Fans of American TV shows who have watched The Big Bang Theory must remember Sheldon's favorite food - Zuozongtang Chicken, which he once said was "the most popular Chinese dish abroad". In the eyes of Chinese viewers, Sheldon, a physics genius with an IQ of 187, doesn't even know Chinese flavor! I'm afraid this is a persona collapsing.

Perhaps, those fans who don't want to let their favorite beans take the blame think that this is no big surprise, after all, in the United States, Zuozongtang Chicken is a signature Chinese dish that has taken the streets by storm!

Not coincidentally, in the American Kitchen food documentary "Food Culture," it is mentioned that "XO sauce is the soul of Chinese food." The Michelin Guide, which is regarded as the "bible" by the food industry, once said that "the world's best Szechuan food is served in Singapore, and the chef is a Japanese." In the face of these "laughable" misunderstandings, we can not help but ask, why the crooked people always get the true flavor of China?

Historical reasons: Chinese food "go out" of the localization of the improvement

From the 1850s, a large number of Chinese workers into the United States, Chinese food and Chinese restaurants were born at this time. With the Chinese people's willingness to cater to the attitude and good at innovation, Chinese restaurant dishes slowly began to develop in the direction of fusion, which gave birth to a number of products combining Chinese and Western cuisine, such as crab wontons, sweet and sour goulash, duck with western apricot, etc., which were well received by the local American diners and were gradually integrated into the mainstream of the food culture of the American society.

In the 1970s, with the introduction of unique Chinese cooking ingredients such as fungus and enoki mushrooms into the United States, dishes that could not be prepared due to a lack of ingredients could be made successfully. It was at this time that "Zuo Zongtang Chicken" became a popular dish in Chinese restaurants in the U.S. through improvement and innovation!

From the early Chinese laborers to the later immigrants, most of the Chinese in the United States in the first step is to survive, the catering industry's "low threshold, low cost, large market, high return" naturally become the choice of many people. In the process of development, the innovation and fusion of Chinese cuisine on the one hand, promote Chinese food to the world, on the other hand, also because of this localization of the improvement, resulting in the "foreigners" on the different perception of Chinese flavor.

Cultural reasons: lack of cultural output of Chinese food

With the rapid development of internationalization and the Internet in recent years, when it comes to global food, people will think of the delicacy of Japanese food, the romance of French food, the boldness of German food, and even the convenience of American fast food. But when it comes to Chinese food, it is often difficult to have a clear and accurate image positioning.

In fact, Chinese food has a long and rich history. Confucius' "food is not too fine, chopping is not too fine", Zhuangzi's "rule of the big country if cooking small food", Li Bai cooking "too white duck", Du Fu's original "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp", "five willow grass carp". Five willow grass fish", Su Dongpo invented the "Dongpo meat", and then to the Manchu feast, the eight dishes, the evolution of Chinese history and culture, has always been inseparable from the inheritance and development of food.

But from a global perspective, our output of Chinese culinary culture has been particularly scarce and thin. In recent years, the two "tongue on the Chinese", so that the Chinese people's confidence in food culture rose by a large margin, and so far there are Douban 9.3 points and 8.4 points of high ratings. However, in the view of many foreign viewers, although said "Incredible", but also only stop at an excellent documentary. In addition, in today's prosperous information age, there are few works that can represent the image of Chinese food culture to the world, which to a certain extent limits the foreigners' understanding of the real Chinese flavor.

Reality: the lack of an authoritative food list

People's recognition of French food is undoubtedly related to the Michelin Guide. As the birthplace of Michelin, France has a large number of Michelin-starred restaurants. As the starting point of Michelin restaurants, French cuisine has been regarded as "the most prestigious food in Western cuisine", and has been known to food lovers all over the world for a long time.

In China, there is a lack of an authoritative food list to set a standard value system for Chinese flavors. Although a variety of folk food lists have emerged in recent years, the lack of official endorsement, as well as too much commercial cooperation, the credibility of these lists is difficult to convince the public. On the other hand, the Michelin Guide Shanghai, which has been published for two consecutive years, has also received mixed reviews, and has repeatedly been criticized for listing restaurants that are "not grounded" and biased towards Western food aesthetic standards, which are not in line with Chinese tastes and are difficult to adapt to China's localization.

While the changes to the historical and cultural reasons are profound and long, it is worthwhile to be happy that now there are finally people who are willing to face the reality, embrace the future, shoulder the mission of inheriting and promoting the Chinese flavor, to create an authoritative food list belonging to the Chinese taste buds!

Just recently, Meituan Dianping released the Dianping Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, aiming to create a "Chinese people's own food list". ***There are 330 restaurants selected for the Dianping Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, including 28 three-diamond restaurants, 85 two-diamond restaurants, and 217 one-diamond restaurants, covering 22 cities in China and 5 cities overseas. Meituan-Dianping, in collaboration with famous gourmets, culinary experts, food researchers and food culture communicators, "selects the best of the best" from millions of restaurants, and creates the first restaurant evaluation system with characteristics of Chinese food culture, creating an authoritative food guide that "selects the taste buds of China" for all consumers who love Chinese food.

The first restaurant evaluation system with the characteristics of Chinese food culture was created to create a "selected Chinese taste buds" for all consumers who love Chinese food.