Fig 1: Showing an image of General Tso’s chicken served with broccoli. (Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Tso%27s_Chicken.JPG#file on 4 December 2017).
General Tso’s chicken is the the dish that I am likely to encounter in my journey to New York City. “General Tso’s chicken is made of chopped, dark meat chicken that is battered, deep-fried and coated in a sugary-sweet, rich garlic hoisin sauce, speckled with hot chilli peppers and sesame “(Zaino). The food is named after a Chinese General but it was invented by a Chinese immigrant Peng Chang-kuei which was introduced to New York and subsequently Americanised during the 1970s Hunan craze in the city (Quora). Peng cooked it for the first time for the US Seventh Fleet commander Admiral Arthur W. Radford when he visited as he ran out of recipies (Quora). I was interested in this food because I want to learn more about the Chinese American culture.
In a cultural perspective, General Tso’s chicken helps bring diversity by introducing Chinese culture to Americans. The history behind the name ‘General Tso’ who was a famous Chinese dynasty in China is also very interesting hence this attracts more American consumers. The Chinese tourist market also benefit a lot as tourists have made it popular in China as they try to learn the history about General Tso. According to Mustafa Koc and Jennifer Welsh, food is the key component of our culture, central to our sense of identity. General Tso’s chicken can be considered part of the identity of Chinese immigrants as it helps them develop the feeling of belonging to the new countries. Drawing from Multiculturalism, identity and food lecture by Dr. Tajali, we can see how general tso’s chicken has introduced part of the Chinese culture and history in America. When the Chinese immigrants introduced the dish, its increase in demand among immigrants made it famous among native Americans. Due to intercultural communication, the dish was also made famous in China where it was not known before in order to accommodate the increasing number of tourists who ask for it in restaurants.
The role of organizations play a big role in supplying general tso’s chicken and the spices used to make it. Restaurants in New York supply general tso’s chicken to people’s homes through take out. Suppliers of the spices and ingredients for general tso’s chicken include various super markets, international food markets and online organizations like Amazon. It is also very easy to get the ingredients in the local markets for example soy sauce, ginger, oil, chicken meat, vinegar and other ingredients. The type of chicken used is normally boneless chicken meat or chicken breast which is also available in many places.
General Tso’s chicken can be consumed with vegetables and rice. The price of rice in New York city is very reasonable as 1kg of rice is $4.65. Vegetables are available in many food markets especially farmer’s markets whose numbers are increasing because of their high demand. The main challenge that people in most low income communities face today is the accessibility of farmer’s market in their areas that supply fresh food. I think that the government should step in and persuade big food corporations to open up fresh food markets in these areas in order to help these communities have access to good cheap fresh foods. Looking at it from the environmental perspective, rice is one of the crop that is affected by climatic changes. When there is drought in most developing countries the price of rice goes up hence the imported rice becomes very expensive. The rice domestically produced hence becomes more cheaper and hence the demand for rice shifts to to domestically produced one. This keeps the developing countries at a tough economic position therefore the developed countries should step in and subsidize imported goods by either providing machinery or better techniques to improve farming.
According to Giovanna Martelli’s review article, the perception of a link between food quality, food safety and animal welfare can favorably affect the welfare level of farmed animals. In the study done in the article there is a rise in demand for animal friendly environments in order to improve the welfare of the animals. This creates a rise in demand for animals welfare products in the markets hence makes producers adopt to practices that improve the health of the animals. This can be by practicing free range and carrying out sustainable farming by avoiding using antibiotics and hormones to raise animals. Due to an increase in demand of keeping cage free chickens, laws have been passed in New York to allow chickens in residential areas example in the backyard of the house (Etherington). Education about animal welfare is very important in order to improve the health of the animals and ensure that consumers are free from health problems caused by eating food that is chemically enhanced.
Works Cited
ChefDaddy, et al. “General Tsao’s Chicken II Recipe.” Allrecipes, N.p, 22 Aug. 2011, allrecipes.com/recipe/91499/general-tsaos-chicken-ii/.
Etherington, Cait. “Raising Chickens in New York City: Laws, Tips and Everything Else You Need to Know.” 6sqft, N.p, 24 July 2017, www.6sqft.com/raising-chickens-in-new-york-city-laws-tips-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know/.
Koc, Mustafa, and Jennifer Welsh. “Food Identity and the Immigrant Experience.” Ryerson University. 2002.
Martelli, Giovanna. “Consumers perception of farm animal welfare: an Italian and European perspective.” 6 June 2007.
Quora. “What Is the History Behind General Tso’s Chicken?” The Huffington Post, Oath Inc, 23 Dec. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/what-is-the-history-behin_b_6373782.html.
Zaino, Caitlin. “Top 10 foods to try in New York.” BBC Good Food, www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-foods-try-new-york.
