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Canadian Chinese cuisine (French : Cuisine chinoise canadienne) is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Canadians. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food in Canada. This cooking style was invented by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted traditional Chinese recipes to Western tastes and the available ingredients, and developed in a similar process to American Chinese cuisine.
Canadian Chinese cuisine originated in the mid-19th century, primarily in Western Canada and the Canadian Prairies, among Chinese immigrants who moved to Canada, and among Chinese labourers working on the Canadian Pacific Railway between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Montreal, Quebec. Many labourers who remained in Canada after the railway's completion opened small inexpensive "Chinese cafés" or worked as cooks in mining and logging camps, canneries, and in the private homes of the upper classes in cities and towns. [1] In British Columbia, a form of buffet known as the "Chinese smörgåsbord" developed in pre-railway Gastown (the settlement that later became Vancouver) when Scandinavian loggers and millworkers encouraged their Chinese cooks to turn a sideboard into a steam table, instead of bringing plates of single dishes to the dining table.
Due to common anti-Chinese sentiment at the time, as well as the Chinese Immigration Act, 1885 and 1923, many Chinese immigrants were unable to work in businesses other than restaurants or laundries. Many restaurants were opened, despite their owners having little prior cooking experience. These restaurants were often established in small towns and rural areas where residents, predominantly European Canadians, already did not have gathering places of their own, and where the cook/owner could very well be the only Asian person in the community. Chinese restaurant owners thus often had to modify their menus to appeal to the Western tastes of Canadians; many Chinese-owned restaurants offered very limited selections of Chinese dishes, sometimes even omitting them entirely in favour of Western dishes that were more familiar to their customer bases.
Chinese restaurants also served as gathering places for the early Chinese Canadian community, especially among immigrants whose families could not emigrate with them due to the Chinese Immigration Acts. It was only after the Chinese Immigration Act was repealed in 1947 that Chinese dishes on restaurant menus became commonplace, and the general public became more interested in Chinese cuisine. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Limitations and cost factors relating to the ingredients available to Chinese Canadians affected the development of Canadian Chinese cuisine, since traditional Chinese ingredients were unavailable or too difficult to grow. For example, the reason carrots, celery, and bean sprouts are used more often in Canadian Chinese cuisine compared to Chinese cuisine is because of their ease in growing and availability, with bean sprouts in particular only requiring "a bucket and a water source". [1]
A number of iconic Chinese restaurants were opened in the mid-20th century, though a number of them are defunct as of 2023 [update] . Restaurateur Bill Wong (father of journalist Jan Wong) reportedly opened Montreal's first Chinese buffet restaurant, House of Wong, on Queen Mary Road in the heavily-Jewish Snowdon district in the 1950s. He later opened Bill Wong's on nearby Decarie Boulevard in 1962. [6] [7] In 1975, Louise Tang and Lily Wong opened the Silver Inn in Calgary, where chef George Wong invented ginger beef in an attempt to combine the appeal of crunchy french fries, sweet-and-sour ketchup, and Albertan beef. [2] [8] [9]
Further Cantonese immigration to Canada began anew in the 1960s, and was ignited in the 1980s and 1990s in anticipation of the handover of Hong Kong to China. This resulted in many Hongkongers relocating to other countries, but their most preferred was Canada, the preference resulting from Canada's immigration policy, high standard of living, established Chinese community, and membership in the Commonwealth. In contrast, the United States tended to accept more mainland or Taiwanese Chinese, while imposing immigration quotas on Commonwealth territories such as Hong Kong.
Today, Chinese Canadians are one of the largest visible minority groups in Canada, and Chinatowns are in every major Canadian city except Quebec City, with those in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary being the largest. Richmond, British Columbia, and Markham, Ontario, both have significant Chinese Canadian populations, with a large number of Chinese restaurants in and around their respective cities. Increasing Chinese immigration, interest in Asian cuisine, and Canadian multiculturalism has created a demand for authentic Chinese cuisine, and many newer Chinese restaurants in Canada offer authentic Cantonese, Hakka, and Sichuan cuisine, among others, with Canadian Chinese dishes typically also available.
A vast majority of towns and cities in most of Canada have at least one Canadian Chinese restaurant. Many towns that cannot support a single franchise restaurant still have at least one thriving Chinese restaurant. Many independent restaurants in larger cities have found their business shrinking as delivery chains and buffets squeeze out traditional sit-down restaurants.[ citation needed ]
Smaller and more rural settlements in northern regions of the provinces, as well as across the Prairies, tend to feature Chinese restaurants that also specialize in Western cuisine, often relics of when such menus were necessary for business. In Glendon, Alberta, for example, next to a roadside model of the world's largest pierogi (a staple of Ukrainian cuisine) is the Perogy Café, a Vietnamese Canadian-owned restaurant specializing in both Ukrainian pierogies and Chinese jiaozi .
