After a mundane day pushing papers and crunching numbers, sometimes there’s nothing better than taking a culinary trip to another country by picking up an ethnic dish, such as General Tso’s Chicken, a burrito, a California roll or spaghetti and meatballs.  Although these items may seem foreign to many, they were actually created in the United States and adapted to suit American palates.  These Americanized dishes each have unique histories, but do their unauthentic origins make them homogenized, phony food? Do they have a place in the culinary world or do they just leave a bad taste in our mouths?

Peng Chang-kuei, who created Genereal Tso’s chicken in the 1950s, tried to hold on to his Hunan province roots while still pleasing his American customers when he opened a New York restaurant in 1973. General Tso’s, which is named after a Hunanese historical figure, originally contained more traditional sour, spicy and salty flavors. But Cheng-kuei altered this recipe for battered and fried chunks of chicken by sweetening it up with sugar for clientele such as Henry Kissinger and diplomats who worked nearby at the United Nations. The dish became famous and members of the Chinese diaspora who opened up restaurants added it to their menus to keep up with Chang-kuei. Chefs experimented with General Tso’s by adding sesame seeds and toning down the spiciness to create sesame chicken, as well as adding citrus to fry up orange chicken. General Tso’s was America’s introduction to Hunanese cuisine, but most people in China had never heard of it.

Michael Ngai, a manager at Szechuan Gourmet in New York (which was recently awarded two stars by The New York Times), said that although his restaurant specializes in traditional dishes, he serves General Tso’s to accommodate picky eaters.

“General Tso’s is not authentic but it’s still a good dish,” Ngai said. “I don’t look down on it. When you have a Chinese restaurant, you have to make everybody happy.”

Chop-suey, which is vegetables and meat stir-fried in a starch-thickened brown sauce, was also born from an urge to serve American customers. New York’s Chinatown restaurants have taken credit for it, but the most common story of chop-suey’s origin is that it was invented in the 1880s in San Francisco by a Chinese cook. A group of patrons arrived as his restaurant was closing and he only had scraps left. He whipped up whatever was around and dubbed the concoction the Cantonese name for “miscellaneous scraps,” tsap seui.

A similar story explains the development of nachos, another meal that was not popularized in the country it has been attributed to. In 1943, a group of American Army wives whose husbands were stationed just south of the U.S.-Mexican border, went to eat at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico. But, the cook was missing in action. Worker Ignacio Anaya took charge and improvised an appetizer: he grabbed some tostados (deep-fried tortillas), grated and melted some Wisconsin cheese on top and added a sliced jalapeño. He called it nachos, for Nacho was a shortened version of  his baptism name, Ignacio. Nachos became a hit in Southern Texas restaurants, but weren’t popular nationally until they were fed to Monday Night Football anchor Howard Cosell as a concession item at Arlington Stadium. He talked about them on television and the rest is history.

Unfortunately, nachos are one of the reasons that Mexican food in America has a negative reputation of being unhealthy, greasy and unrefined.

“That’s one of the greatest misconceptions about Mexican food—that it’s fatty, heavy and high in calories,” said Chef Zarela Martinez, cook book author and head of the Zarela Restaurant in New York, which serves authentic Mexican cuisine. “But actually, it can be very light and healthy, such as with ceviche and vegetable dishes. I do not serve nachos in my restaurant because I have a huge menu dedicated to regional, traditional Mexican food.”

                                        Zarela has been serving real deal Mexican for 20 years   

Martinez also said she keeps it real with fajitas by only serving them with skirt steak—not chicken or shrimp. These ingredients stray from the derivative of the dish’s namesake; the Spanish word faja means “girdle” or “strip” to describe a cut of beef. The term “fajita” was first used to describe the pieces of skirt steak cooked on mesquite coals by Mexican immigrants in Texas. The dish became a staple in Tex-Mex cuisine after the first commercial fajita stand was opened in Kyle, Texas in 1969. Now, fajitas are often served sizzling on a platter with the tortillas and condiments on the side. This presentation may be credited to Chef George Weidmann of the Hyatt Regency La Vista restaurant in Austin.

