It is hard to believe that this month marks the 17th anniversary of our move to beautiful Coastal Georgia.
I have no regrets and love living here but am also thankful that every year (except the pandemic years) I have been able to return to the land of my birth to reconnect with people and places I love. Our recent trip to the UK included four wonderful nights in London, where I grew up, developed my career as a young woman and met my American husband who was working in London. We had the opportunity to return to London’s Chinatown to experience the fun vibe and the delicious Chinese food.
The busy streets of London’s Soho are home to England’s most famous and largest Chinatown with some of the country’s best Chinese restaurants, bakeries, and stores offering traditional Chinese medicine, food and more.
Chinese seamen working for British shipping companies in the 1880s, such as the famous East India Company, started arriving in East London for work and set up businesses, especially laundries. Unfortunately prejudice and discrimination drove out some Chinese immigrants, and this was compounded by the destruction of much of London’s East End during the Second World War’s Blitz. London’s Chinese population started relocating towards Soho in the West End, an area then-known for its low rent and vibrant nightlife. Today it is marked by a large, distinctive Chinese archway, or “paifang”, which stands as a cultural symbol of Chinese heritage in England.
Other large English Chinatowns include Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham.
When overseas British soldiers returned after the end of the war in 1945, some had developed a taste for more diverse cuisines.
Consequently, Chinese cuisine became increasingly popular, with many Britons seeking out authentic, flavorful Chinese food. Many Chinese workers living in the UK seized the opportunity to shift their business interests from laundries to restaurants.
Following the Chinese Communist Revolution and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, huge numbers of refugees fled from mainland China to Hong Kong to escape the unstable politics of the region. This migration, combined with farmers in Hong Kong displaced by urban sprawl, initiated a swell of Chinese immigration into Britain in the 1950s and 60s since, at that time, Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony.
On this side of the Atlantic, a significant number of Chinese immigrants began moving to the United States in the 1850s, hoping to escape economic depression in China and strike gold during the California gold rush. Soon the state of California began to tax foreign miners, so San Francisco became a center for Chinese immigrants, many of whom opened laundries and restaurants. As the gold rush subsided, Chinese immigrants sought employment in a variety of sectors, including the construction
of the Transcontinental Railroad. Today, New York is the top destination for Chinese immigrants, followed by California.
I didn’t realize until we lived here that the Chinese food served in British Chinese restaurants is very different to the Chinese cuisine usually served in the USA. The one I miss the most is crispy aromatic duck – tender shredded duck served with thin pancakes, cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce. Crispy duck is a British invention from the late 20th century, loosely inspired by traditional Chinese duck recipes but adapted to British tastes and is a must-have in UK Chinese feasts.
In the USA, General Tso’s chicken was created in America and named after a Chinese general but is virtually unheard of in the UK and China. The same goes for chop suey, an American-Chinese stir-fry concoction of mixed meats and veggies in sauce.
It became popular in the US in the 20th century, yet it never really caught on in Britain. In the UK, Chinese takeaways offer French fries with curry sauce (not a dish I enjoy) as well as chicken balls (bite-sized battered chicken pieces with a side of bright red sweet & sour dip) which is very different to American sweet and sour chicken. But I do enjoy the very-American Crab Rangoon, and fortune cookies are becoming more popular in the UK as a sign of globalization but were not something I grew up with.
America and Britain share a love for certain Cantonese classics – you can find chow mein, fried rice, spring rolls, and beef in black bean sauce in both nations.
Basically, British and American Chinese cuisines were created by immigrant communities adapting to what locals wanted and what ingredients they had. There is a lot more information at www. britannica.com and www.history.state. gov.
I will leave you with an ancient Chinese proverb which highlights the central role of food in human happiness and society: “To the ruler, the people are heaven; to the people, food is heaven.”
God Bless America!
Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@lesleyfrancispr. com or via her PR and marketing agency at www.lesleyfrancispr. com