Canadian Chinese chop suey houses are predominantly in non-immigrant neighbourhoods catering to non-Chinese customers. They are now most often mixed with those featuring the more traditional cuisines. Canadian Chinese restaurants are not limited to these areas and can often be found even at the farthest outskirts of the metropolitan areas. Because of the popularity of Canadian Chinese food, even some of the older authentic Chinese restaurants may offer Canadian Chinese dishes to cater to non-Chinese customers.
Restaurants in the newer Chinatowns, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, tend to cater to recent Asian immigrants and offer more varied fare; Sichuan, Hakka, Chiuchow, Taiwanese, and even Buddhist cuisine restaurants can be found there. One of the largest concentration of Chinese restaurants in North America is in the Golden Village area in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. The seafood served here is from the British Columbian coast.
Toronto's Old Chinatown has seen most of the once-famed restaurants on Dundas Street and Spadina Avenue close since the late 1990s, especially the siu mei barbecue shops on Dundas Street that were located below grade. The 1990s also saw the closure of demise of Hsin Huang (or Hsin Kuang), a three-restaurant chain in the Greater Toronto Area. [10] These restaurants, one at Chinese Centre at 888 Dundas Street East in Mississauga, another at Finch Avenue and Kennedy Road in Scarborough, and their four-storey flagship location at Spadina Avenue and St. Andrew Street (just north of Dundas Street) in old Toronto Chinatown, were decorated inside with the traditional red and yellow colours of the Fenghuang (a mythical bird) while the exterior was yellow and had a green Oriental roof.
In the newer suburban areas of the Greater Toronto Area, such as Highway 7 in Richmond Hill and Markham, the Chinese restaurants range from small eateries, siu mei shops, and bakeries in Chinese strip malls and food courts, to the all-you-can-eat buffets that often expand beyond Chinese Canadian to incorporate Asian fusion (including Japanese, Korean, and Thai), to the larger and more expensive places that often function as banquet halls with ten-course meals available. Among upscale restaurants, the older places will often have the traditional Chinese décor, which is red and yellow colours with the Fenghuang (Chinese dragon and phoenix) adorning the wall behind the dais, while newer establishments tend to be decorated in a more Western contemporary style.
Many Chinese fine dining restaurants and banquet halls offer discounted dim sum lunches on weekdays and early weekends or to seniors, though this is a low margin segment, and their main earnings come from hosting weddings or other functions. Observers have noted that dim sum "cart service is a dying breed in Toronto, as more and more restaurants have switched over to a list-based dining experience. There are a few notable places where you can still witness these magical culinary carts being rolled out in front of you; and where you order by using your pointer finger, not a pen and paper." [11]
Although most restaurants are independent businesses, there are some chains such as Manchu Wok (eight provinces), Hons Wonton House (metro Vancouver), Kirin Chinese Restaurant (metro Vancouver), Congee Queen (Toronto, Peel, and York regions), and Mandarin Restaurant (southern Ontario). Ho-Lee-Chow, a pun on the expression holy cow, franchised to six provinces between its 1989 launch and 2009 closure. [12] The Regal Palace chain of four restaurants, owned by Yuk Yee Ellen Pun and Patsy Lai, went bankrupt and ceased operations in 2013 while owing 60 employees $676,000 in unpaid wages. [13] [14] Imitation restaurants include Ding Tai Fung (intentionally similar to Din Tai Fung) in First Markham Place and Hutaoli Music Restaurant & Bar in Bridlewood Mall. [15]
Josephine Smart, a professor from the University of Calgary, has written on the evolution of Canadian Chinese cuisine. Her papers have examined the dynamics of localization and "authenticization" of Chinese food in Canada, and its implications for ethnic relations and the culture of consumption. [16]
Chinese restaurants generally use either one of the romanization systems for Cantonese or an ad hoc romanization rather than the Pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese with which non-Chinese people are now most familiar.
Foam take-out containers are commonly used by Canadian Chinese restaurants for take-out, although some restaurants use special plastic containers. Aluminum pan pie dishes were previously used until the late 1990s, but fell out of favour due to high costs and environmental concerns. The oyster pail is used but not common.
Although the Canadian version of westernized Chinese cuisine is very similar to that found in the United States, there are a few distinctive regional dishes:
For more expensive or formal occasions, Chinese Canadians may seek out more authentic Chinese cuisine. A Chinese wedding reception typically has nine or ten courses. Expensive luxury dishes such as abalone, lobster, jumbo shrimp, squab, sea bass, or sea cucumber are common on a wedding banquet menu. A whole cooked fish, chicken, or pig means luck and completeness in Chinese wedding culture.
American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those found in China.
Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine, is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau. Strictly speaking, Cantonese cuisine is the cuisine of Guangzhou or of Cantonese speakers, but it often includes the cooking styles of all the speakers of Yue Chinese languages in Guangdong.
