Chinese Americans were once told they did not belong in the United States. They went on to create one of the country's most beloved cuisines.
Chow: Making the Chinese American Restaurant celebrates the birth and evolution of Chinese American restaurants, tracing their nearly 170-year history and sparking conversation about food culture, immigration, and what it means to be American.
Exhibition Highlights
-
Curtain of Many
Immerse yourself in this larger-than-life installation of 7,250 Chinese takeout boxes. Each one represents seven of the nearly 50,000 Chinese American restaurants in the country.
-
Menu Timeline
View a stunning timeline of Chinese American restaurant menus dating back to 1910. Beautifully designed and lovingly curated by MOFAD, these artifacts show the evolution of the cuisine, decade by decade.
-
KitchenAid Culinary Studio
Enjoy tastings created by the country's most talented chefs who specialize in Chinese American cuisine. Each month, MOFAD will feature a different tasting.
-
Exhibition Advisors
Yong Chen
Professor, School of Humanities, University of California, Irvine; author of Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America
Andrew Coe
Culinary historian and author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States
John Eng-Wong
Special Advisor, American Studies, Brown University
Madeline Hsu
Professor, Department of History; Core Faculty, Center for Asian American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Heather Lee
Assistant Professor of Global China Studies, NYU Shanghai
Mike Lee
Food Futurist, The Future Market; born and raised in Chinese-American restaurants
Anne Mendelson
Culinary historian and author of Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey
Robert Sietsema
Senior Critic, Eater.com
Emma Teng
T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations, MIT
Cedric Yeh
Associate Curator, Smithsonian National Museum of American History
-
Chefs
The following chefs and authors have contributed recipes to the KitchenAid Culinary Studio.
Joanne Chang - Flour Bakery, Myers + Chang
Thomas Chen - Tuome
Chris Cheung - East Wind Snack Shop
Shirley Chung - Steamers Co.
Paul Donnelly - Chinese Tuxedo
Calvin Eng - Nom Wah Tea Parlor
Daniel Ho - Sam Wo
Edward Huang - Zai Lai
Irene Li - Mei Mei
Anita Lo - Chef and author of So Lo and Cooking without Borders
Pichet Ong - Sugar and Plumm
Lucas Sin - Junzi Kitchen
Erick Sison - Tonga Room
Jeremiah Stone - Wildair/Contra
Doron Wong - Northern Tiger
Lee Anne Wong - Koko Head Cafe
Jonathan Wu - Fung Tu
Grace Young - Author, Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge, The Breath of a Wok, and The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen
Zilong Zhao - MáLà Project
Watch Grace Young’s Award-Winning Video:
“The Breath of a Wok.”
Inspired by Grace Young and Alan Richardson's award-winning cookbook The Breath of a Wok, this video shows how the wok's ingenious design (concave shape, sloping high sides, 5-quart capacity, and broad surface) is ideally suited for the eight classic Chinese techniques: stir-frying, pan-frying, braising, steaming, boiling, poaching, deep-fat frying, and smoking.
