Home-cookin'

Last night I was innocently watching a scene from the first season of Mad Men  (a show I've become addicted to since I moved here) showing Rachel and a friend dining out, when I was suddenly overcome by an uncontrollable desire for something that is entirely beyond my reach:

Sweet 'n sour shrimp  (I think that picture is actually chicken, but it really doesn't matter).

Look at that glossy shine, those whimsically sliced carrots.   Imagine the won-ton soup, the chopsticks, the spring roll, the lemoned-cardboard tang of a fortune cookie.  I WANT CHINESE FOOD!!!!!!

There are a few Chinese restaurants in Croatia--although I don't think Varazdin has one--but they're run by Chinese immigrants who for some crazy reason have never heard of a fortune cookie!***  Imagine!!

I doubt Croatian-Chinese food is any more authentic than American-Chinese food, but it is very different: less saucy, different flavors, not deep-fried (at least that's true of the two places I've been).  I wonder how much of the difference is simply because of the availability of ingredients and how much stems from what version of "Chinese" cuisine would appeal to the host culture.  Or maybe the differences arise from the region of China that the restaurateurs are from.   I'd be interested to read something about how a restaurant owner tailors her or his home cuisine to suit the predilections of the host culture.  Like most people, I'm aware that the "Italian," "Mexican," and "Chinese" foods that we get in the United States are not what you would get in those countries, but who masterminds those changes, and why? Who invented fortune cookies?

Mostly, however, I just want a plate of steamed rice and sweet 'n sour shrimp.

***  this website assures us that, "Unequivocally not Chinese, the fortune cookie may in fact not even be Chinese American." Nobody knows for sure who invented the little delicacies, though.