Gefilte Fish to Chop Suey: The History of Kosher Chinese Food in New York City

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) and the Museum at Eldridge Street cordially invite you to a virtual seminar with Judaic Studies scholar Shiyong Lu on the history of kosher Chinese food in New York City.

The debate over the Jewish craze for Chinese food erupted in the New York Yiddish press in the 1920s. For commentators who considered food an embodiment of identity, whether Jewish immigrants and their children stayed with gefilte fish or turned to chop suey indicated what kinds of values they held most dear. Once it became clear that this fervor for Chinese food was here to stay, New York Jews in the late twentieth century sought to bridge the divide by incorporating Chinese cooking styles into traditional Jewish cuisine. With assistance from Chinese food purveyors, they fashioned a new phenomenon, kosher Chinese cuisine, and pioneered efforts to popularize it.

Kosher Chinese restaurants and cookbooks soon became a specialty of New York City, emulated by Jewish communities across the country and overseas. By confidently making Chinese food kosher, New York Jews showed the vitality of American Jewish identity, that being Jewish never conflicted with enjoying what their American home has to offer. Join NYU researcher and doctoral candidate Shiyong Lu as we explore this fascinating history in anticipation of the holiday season.