TED, as usual, has the most amazing videos on any kind of topic possible that should become a daily watch for anyone interesting in… well, everything.

The title of the video below is “Who is General Tso and why are we eating his chicken?” by Jennifer Lee. I highly recommend watching the video, but here are some snippets that should entice you to watch.

  • Beef with Broccoli (西兰牛肉): The common theme of what you see with broccoli is actually from Italy–Chinese brocooli is completely different and was not combined with beef.
  • Fortune Cookies (财富曲奇 [not sure this is correct]): I even knew this was not a Chinese thing, but had thought this was created within the United States. Turns out this was actually first invented in Japan!
  • General Tso’s Chicken (左宗棠鸡 [not sure this is correct]): If it’s boneless, sweet, and fried–you can pretty much guarantee this was not the original dish.
  • Chop Suey (杂碎 [not sure this is correct]): This one was created a very long time ago in the US.

Another one that was missing from the presentation was Mushu, but truth be told, Kung Pao Chicken (宫炮鸡丁) is a real Chinese dish, just not with cashews.

If you know of any other dishes claiming to be Chinese send them my way!