About the Book A food history that illuminates a communitys struggle for survival. Book Synopsis Chinese food first became popular in America under the shadow of violence against Chinese aliens, a despised racial minority ineligible for United States citizenship. The founding of late-nineteenth-century chop suey restaurants that pitched an altered version of Cantonese cuisine to white patrons despite a virulently anti-Chinese climate is one of several pivotal events in Anne Mendelsons thoughtful history of American Chinese food. Chow Chop Suey uses cooking to trace different stages of the Chinese communitys footing in the larger white society. Mendelson begins with the arrival of men from the poorest district of Canton Province during the Gold Rush. She describes the formation of American Chinatowns and examines the curious racial dynamic underlying the purposeful invention of hybridized Chinese American food, historically prepared by Cantonese-descended cooks for whites incapable of grasping Chinese culinary principles. Mendelson then follows the eventual abolition of anti-Chinese immigration laws and the many demographic changes that transformed the face of Chinese cooking in America during and after the Cold War. Mendelson concludes with the post-1965 arrival of Chinese immigrants from Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and many regions of mainland China. As she shows, they have immeasurably enriched Chinese cooking in America but tend to form comparatively self-sufficient enclaves in which they, unlike their predecessors, are not dependent on cooking for a white clientele. Review Quotes Chow Chop Suey provides a nuanced and invaluable analysis of Americas struggle to codify Chinese and Chinese American cooking in English . . . Mendelson maintains a compelling narrative that successfully enlivens a story close-to-overflowing with detail.--Alice McLean Journal of American Ethnic History A unique insight into the origin of a well-loved cuisine deeply rooted in histories of immigration, racialized oppression, and international relations which converged in uneven and sometimes surprising ways to create the conditions of possibility for the formation of a novel and quintessentially American Chinese food. -- Middle Ground Journal A deeply researched look at the history of Chinese food in the U.S. Ill be dipping into it for years.-- Wall Street Journal A solid choice for readers interested in Chinese immigration and U.S.-China history, as well as those curious about American foodways and culinary culture.-- Library Journal A timely and nuanced reminder that Chinese-American identity has long been conflated with Chinese food.--Peter Ho Davies Times Literary Supplement Anne Mendelson writes like the engaged scholar she is, with dry wit and easy, uncompromising erudition.... [Chow Chop Suey] is full of wonder.-- New York Times Essential reading for understanding the history of Chinese food in America.-- Choice Provides good historical context for how the Chinese food we eat in the United States made it to our plates.-- American Historical Review Well-researched and well-written.-- Journal of American History Chow Chop Suey is a well-written and insightful guide to the Chinese food scene in America. In a field full of myths, Anne Mendelsons book is accurate and detailed. A delightful read!--Eugene N. Anderson, author of, Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China Chow Chop Suey is an eye-opener, a book that will give everyone a deep appreciation of the exquisite skill required to produce authentic Chinese food and the sweep of history that brought Chinese cooking to America. Anne Mendelsons prodigious research has given us a highly respectful, insightful, refreshing, wonderfully written, and utterly compelling account of the role and plight of Chinese restaurant workers in this country. I learned something new on every page.--Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of Soda Politics Anne Mendelson brings together political and culinary history, showing that it was by inventing quasi-Chinese dishes that titillated American palates that Cantonese immigrants found a way to survive anti-Asia persecution. Gripping, authoritative, and timely.--Rachel Laudan, author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History There are other accounts of the American enthusiasm for Chinese food and the simultaneous persecution of Chinese immigrants. What makes Anne Mendelsons Chow Chop Suey unique is how it integrates cooking styles with American and Chinese cultural contrasts. Mendelson never loses sight of the food and how Chinese restaurants and American experts of various sorts shaped a cuisine that was both exotic and irresistible. No one has discussed in such a fascinating and authoritative way the American misunderstanding of basic Chinese culinary principles, the importance of a few key cookbooks and restaurants, and the gradual awakening of American palates to something resembling actual Chinese food in the postwar decades. Fun to read, judicious, and above all authoritative.--Paul Freedman, author of Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination Well-written and impeccably researched, Chow Chop Suey is a beautiful ode both to the history of Chinese Americans and the intriguing ways in which Chinas rich food culture continues to take root here and flourish. Anne Mendelsons section on Chinese American cookbook writers is nothing less than a classic, for she brings sense and order to a long overlooked field with her customary clear perspective and dry wit. Mendelson is one of my favorite food writers and Id expect nothing less, but this time shes outdone herself.--Carolyn Phillips, author of All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China and The Dim Sum Field Guide About the Author Anne Mendelson is a culinary historian and freelance writer specializing in food-related subjects. She has worked as editorial consultant and collaborator on several cookbooks and has contributed entries to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2005). She is the author of Milk (2008) and Stand Facing the Stove (1996).