Genuine
Chinese Food
 Maybe you live in a small town where there isn't much of a Chinese community and only one or two Chinese restaurants. Or maybe you live in a big city, but you like what you're used to -- chow mien, beef with broccoli, sesame chicken. Regardless, odds are what you're eating is American Chinese food, adapted for American tastes. If you have any doubts, look at what the Chinese waiters and waitresses are eating on their lunch breaks. Doesn't look much like your favorite dishes, does it?
I wasn't much different until a new, different type of Chinese restaurant opened in my neighborhood of Chelsea, Manhattan. This new restaurant, Grand Sichuan International, offers "American Chinese Food," but also offers many recipes from the cuisine's of Canton, Shanghai and Hunan province that aren't well known here. Interestingly, the Hunan menu is called "Mao's Home Cooking" after the late Chinese leader, who loved spicy foods. The owners, though, stress that they aren't making a political judgment -- they're just following in the footsteps of many of the "Mao's Cuisine" restaurants that are opening all over China.
One of the most intriguing things about the menu is the diversity of the vegetables. They're not all snow peas, broccoli, water chestnuts and baby corn, not by a long shot. Here's a bird's-eye view of some of the lesser-known vegetables used in Chinese cooking:
- Loofah. This delicious vegetable, sort of a small, green squash, is usually described as a "sponge gourd," although I find okra to be a better comparison. In this country, it's more widely used as a bath sponge and an ingredient in soaps, usually of the natural products variety.
Bitter melon. The surface of the bitter melon fruit is bumpy and uneven, and its taste is just as eccentric. It has been described, accurately, as an "acquired taste." Varieties of bitter melon are found in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Chairman Mao loved sauteed duck and bitter melon -- he reputedly thought troops who couldn't eat bitter or spicy food couldn't be tough.
Bok choy (or choi). This vegetable, also known as white Chinese cabbage, Chinese chard or Chinese mustard cabbage, is somewhat better known than the others we've mentioned. However, there are at least two types: the white Chinese bok choy, and the smaller, light green Shanghai bok choy. Both are good-tasting and nutritious.
Chinese broccoli, or gai lum. It's leafier than our broccoli, with a smaller head. Americans might consider it a welcome change of pace.
Pea leaves, or leaves from the pea plant. Wendy Riu of Grand Sichuan International says this is a delicacy, served only when in season.
Getting these unusual vegetables shouldn't be that difficult if you live in a city with a large Asian population, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York -- although you almost certainly will have to head to Chinatown to get them. If you're interested in preparing them yourself, there are hundreds of books and websites devoted to Chinese cooking. Or if you're less adventuresome, like this reporter, you'll go the restaurant route. At any rate, finding and eating these unusual Chinese vegetables are well worth the difficulty. T'ai chi has spread across the United States -- why not bitter melon and loofah?
By Raanan Geberer
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