Chop suey

Chop suey is a cherished dish in American Chinese cuisine and has numerous international variations. Typically, it comprises a mix of meat, eggs, and vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery, all combined in a thick, savory sauce. Often served with rice, chop suey can also be transformed into a Chinese-American version of chow mein by incorporating stir-fried noodles.

The origins of chop suey are somewhat enigmatic, with several anecdotal accounts. Some claim it was invented by Chinese American cooks working on the transcontinental railroad. Others attribute its creation to the chef of Premier Li Hongzhang during his visit to the United States in 1896. Another story suggests a San Francisco restaurant cook made it from leftovers for miners in the 1860s. However, these stories often lack concrete evidence.

Anthropologist E. N. Anderson presents another theory, tracing chop suey to a dish known as "tsap seui" from Taishan in Guangdong province, China. The term translates to "miscellaneous leftovers" suggesting that early Chinese immigrants might have introduced it to the U.S. Regardless of its true origins, chop suey has become a staple in American Chinese cuisine and has also made its way into Filipino, Canadian, German, Indian, and Polynesian kitchens.

Historical references to chop suey date back to an 1884 article by Wong Chin Foo in the Brooklyn Eagle, where he described it as the "national dish of China." Late 19th-century accounts mention ingredients such as chicken livers, gizzards, fungi, and bean sprouts. In 1903, Canton native Liang Qichao observed during his travels in the U.S. that chop suey was popular among Chinese restaurateurs but not commonly eaten by the local Chinese community due to its specific cooking method.

Interestingly, in earlier Chinese history, chop suey referred to something entirely different: cooked animal offal or entrails. The Mandarin term "za sui" and the Cantonese "chap sui" were originally associated with this meaning before evolving into the Western concept of chop suey.