Friday, July 06, 2007

Who Was General Tso . . .

. . . and why are we eating his chicken?

Washingto Post: "Each evening, thousands of Americans drift into Chinese restaurants or, if they are too lazy to go out, pick up the phone and order one of the most popular dishes on the menu: General Tso's Chicken, a sugary-spicy melange of dark-meat tidbits, deep-fried then fired up with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions and hot chili peppers.

Not one in 10,000 knows who General Tso (most commonly pronounced 'sow') was, nor what terrible times he lived through, nor the dark massacres that distinguished his baleful, belligerent career. Setting their chopsticks aside, patting their stomachs, the satisfied diners spare scarcely a thought for General Tso, except to imagine that he must have been a great connoisseur of hot stir-fried chicken.
General Tso was a man ahead of his dish.

Who was he?"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Of course, since she doesn't like dark meat Jackie has to order it with white meat only.

mybillcrider said...

I'm with Jackie.