The Story Behind This Book

The average American knows very little about the Chinese restaurant. The average Chinese knows equally little, perhaps just a little more. Louis Chu, 1939, p. I

Chinese restaurants today are one of the most popular cuisines in the U. S. and many other countries, but this was not the case until after the end of World War II. The story of how Chinese immigrants started family-run restaurants and made them successful is a fascinating one especially since most of them were started by Chinese immigrants with little or no cooking or restaurant expertise in the rural villages they came from.