Sweet and Sour Pork (goo lo yok or gu lao rou) is a Chinese-American dish consisting of fried pork tenders with sweet and sour sauce. [1] This dish originated in Cantonese cuisine in the 18th century. It became popular in the United States after Chinese immigrants came to the US to work on the railroad in the early 20th century. [2]
The dish's aroma is said to cause people to salivate or "gulp and gulp", hence the name. Another explanation refers to the long history of the dish's origins, which are in “Ancient Pork”, later harmonized into “Gulao Pork”. [3]
Ingredients include bite-sized chunks of pork, battered and fried; chunks of pineapple; chunks of bell pepper; and sweet and sour sauce. [1]
This dish became popular because it fits the taste of foreigners living in Guangdong. Since Europeans and Americans contacted the Guangdong area first during the Qing Dynasty, the dish became popular among them. Moreover, the Guangdong people were the first ones to immigrate to the United States. As a result, as they began to open Cantonese restaurants, the dish became viral both in China and internationally. [4]
According to Vice, the dish is often misunderstood to be "inauthentic, cheap, westernized" because it was developed to please western palates. [1] Lucas Sin argues that "Chinese American food is authentic to a different type of immigrant experience, a different style of cooking...It’s an important segment of history". [1]
