So I was interested to read this review from last weekend’s Chicago Tribune by Bich Minh Nguyen about a new book entitled The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, by Jennifer 8. Lee, a writer for the NYT.
In this book, Lee tells us that there are some 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, more than the total number of McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC outlets combined. She looks at the constant stream of Chinese immigrants from Fuzhou, almost all of whom go to work immediately in the restaurants when they arrive in the U.S. — some legally, many illegally. She also looks at the rise of similar situations in Canada, the U.K., and even India (Mumbai may have some of the best Chinese restaurants in the world, apparently).
And, from the book, here’s our factoid of the day: the P.F. Chang’s chain of mid-level Chinese “bistro” restaurants common in many larger American cities was created not by any enterprising Chinese folks, but by the same corporate food people behind the equally non-Australian Outback Steakhouse chain. Crikey!
