American/Western Chinese food vs Authentic Chinese food: Which is better?

[Bullet Sniper]

As a spin-off to my thread about favorite ethnic cuisines, a post in that thread inspired me to make this one as soon as differences between chinese cuisine served in international parts of the world was brought up by someone. So without further ado... I just like to openly declare that I have always savored American Chinese take-out more by many leaps and bounds and have never been too much of a fan of the traditional ones that my family likes to eat as I almost always find it too weird and funny tasting (but there are still a few dishes that I can tolerate or even immediately enjoy), and if there's anything that's obvious among the people here in North America, it's that whenever they heard the words "Chinese" and "food" uttered in the same sentence, they think of something that everyone can enjoy stuffing themselves with for dinner while at the same time being something that's perceived as foreign enough to be outside the established "American" culinary selections (eg: hamburgers, french fries, steak, fried chicken, and pizza). But the one thing that often amuses me is that even though most non-Chinese in the US (and probably Canada) like to declare that they like "Chinese food" so much, little do they know that the type of Chinese food they like the most is actually purely Westernized and not Traditional in any significant degree. For instance, many years back in elementary school, I saw one of the older staff, whom is female, was in the middle of an announcement in the school cafeteria of whether the kids want a McDonald's Happy Meal or Chinese food and after the announcement was made, she commented off-mic that she would want to try Chinese food, and seeing as how my younger self was still under the impression that all Chinese food served in the USA was the same as the one being served in Asia, I was bewildered and thrown off as to the idea of why a Caucasian-American would want to eat the type of Chinese food I don't like.

Though where I live (New York City) and depending on which part of town you go to, you have the option of choosing to eat either at a place that serves the US-manufactured Chinese food or the real Asian-produced ones. And only as I got older, did I start to sharply note the differences between the two, beyond just my taste buds identifying which is which in very separate circumstances.

I also feel a similar case paralleling this one when I went to a local Afghan restaurant for dinner with my cousin and her fiance on Christmas and I asked a waiter there if this was the authentic Afghan cuisine I tasted and one of them remarked that it was only the "Americanized" version and that I wouldn't like the real thing as it would make my stomach sick and as soon as I saw how the dishes I ate were only slightly different than the stuff served on the Halal food carts on the streets of Queens and Manhattan, I kinda saw his point.

Anyways, enough with the prologue, I am here to ask you guys:

-Which type of Chinese food do you guys like more? North Americanized or the Original Unadulterated Version? And what do you think are the differences?
-What are reasons you might prefer the former over the latter?
-What are reasons you might prefer the latter over the former?
-Why is the former criticized and bashed so much (among modern Asian immigrants and those from Asia)?
-Why is the latter shunned and ignored so much (outside of Asia)?
-If you had ever tasted authentic Chinese food, what region of the cuisine did you try (Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan, etc.) and what were your first reactions?
-Do you think US/Canada would start to appreciate authentic Chinese food more in the future or will most Americans/Canadians still remain more loyal to their localized Western versions?

bonus question: For all the Brits out there, what is the Westerned-version of Chinese food like in England or the UK (although i'm sure Indian/South Asian food may be the most popular "Asian" cuisine of that country in contrast to the US/Canada)?

[Shawn Hopkins]

I've never had authentic Chinese food. I'd like to.

[lancerman]

Authentic's obviously better. The thing is it's sort of like asking do you like Wagu or a pattie from McDonalds. You get them for different reasons.

[Sharkerbob]

Obviously, American Chinese Food is better, because it is American, for America.

[SuperCooper]

I've never had authentic Chinese food. I'd like to.

Ditto. I will admit I enjoy General Tso's Chicken and chow mein quite a bit, but I imagine the traditional dishes being better.

[Gray Lensman]

I've never had traditional Chinese food either. But I really, really miss the American-Chinese place from the town I moved away from. Out here in Nevada I have the choice between a buffet or good food, when I used to be able to get both at the same place. I never would have thought that there was a place in Plattsburgh, NY that put the Vegas buffets to shame, but there is.

[C_Miller]

I enjoy both. Americanized doesn't mean bad, but it certainly isn't authentic.

Authentic Chinese food has similar flavors, but it just tastes lighter and fresher. American Chinese food is very heavy with sauces and glazes that aren't really present in authentic Chinese food so the calories are a lot less empty which is nice. The calories come from the actual food. And let's be honest Americanized food generally just means that a lot of the flavors are taken out. America kind of has an issue with flavor.

[dzub]

Obviously, American Chinese Food is better, because it is American, for America.

my views on this too

[MyriVerse]

America is where all authentic ethnic food comes to improve.

[Rob Allen]

There is a substantial Indian community in my area, and I've discovered that people in India love Chinese food. So I'm exploring the Indian version of Chinese food, made in America for Indian expatriates.

[Gray Lensman]

America is where all authentic ethnic food comes to improve.

Step one of cutting through the crap given to any new immigrant group that comes to the U.S. is when we finally discover that your food is delicious.

[jeanvaljean]

Step one of cutting through the crap given to any new immigrant group that comes to the U.S. is when we finally discover that your food is delicious.

Which explains why Dutch immigrants are universally despised.

[dancj]

I was the one who brought it up in the other thread.

I've never had American Chinese food, but in Britain chinese food tends to be either largely tasteless masses of noodles with bean-sprouts and a bit of meat or you have the stir fries which always seem to have a gloopy corn-floury sauce on them and completely lack the amount of flavour you get in China.

It's not all better in China though. They tend to use every part of the animal so you get a lot of dishes which use all of the offal which I personally don't like at all. Rendered pork fat is just not nice at all.

Get past that though and you have such fresh flavoursome food - it's incredible.

Dan

[Bullet Sniper]

I was the one who brought it up in the other thread.

I've never had American Chinese food, but in Britain chinese food tends to be either largely tasteless masses of noodles with bean-sprouts and a bit of meat or you have the stir fries which always seem to have a gloopy corn-floury sauce on them and completely lack the amount of flavour you get in China.

It's not all better in China though. They tend to use every part of the animal so you get a lot of dishes which use all of the offal which I personally don't like at all. Rendered pork fat is just not nice at all.

Get past that though and you have such fresh flavoursome food - it's incredible.

Dan

I wonder why does Britain's version of Chinese food never get representatively known so much in the world.

edit - Alright looking up on google, I kinda have troubling looking for pics of what Chinese food looks like in British style.

[Joker]

I grew up on american chinese food, and definitely have a soft spot for it. However, I also love a lot of traditional chinese cuisine. Some of it is definitely not for me, though.

Rendered pork fat is just not nice at all.

^^^This is wildly incorrect.