple it's like post-war world war two they want just something sweet yeah I like that sweet chicken they give me that orange chicken give me that orange chicken like a KitKat bar you know what I like to do I like to take them crab rangoons and then dip them in the orange chicken sauce so now I got orange chicken crab rangoon it's not like what a stereo typical or even a typical like Asian taste palate enjoys but so I guess what I'm saying is like how could it be authentic if it was catered for somebody else that doesn't make any sense no I don't I don't get Italian saying that the Chinese durian pizzas are authentic yeah it can be good you can enjoy it but hell no that's not a real pizza does somebody from Italy well even the Philly cheesesteak pizza is not authentic um I think yeah I mean anyways guys food doesn't need a label yeah obviously I think people most people are past the point of calling like orange chicken authentic Chinese food just call it Western Chinese food Western Asian food Americanized Asian food but you know what I realized there are a few people and I feel like they're like dwindling nowadays as America becomes more like closer to Asia but people who only care they care more about Asian American culture than Asian culture like you know there's a few Asian Americans that like still fall into that and they were arguing they were like you know what this it doesn't even matter you can't gatekeep what's authentic and I'm like no just say you like it and it's inauthentic because you can gatekeep what is authentic literally there are a why can't you gatekeep what is authentic yeah yeah no I so as far as gatekeeping that's legit like you can gatekeep because if it's not authentic it's not authentic but that doesn't mean it's bad and whack and that we should need it right that's what I mean like I eat inauthentic Mexican food all the time right you like some hard shell taco I like some hard taco time I still eat Taco Bell to this day sometimes Mexican nuggets is that what a person from Puebla Mexico walking a Taco Bell and recognize any of the dishes recognize maybe like 2% of the menu right but it doesn't it could be valid but no it's not authentic yeah no no um California rolls are from Canada a lot of people were arguing about it who invented it the Philadelphia roll Andrew interestingly enough was based off Philadelphia cream cheese rather than the city yeah because there's nothing really like Philly about it because Andrew a Philadelphia roll should have Philly cheese steaks in it but shouldn't isn't Philadelphia cream cheese from Philadelphia it's not but it was invented in Philadelphia weirdly enough um some people were arguing about orange chicken all right here's the thing well well what's argument about our chicken that Panda Express didn't invent it and I'm saying this I believe Panda Express in terms of the gigantic meat chunks where it tastes like chicken McNuggets mixed with orange Fanta they invented it that version that popped off they might not have invented the idea of obviously putting sweet orange peel in with meat and then frying it uh people were talking about how man the only thing that people know from Burma is the crab rangoon but then obviously nobody eats like tea leaf salad or mohinga right right right but it's it's growing it's growing um people were just saying man chop suey was just invented everywhere around the world because every Chinatown even the old ones in the Philippines from like 1600s because Chinese have been in the Philippines for a really long time uh they got chop suey too you know I appreciate and I'm coming to appreciate about chop suey general so's crab rangoons and eggfu young on this list is that those actually have Asian words in them what's based off chop suey is literally Cantonese yeah yeah it's so it's literally based off the Chinese word orange chicken those are two English words where I'm saying you're making other people say and these are considered borrow words from a a a uh uh culture where those are Chinese words like so TSO imagine how hard that was for the first time when when like a white like an American was trying to get general to so's how do we say that general because the t in the s is just not in the English language yeah the t in the s it's like it's supposed to be switched so you just kind of uh you just kind of make the drop the t but anyways can I get some general TSO um ultimately that you know do you think there's going to be more American Asian dishes invented like this in the future or are we now really on just porting things directly over from oh okay so one I think we are porting a lot of food straight from Asia from the Asian chains yeah because there's a lot more like international trade right you can get the ingredients now yeah literally embargo on Sichuan peppercorns these brands are coming from China over here so but I also think that there's more any new kind of Asian dishes I do think have more Asians in mind like no one's just catering purely to American taste buds anymore you know what I mean right like obviously when we made smaller sauce like I do want everybody to like it but we did make it with Asians in mind they had to satisfy the Asian market where it's like maybe orange chicken when they made it they were like being expressed was like hey you know like if we make this dish and you know maybe the real Chinese people they don't really eat it but everybody else likes it it's okay but it's like we would need Asians to approve this right yes so I mean I think there's just a I think the whole argument about authentic what's inauthentic I think you need to still be able to hold on and be like yo this is from the motherland or this came from the motherland so this is authentic but at the end of the day enjoy what you like man because I'll tell you this when I see a panda express at the airport I even see a little Manchu walk a little China walk express I'm curious you know I am yeah well because it's kind of a peer into somebody else's like a boomer old non-Asian or a white person's view on your culture because these spots are catering to non-Asians that are like 50 and up yeah if you're 50 and up in America chances are you're probably white yeah right so I'm saying that you know how like all those old movies where they're like my darling little egg-foo young little long-tone shrimp or whatever you know what I mean like what I'm saying that those are all the words that they know from their firmware update well yeah they're stuck on well yeah well now Americans might know Malah it's Malah might know Malah yeah because 30 and under yeah 30 and under but in the cities but anyways guys uh let us know what you think in the comments down below this is not the most serious topic to be honest but I do think that you there is a sense of gatekeeping it's not to say gatekeeping as in like other people can't participate but labels have labels for a reason and it's like dude inauthentic authentic it could still be delicious it could still yeah go with your flavor palette your tongue morsels or whatever yeah sometimes once in a while I meet an authentic Asian dish that I'm not the biggest fan of and that I might even prefer the Americanized version of with a few dishes yeah yeah so that's not I'm admitting that but I'm also saying like hey I don't take orange chicken over Changi from Hunan which is not even that popular dish I don't even know if I've had that I had it it doesn't it doesn't have it probably doesn't hit as hard it doesn't taste like orange soda yeah yeah anyways I mean obviously the sweetness hits you and insulin spikes and your taste buds go crazy fried chicken anyways guys let us know in the comments down below what you think oh last thing I wanted to say if you guys want to try some authentic Chinese food from a province that tastes like American Chinese food on a flavor palette wise thing but a more elevated version try some Dongbei food oh yeah Dongbei food from northeastern China tastes like a more advanced version of American Chinese food yeah from like a weird like the tongue zone you're saying the sweet and sour pork chops like yeah and then if you've ever had the Korean Chinese version of it which is it's like it's kind of tastes like an Americanized Chinese dish like it's very sweet syrupy and it's fried pork the nomads like it's simple the nomads like it's simple anyway guys let us know what you think in the comment section below until next time we the hot pot boys we out peace