The way that Chinese cuisine has changed is evident when you look at the different kinds of Chinese foods now served on the streets of Flushing. A whole new type of cuisine that we could coin as “American Chinese food” has become very popular among American-born Chinese people, the younger Asian generations, and many Americans.

“American Chinese foods” are Chinese fast foods that Chinese chefs have created to attract non-Chinese eaters. (Examples include lo mien, sesame chicken, etc.) Fried foods, such as fried wontons, french fries, fried soup sticks/crackers, and Chinese donuts, have captivated the taste buds of many.

Baking has also become a popular, and somewhat new, way of cooking for Chinese, as convection ovens were not originally available in China. Chinese bakeries such as “Taipan” and “Fai Da” bakeries now serve Chinese invented pastries, ironically nicknamed “western pastries” for its use of the ovens that we are now familiar with.

Compared to the somewhat plain and bland traditional foods, American-inspired foods cater to a preference for sweeter, saltier, oilier and more savory dishes. The foods that have been deemed as strange and foreign in America have become less and less available in Flushing as more people acculturated to American society, whether they were immigrants or American-born Asians.

The culture of eating “family style” with all dishes shared in the middle also has given way to a more individual eating style. Foods are often being sold “over rice” these days, so that customers can have their own dish instead of having to share with others. Overall, as a result of being “Americanized,” Chinese foods have been becoming more sugar-laden, unhealthy and solitary.