Early January is traditionally a time to pretend like we’re going to improve ourselves, and that this year, this year! the diet will stick and we’ll keep going to the gym. Not even a week into the new year, and I’m sitting here typing on the computer instead of working out, and pretty unapologetically sipping cheap champagne with my dinner of bacon-fat-fried kale and parsnips mashed with plenty of butter and salt. Oh, and listening to terrible cheezy techno too.
None of which actually relates to my point here, which is examining the origin of another thoroughly unhealthy delicacy – General Tso’s Chicken. Well, except maybe learning from history…that’s related. Known throughout the United States as that fried, sweet-but-otherwise-indescribable-tasting staple of Chinese carry-out, the dish is (perhaps unsurprisingly) completely unknown in its allegedly native China.
New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee gave a talk at last year’s TED Taste3 conference detailing her adventures tracking down the venerable General Tso and considers the commercial and social implications of the dish bearing his name. The talk is absolutely fascinating, and even if you’re a vegan diabetic who hates flavor and only eats dried chick peas and broccoli, I highly recommend it.
You can watch the talk, for free, on this page.
(Image courtesy many wiki images and drunken Photoshop endeavors)