Some may wonder why Chef Martinez chooses to cook fajitas, a dish that was not even developed in Mexico, at her restaurant. Fajitas did become popular in Mexican regions near the Texas border and although Martinez chooses not to cook most Americanized Mexican dishes, she accepts them as worthy recipes.

“There’s a place for every kind of food in the culinary world,” Martinez said.

This notion may explain the American variations of burritos, originally developed as roadside grub in Ciudad Juarez, a city in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. The word “burrito” means “little donkey” in Spanish and legend has it that a vendor used a donkey to transport himself and his tacos, which he kept warm by wrapping in larger flour tortillas. The traditional “food of the burrito” contained only a couple of ingredients: some combination of meat, potatoes, beans, cheese, chilies or asadero cheese, a white cheese that is usually melted to be as creamy as a dip.

The size of the typical burrito grew north of the border to accommodate Americans’ seemingly insatiable appetites. They are stuffed with even more ingredients, including veggies, guacamole, salsas and sour cream. The common U.S. burrito was created in the 1960s in San Francisco and was nationalized by chain eateries such as Chipotle and Qdoba. McDonald’s, Sonic and Taco Bell popularized breakfast burritos: eggs, sausage, potatoes and onions wrapped up, perfect for enjoying on the go. It was first created in the Southwest, most likely in New Mexico. The wet-burrito, or enchilada-style burrito, is another Americanized version. It is covered in red chili sauce and melted cheese. Unlike regular burritos, it is meant to be eaten with a knife and fork. 

Sushi is another rolled up item that was also bulked up to feed hungry Americans.  Ichiro Manashita, of the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles, invented the California roll in the 1970s for American customers who were grossed out by eating raw fish. California rolls contain imitation crabmeat, flying fish eggs, wedges of avocado and thin slices of cucumber wrapped in vinegar-enhanced rice lined with toasted seaweed. It spawned a variety of innovative maki rolls that are common in American Japanese restaurants, such as the Boston roll, which consists of shrimp, cucumber, avocado and flying fish roe. Although the California roll was exported back to Japan and became popular, sushi purists dismiss the creation as fake and dumbed down. However, the history of traditional Japanese sushi has shown it is subject to interpretation and experimentation has been encouraged.

One of the California roll’s ingredients, avocado, is a signature fruit of this sushi’s state of origin. Ingredient availability is a common reason for the Americanization of ethnic foods. Spaghetti and meatballs is another example of this. This dish is uncommon in Italy, where pasta and meat are usually eaten in separate courses. Also, many Italians could not afford to add meat to their pasta and the meatballs they made were usually very small. However, Italians who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century found that meat was much cheaper on the other side of the Atlantic. Typical Italian-American seasonings, such as garlic, oregano and hot pepper flakes, were also added based on availability. Family recipes were passed on through generations and eventually served in restaurants.

Irene DeBeneditti, who runs the Italian deli Leo’s Latticini in Corona, New York with her two sisters, is not concerned about cooking Italian fare straight from a particular region. To DeBeneditti, authentic Italian food comes from family recipes that are based on “old world traditions.” Her recipes for dishes such as fresh pasta with broccoli rabe come from her grandfather who founded the store, Frank Leo.

“This is old country style so it’s not Americanized,” DeBeneditti said.

Even though the aforementioned Americanized dishes are still popular staples in our country’s culinary melting pot, more and more people are branching out and trying more orthodox ethnic dishes. Zarela Martinez said she notices that her customers are more opened minded than ever.

“People are increasingly sophisticated,” Martinez said. “There’s a whole group of people [of different nationalities] that know a lot about regional Mexican food.”

So perhaps instead of hindering our appreciation for true ethnic fare, these Americanized offerings have actually opened the oven door for Americans to try truer renditions of global foods. Hey, if we can learn to love raw fish, we may start feasting on live fish soon enough.

Written by Alex Rush