Thread by @gauravsabnis

Somehow, I think we in the United States will manage to cope with this devastating revelation.

https://twitter.com/WhiskyOpinions/status/1369126516760666112

As the world's foremost lover of the "American Chopsuey" from Indian restaurants (I have it delivered from Curry Hill regularly), here's a short thread on why that sweet tomato-ey thing has a hilarious and also wholesome origin story typifying late 20th century food fusion.

The story starts in late 19th C California where this dish called "chop suey" was created. It literally just means leftovers or scraps. But it became a thing in the American-Chinese scene and the name became universal. But the original chop suey in America is not like in India.

So in America, Chinese restaurants are serving a Chop Suey throughout the 20th century. The term becomes equated with chinese food, even though no such dish ever existed in China.
In the US, it is still a semi bland bowl of wok tossed veggies, meat, sauces. No tomato here.

The first time someone sells something called "American Chopsuey", it's either in England or New England (sources vary). This is indeed very tomato based. The dish though is more Italian than Chinese. Practically pasta. It is macaroni, tomato sauce, meat.

I'm assuming the name behind the logic was that regular Chinese chopsuey (which isn't a Chinese dish anyway) has noodles, so if those are replaced with macaroni, that becomes an "American" chopsuey. Like even Yankee Doodle calls a feather macaroni for some reason. So American!

The Indian leg of the origin story is a bit short on verification, so this is just what I've heard from those in the know. Someone who had tasted the tomato-macaroni thing decided to add it to the menu too. But macaroni was not easy to source in 1970s India. Noodles were.

So either in bombay (maybe flora) or calcutta (Tangra), "American Chopsuey" is added to a menu in the 70s with the tomato and meat and egg like in England/New England. But the macaroni is replaced with crispy fried noodles. And thus the Indian American Chopsuey is born.

This is like such a multi layered fusion story of cross cultural food influences in the 20th century. What Americans call chinese chop suey, the Chinese can't recognize. What Indians call American Chopsuey, neither the Americans nor the Chinese can recognize. 🤣🤣

So what's the "American Chopsuey" I so love? Probably the only sweetish thing I eat. It's crispy deep fried noodles topped with a sweet cornstarch stew with tomato, some veggies and meat, and a fried egg on top.

It is not everyone's favorite even in India. But I love it.