The Authentic Breakfast Buffet

When I was a kid, every Wednesday night my best friend Cathy's mom took us to a Chinese buffet not too far from our house. It wasn't Chinatown, it wasn't very unique, it was just a big, red Chinese restaurant that had a massive buffet with every kind of Chinese food you could ever hope for - and it was cheap!

I still think back to those Wednesday night trips and wonder now if it was a spiteful kind of foreshadowing - was the universe preparing me for my future? We'll never know, but I do know that the food on that Chinese buffet in no way prepared me for the Chinese food found on the buffets here in the big, red, "real" Chinese restaurants!

When we first got to China, the girls and I figured we were going to be just fine - Alyssa (8) loved Chinese food and Maggie (5) was content to live on white rice with soy sauce. I'm from a city that practically exists on Chinese take-out - so, what could possibly go wrong? We couldn't figure out why Chris was so concerned about the food - it was Chinese food, after all, America's favorite ethnic go-to!

What we didn't know (and which, of course, Chris was trying to prepare us for) was that Chinese food in China is very different than Chinese food prepared in American restaurants. In fact, it's so different that when accomplished Chinese cooks arrive in the States, preparing to work in Chinese restaurants, they have to be specially trained in how to create what Americans consider "authentic" Chinese cuisine - when, in fact, there's nothing "authentic" about it!

Chinese friends of ours who have traveled back to Corning, NY were directed to the local Chinese restaurant by well meaning colleagues who were sure the food would be enjoyable to a native Chinese traveler. The restaurant in Corning is even owned and operated by residents of Fuzhou, one of the team headquarters over here. When we later asked them how they liked the food, they politely responded that they were "able to find something to eat," but we later found out they only visited the restaurant when all else failed, and when even bad Chinese cuisine was better than another #6 Combo from Burger King! So, what was wrong?

I'm not a master of Chinese cooking by a long shot, so I'll leave the analysis of the cuisine to those more experienced with a Wok. All I know is, despite having eaten authentic Chinese food for almost 8 years now, I still long for an "Americanized" eggroll from my old neighborhood Chinese take-out joint back home, and their cold sesame noodles are something I'd even make a special trip home for!

There's so much more to say about Chinese food and the Chinese love of buffets, but that will have to wait for another day - right now I have to get back to this breakfast buffet for another round of onion pancakes, pork fried rice and some authentic shrimp wantons before they shut me off!