Chinese Food Revival

Chinese food needs some major PR.

Some visionary Chinese-food loving entrepreneur needs to do something brilliant, IMMEDIATLY so that never again, will the words "Panda" or "Wok" or "sweet and sour chicken" be the first ones that come to mind when the average person thinks of Chinese food.

I love Chinese food. I love Cantonese food especially, but also the dumplings and noodles and Peking Duck of Northern China, fiery Sichuan and, after I had my fair share of xiao long baos and crab tofu and "baat bow faan"--I think Shanghainese food is alright too.

It's grievous to me that while other Asian cuisines conquer new markets and dominate the culinary terrain, or at least enjoy an aura of ever-increasing trendiness--Chinese restaurants are largely associated with the harried grunting of: 'You wan Chai-neese menu or English menu?" Not to mention, the awful service, opaque fishtanks full of dying fish, and nightmarish bathrooms.

I know I'm over-generalizing. There are some really great places, classic and forward-looking, in TORONTO and Vancouver...I know Ming Tsai's got Blue Ginger and all...but the overall landscape is sad, sad, sad. Maybe getting people to watch at least the first 10 minutes of "Eat Drink Man Woman" would help.

(PS. It would be fascinating to trace the history of Chinese restaurants and cooks in North America, and compare that to their Japanese and Korean counterparts...that'll probably explain something.)