Surprising Origins of Famous Foods
—Anastasia Avvakumova
Many foreign foods have been adopted by outside cultures around the world. But once flavors mix to create new dishes, it can be hard to determine who really invented them.
In America, General Tso's chicken is a popular fried dish in Chinese restaurants. It's famous for its sweet, sticky sauce. Although General Tso was from Hunan, the chicken that bears his name isn't famous there. Peng Chang-kuei, a Hunanese chef, invented the dish after he moved to Taiwan. Restaurant owners from New York tried Peng's dish in Taipei and then re-created it in the United States with a sweeter flavor.
Fortune cookies come at the end of the meal at American Chinese restaurants. They are simple, crunchy sweets with a paper fortune inside. Few people realize that the cookies have origins in Japan. In fact, a few families in Kyoto have been making similar treats by hand since the 19th century. From Japanese-owned Chinese restaurants in San Francisco, the cookies spread throughout America. However, they are still hard to find in China.
令人意想不到的食物典故
世界各地很多外國食物都被外來文化吸收採納。但一旦各種風味混合創造出新菜色，就可能很難斷定誰才是真正發明這些菜色的人。
在美國，左宗棠雞是中菜館裡一道熱門的油炸料理，以黏稠的甜味醬料聞名。雖然左宗棠來自湖南，但以他為名的這道雞肉料理在那裡並不出名。一名湘菜廚師彭長貴搬到台灣後發明了這道菜。來自紐約的餐廳老闆在台北嚐過彭長貴的這道菜後，接著在美國以更甜的口味重新改造了這道菜。
在美國的中菜館，用完餐後會送上幸運餅乾。這是簡單、酥脆的甜點，裡面有一張幸運籤。很少人知道這種餅乾源自日本。事實上，從十九世紀以來，在京都有一些家庭一直以手工製作類似的點心。這些餅乾從日本人在舊金山經營的中菜館傳遍美國各地。然而，在中國仍然很難找到這種餅乾。
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