Teochew cuisine, also known as Chiuchow cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine or Teo-swa cuisine, originated from the Chaoshan region in the eastern part of China's Guangdong Province, which includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang. Teochew cuisine bears more similarities to that of Fujian cuisine, particularly Southern Min cuisine, due to the similarity of Teochew's and Fujian's culture, language, and their geographic proximity to each other. However, Teochew cuisine is also influenced by Cantonese cuisine in its style and technique.
Chop suey is a dish from American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, generally consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery, and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice, but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the substitution of stir-fried noodles for rice.
Chow mein is a dish of Chinese stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu. Over the centuries, variations of chǎomiàn were developed in many regions of China; there are several methods of frying the noodles and a range of toppings can be used. It was introduced in other countries by Chinese immigrants. The dish is popular throughout the Chinese diaspora and appears on the menus of most Chinese restaurants abroad. It is particularly popular in India, Nepal, the UK, and the US.
Jamaican cuisine includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavours and spices influenced by Amerindian, West African, Irish, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern people who have inhabited the island. It is also influenced by the crops introduced into the island from tropical Southeast Asia, many of which are now grown locally. A wide variety of seafood, tropical fruits and meats are available.
Canadian cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances around the country. First Nations and Inuit have practiced their culinary traditions in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. The advent of European explorers and settlers, first on the east coast and then throughout the wider territories of New France, British North America and Canada, saw the melding of foreign recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients with indigenous flora and fauna. Modern Canadian cuisine has maintained this dedication to local ingredients and terroir, as exemplified in the naming of specific ingredients based on their locale, such as Malpeque oysters or Alberta beef. Accordingly, Canadian cuisine privileges the quality of ingredients and regionality, and may be broadly defined as a national tradition of "creole" culinary practices, based on the complex multicultural and geographically diverse nature of both historical and contemporary Canadian society.
Ginger beef is a Canadian Chinese dish made from beef, ginger, and a distinctive sweet sauce.
Xiaolongbao is a type of Chinese tangbao, traditionally prepared in a xiaolong, a small bamboo steaming basket. The xiaolongbao originates from the city of Changzhou in Jiangsu province, and is an iconic dish of Jiangnan cuisine.
Korean Chinese cuisine, also known as Sino–Korean cuisine, is a hybrid cuisine developed by the ethnic Chinese in Korea.
Indian Chinese cuisine, Chinese Indian cuisine, Sino-Indian cuisine, Chindian cuisine, Hakka Chinese or Desi-Chinese cuisine is a distinct style of Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian tastes, combining Chinese foods with Indian flavours and spices. Though Asian cuisines have mixed throughout history throughout Asia, the most popular origin story of the fusion food resides with Chinese labourers of Calcutta, who immigrated to British India looking for work. Opening restaurant businesses in the area, these early Chinese food sellers adapted their culinary styles to suit Indian tastes.
Japanese Chinese cuisine, also known as chūka, represents a unique fusion of Japanese and Chinese culinary traditions that have evolved over the late 19th century and more recent times. This style, served predominantly by Chinese restaurants in Japan, stands distinct from the "authentic Chinese food" found in areas such as Yokohama Chinatown. Despite this difference, the cuisine retains strong influences from various Chinese culinary styles, as seen in the shippoku cooking style.
Shumai is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling made of ground pork. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack. In addition to accompanying the Chinese diaspora, variations of shumai are found in Japan and Southeast Asia, such as the Indonesian siomay. In Australia, it developed into dim sim.
Puerto Rican Chinese cuisine is a popular style of food exclusive to restaurants in Puerto Rico developed by its Chinese immigrants. The food is a variation of Cantonese cuisine with some elements of Puerto Rican cuisine. A typical dish consists of fried rice, a choice of meat, and French fries or tostones. The fried rice itself varies in every restaurant but can contain many ingredients such as ham, beef, shrimp, egg, lettuce, and onions. In 2020, there were an estimated 450 Chinese restaurants in Puerto Rico.
Hot pot or hotpot, also known as steamboat, is a dish of soup stock, kept simmering by a heat source on the table, accompanied by an array of raw meats and vegetables which diners dip and cook in the broth.
Jiaozi are a type of Chinese dumpling. Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. Finished jiaozi can be boiled, steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried, and are traditionally served with a black vinegar and sesame oil dip. They can also be served in a soup.
Australian Chinese cuisine is a style of cooking developed by Australians of Chinese descent, who adapted dishes to satisfy local Anglo-Celtic tastes. Its roots can be traced to indentured Chinese who were brought to work as cooks in country pubs and sheep stations.
A. Wong is a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, located in Pimlico, London. It serves modern British retake on traditional Cantonese dishes. It is owned by Andrew Wong, a third-generation London restaurateur who is also the restaurant's chef de cuisine.
Shandong is a Chinese restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States.