The History of American Food

151 The First Chinese Food in America

Aug 6, 2025 · 38 min · Season 4 · 55.5 MB
0:00-38:34

Streams straight from the publisher. podnod never proxies or re-hosts episode audio.

First of all - sorry about the diferent mic.  But this way we get the episode.  I'll see what I can do to make things better for next ep - and all will be back to normal by the one after that.

Anyway - 19th Century Chinese Food?

What can I tell you?  It would have looked much the same as lots of the food you will find right now around the Pearl RIver Delta, the old district of Canton - now known as Guangzhou.

But this episode is not just about the food - it also looks a bit into how the US and China started dealing with each other.  How did that stream of labor from China - that would be essential in the gold fileds and then the construction of the US railroads get a foot hold in California.

While there is much made of the Chinese presence in New York - and how they influenced east coast culture - there is the less well known story of China and the early west.
So grab your dried fish, pickled vegetables, boiled millet and see what's there.



Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood