It's supposed to be Chinese food so where are the vegetables?

[Laurie]

My mini rant for the week. Years ago, before Chinese restaurants became all the fad, you used to be able to get sweet and sour chicken, pork or beef, which actually meat and fruit and vegetables! It came with the deep fried meat, green bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and pineapples. These days all you get is fried meat and some crazy bright red sauce. What the flip happened?
Lisa hasn't enjoyed Chinese food since the song The Cat's in the Kettle at the Peking Moon came out, but recently she's been on a rice kick so she requested fried rice. Imagine her surprise when there were no peas, or carrots in her fried rice. I don't even think they're putting egg in it anymore either!
Have we become a Nation who doesn't eat our vegetables so much that all these restaurants went American and stopped putting in the veggies because so many people requested them without?

How about anyone else? Do you actually have a Chinese restaurant near you that has fruit and vegetables in it's Sweet-n-Sour? Or peas and carrots and egg in the fried rice?
I just want things the way they were 20-30 years ago dang it!

 

[Spoof]

We have only one sit-down asian restaurant here. Everything else is buffet. But both here and every place I've eaten in WA have had veggies. I had some tonight with my sushi. Had onions, carrots, snow peas, four types of meat and lots of egg.

Maybe veggies are getting too expensive up there? Cats are cheaper?

 

[Sandi]

I am very lucky, I've got a few great places by my house and work, half of them are thai restaurants but they have alot of the same dishes. I LOVE the fried rice by the restaurant where I work, just the perfect amount of fresh peas and carrots, mmm, I'm hungry!

 

[AlbertaGirl]

I'm very lucky... there is a vegan Chinese restaurant here that serves all the favourites - ginger beef, sweet&sour pork, etc., but vegetarian. My dad, who is very clearly a meat and potatoes kind of guy, says its the best Chinese food he's ever had, and I agree. They put lots of delicious vegetables in their dishes. The ginger beef has lots of peppers, and the s&s pork has pineapple and these amazing mushrooms. Every dish has lots of yummy veggies. Man, now I'm craving Chinese food...

 

[3CsMommy]

Both of the Chinese restaurants in my area that I frequent have egg and veggies in the rice, though not a lot. No veggies in the sweet and sour, but they tend to leave the chicken and sauce separated b/c a lot of people can get their kids to eat "Chinese Chicken Nuggets" without the sauce. Most of their more traditional dishes, Mei Fun, Lo Mein, etc. are decently supplied with veggies, though. Sounds like I should overnight you guys some stuff.

 

[Chinniechantel]

Well Laurie, I spent 2 months in China and still didn't get good chinese food! I was begging for a PF changs or something! They loved fried rice with eggs and pineapple...yuck! Even chinese chinese food is cruddy now. China town in California has some good food...

 

[Melissa]

I dont think I ever remember Sweet-and-Sour chicken being anything but a smooth red sauce! I know orange chicken has oranges in it still. And we still have vegis in our fried rice over here. LOL


BTW PF Changs over here sucks! Just thought I would share..

 

[SusieJJ]

There are SO many Chinese food restaraunts around here! I don't get sweet and sour chicken, but the fried rice that I get sometimes has veggies and sometimes doesn't. I usually don't go back to the places where it doesn't, because the rest of the food doesn't seem very fresh either. I think that they don't use the vegetables because they have to get them fresher and they don't last as long. I got general gau's chicken at one place, and it had no veggies--no broccoli or anything! I won't go back there. That's just weird...

Then there's real Chinese food around here too. Some of that is pretty... interesting. It doesn't always come with vegetables either tho. One place makes you pay extra for vegetables! I really think it's because they're more expensive and you have to get them fresh tho, not that there's not a desire for them.

 

[eroomlorac]

Laurie, are you going to one of those chain Chinese restaurants? I think the difference is if you go to a 'family owned' business you'll get better food. I think those Panda Express, etc. type of restaurants are the once being cheap on the vegies. Just like if you want a GOOD hamburger, you don't go to McDonald's. But definitely get Lisa what she wants and feed her as long as she's interested in food.

 

[Alicia4435]

I think we have 2 restaruants here in town and 1 in Hometown by walmart. I've only ever tried the food at the one closest to me (I'm very picky about the Chinese food I eat because a lot of places I've tried were really nasty). The place I order from is a small family owned business and they put veggies in thier fried rice. Now the sweet n sour chicken, they don't. You just get a small box of rice, fried chicken, and a little cup with a lid of sweet n sour sauce. But its soooo good!

 

[starleomach]

You could always make the fried rice for her. Just get veggies she likes take alreay cooked rice, a bit of Garlic and butter in a frying pan, cook the eggs most of the way through like scrambled eggs then add the rice, veggies and some soy sauce and cook it up in the frying pan. Stir fry is also easy, chicken what ever sauce you want and veggies. use a bit of seseme oil when you are cooking the veggies and you will have some great food.
MMMM now I want to cook but can't cause I am outta town

 

[blue_soda025]

You need to come to Vancouver! =P We have good authentic Chinese food here.. and they definitely don't skimp out on the vegetables, LOL. You could order a whole plate of leafy greens if you wanted. There's lots of other really good Asian food around here as well, especially Japanese and other types of Chinese cuisines (Shanghai cuisine is good).
No offense, but all the Chinese food I have had in the states was pretty poor quality and not very true to the actual cuisine. But that might be because I am Chinese, so I'm a bit pickier when it comes to Chinese food and when they don't get it right. I know I'm really particular about the food in Asian restaurants and get annoyed if the food is all westernized. =/

 

[FiaSpice]

I've never seen peas or egg in fried rice, but if it was then 20 years ago, I was a bit young by then!

 

[Mystic]

The chinese place at the mall has peas, carrots and egg in their rice. Its very yummy too!!!

 

[Jenn]

My favorite chinese restaurant has recently closed, probably due to the economy. The food was excellent, and made the way it was supposed to be. We have a few other chinese restaurants in the area that I need to try out now that my favorite is gone. We went to one and it was disappointing. Got to try the others and hopefully one will compare! My local Haggen grocery store serves fresh chinese food that most of the time is pretty decent - depends on who the chef for the day is. But in all, the NW has pretty good chinese restaurants.