According to American food historian Sylvia Lovegren, Chinese ingredient-inspired salad/dressing originated in the 1930s. Our survey confirms several 1930s mainstream America recipes titled "Chinese Chicken Salad." They are a far cry from what Anerican diners expect today. Our Chinese food history sources confirm raw salads were not tradtional fare in Asia. So unfolds another delicious page in Chinese-American cuisine.
"Salad made with uncooked vegetables was not consumed in traditional China, for raw salads were dangerous and had little appeal to most Chinese; instead, Chinese salads were customarily made of parboiled or stir-fried vegetables and served with hot or cold."
---Food in China: A Cultural and Historial Inquiry, Frederick J. Simoons [CRC Press:Boca Raton FL] 1991 (p. 148)
"There are many different types of cold chicken salad in China, although most of them seem to originate in Szechwan. One of the most popular is pong pong (or bong bong) chicken, which is basically shredded chicken and bean sprouts dressed with a peanut butter, red pepper, and garlic sauce. But the Chinese chicken salad that was being consumed in such quantities by the fashionable set--probably among rising young record and film producers on the West Coast--probably orginated in California. This version is a cold mixture of shredded iceberg lettuce, crispy fried noodles, the strips of roasted chicken, all tossed with a slightly sweet sesame oil--tinged dressing made sprightly with flecks of hot red peppers. There is a similar chicken salad, known as so see chicken, made popular at Johnny Kan's restaurant in San Francisco, but Kan's version omits the fried noodles."
---"Exotic Interlude I," Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [MacMillan:New York] 1995 (p. 109-110)
Who was Johnny Kan?
Predictably, our early 20th century salad cookbooks [1900-1950s] offer several recipes for various "Oriental" Salads. The surprise? None of these recipes are similar to the menu items we expect today. Neither did these books offer anything close to contemporary Asian/Oriental-style (sesame soy ginger) salad dressing. One recipe circa 1923 consisted of diced prunes, dates, figs, chopped nuts, diced pineapple topped with "One cup salad dressing." These salads were generally topped with Vinaigrette or spiced mayonnaises. None of the examples we found included sesame, or ginger. Some did employ soy sauce.
Our survey of American newspapers confirms Chinese Chicken Salads were indeed popular in the 1930s. As one might expect, there were several variations for both salad and dressing. Asian salads/dressings, as we know them today, first surfaced in the mid-1960s. Articles confirm the popularity and diversity of this salad/dressing grew in subsequent decades. Asian-style salad dressings were promoted in the 1980s as healthier alternatives to traditional selections. Thai flavors are introduced in the 1990s. Today there are many variations on this ubiquitious recipe.
sumber dari: foodtimeline.org
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