#and I'd love this podcaster except she has intense regional pick me vibes and now she's a bitch eating crackers to me

[caseuoiseau]

I once heard a guest on a podcast bitching about how she was actually recording from back home on the east coast, and couldn't get any authentic Chinese food. And then the example she used was that all of the crab rangoons had cream cheese! And I screamed into my empty living room, "BESTIE:

1) Crab rangoons are a wholly American invention!

2) Although the precise origin is disputed, there is a nonzero chance they not only aren't authentically Asian, but that they may have been invented entirely by a white guy from his tiki bar!

3) Everyone agrees that there is no such thing as an "authentic" crab rangoon that doesn't use cream cheese!"

The typically-cited origin of crab rangoons is a 1950s "Tiki Bar" restaurant owned by the guy who started Trader Vic's, specifically by Asian-American chef Joe Young. There's the possibility that the idea had been floating around earlier, but this is the version that really took off, and it included cream cheese.

(Vic Bergeron himself is sometimes cited as the originator, but most people tend to credit Young. Bergeron, however, is apparently the undisputed inventor of the Mai Tai, so I guess my mother and her tennis friends know exactly who to thank for their favorite post-match sushi accompaniment.)

I could have also screamed a bonus point four: the Chow Mein Sandwich, a hyper-regional variation of chow mein served on (well, with) a hamburger bun, created by local Chinese-American restaurant owners at the turn of the 20th century, when the south shore area of Massachusetts, particularly Fall River, was still a thriving textile production area. The regional variation of chow mein was so popular that it was probably why The Oriental Chow Mein Company--an Asian-American family-owned and-operated company founded in 1926 in Fall River--got started, producing the crispy style of chow mein noodles that are popular in the area. (They sell nationally under the name Hoo-Mee.)

When I call it hyper-regional, I mean it: i grew up in the metrowest/central Massachusetts area--a whole maybe hour, hour-and-a-half drive from Fall River?--and I never heard about the chow mein sandwich until I was in my 20s. I'd never even had crisy fried chow mein noodles, I didn't know that was a thing.

Anyway, if that Podcaster wanted authentic Chinese food, rather than American Chinese Food, I'd say she probably does have a better shot at finding regionally specific restaurants in LA. But if they serve crab rangoons, they're doing so to appeal to American Chinese Food enthusiasts, and if they don't use cream cheese, they're inauthentic.

what if i told you that a lot of “Americanized” versions of foods were actually the product of immigrant experiences and are not “bastardized versions”