Purpose Statement

The Family in the Chinese American Takeout Restaurant project seeks to uncover the stories of Chinese Americans who operate and work in Americanized Chinese American restaurants or have family members who are involved in the Americanized Chinese Takeout business.

The Chinese American Takeout restaurant business thrives in America. Chinese restaurants come in different sizes and shapes but the iconic bullet-proof takeout window, dishes such as General Tso Chicken, Egg Foo Young, and Chop Suey are symbolic of American society’s culinary and cultural interactions with “Chinese-ness.” This projects seeks to unearth the current actors supporting the Americanized Chinese Takeout ecology in New York City as a case study of how a community of immigrant’s formed a collective American success story.

Translate »