Chop suey was invented in which country?

dave_fl

Chop suey, a favorite Chinese dish, is actually American. Most likely, the dish came about because early Chinese miners and railway workers in America cooked together whatever vegetables and meats they had, and when Americans began buying meals from them, the Chinese dubbed the new Chinese-American invention 'a little of this and that' or 'chop suey.' According to a favored bit of lore, an angered Chinese cook mixed together the day's garbage in a bit of broth and presented it to San Francisco restaurant patrons who'd earned his ire. Not knowing any better, those being insulted loved the dish, and much to the amused bewilderment of their tormentors, returned time and again to order it. Chop suey, therefore, is a mispronounciation of 'chopped sewage.' Another 'origin' claims a uniquely-mannered Chinese man was invited to the White House for dinner. That night's menu proved unpalatable to him, so he excused himself from the table and whipped up his own dish out of whatever he could find in the White House kitchen. Some believe chop suey has a New York City origin, and go so far as to claim it was invented in 1896 by Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang's chef. They say he devised this dish to appeal to both American and Oriental taste. Others claim the Ambassador often suffered acute indigestion after being plied with rich foods at obligatory banquets. His aide recommended a bland diet for the stricken Ambassador, and together they concocted chop suey. Apr 08 00, 9:26 AM

zbeckabee

Another theory along with additional input: "Last of all, chop suey is not--as many would-be connoisseurs belive--an American invention. As Li Shu-fan points out in his delightful autobiography, Hong Kong Surgeon (1964), it is a local Toisanese dish. Toisan is an rural district south of Canton, the home for most of the early immigrants from Kwangtung to California. The name is Cantonese tsap seui (Mandarin tsa sui), "Miscellaneous scraps." Basically , it is leftover of odd-lot vegetables stir-fried together. Noodles are often included. Bean sprouts are almost invariably present, but the rest of the dish varies according to whatever is around. The origin myth of chop suey is that it was invented in San Francisco, when someone demanded food late at night at a small Chinese restaurant. Out of food, the restaurant cooked up the day's slops, and chop suey was born. (The "someone" can be a Chinese dignitary, a band of drunken miners, a San Francisco political boss, and so on.)" http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodasian.html#chopsuey Jan 16 08, 4:21 PM