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"The Search for General Tso": The Origin Story of General Tso's Chicken

The new food documentary The Search for General Tso takes viewers on a gastronomic journey. The film’s producer is New York Times writer and Splendid Table guest host Jennifer 8. Lee. She’ll clue us in on the origins of General Tso’s chicken and other Chinese dishes that enjoy worldwide popularity.

 

Lee talks about the origin of General Tso’s Chicken :

“ All evidence points to the fact that the general never actually ate the chicken dish. There was a chef in Taiwan in the 1950’s that created it at a banquet for the nationalist government. The chef himself was from the Hunan province, which is where the general [General Tso] is from… so he named the dish in the general’s honor. That dish came to the United States, but the dish we eat today no way resembles the dish that he cooked.”

She also reminds us that Chinese food served in America is not authentic.

“The Chinese food we eat in America like beef with broccoli, egg rolls, [or] General Tso's chicken does not resemble what Chinese people actually eat in China.”

http://youtu.be/7z0hmBIR8BE

"The Search for General Tso” is available on video on demand platforms such as Google Play, Amazon, iTunes and will be screened tonight at 7:30 pm at the Hollywood Theatre in Dormont.

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