Chinese Food: What is the origin of General Tsos chicken?
There are two slightly separate questions: • What is the origin of General Tso’s Chicken, the name of the dish. • What is the origin of the recipe of the dish we recognize now as General Tso’s chicken? They are, according to my obsessive research, different answers. First of all, it is not a dish that is widely known in China. That it is there at all, it is because it was introduced from abroad. General Tso is also known as Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠), a Qing dynasty military hero that played an important role in the Taiping Rebellion which was a civil war started by a Chinese guy who thought he was the son of God and the baby brother of Jesus Christ (really). Zuo is roughly equivalent to General Sherman in U.S. culture. * The name of the dish, as best I could tell, was created by Chef C.K. Peng (or Peng Chang-kuei) in Taiwan during the 1950s or so. As of 2011 he is still alive, in his 90s, hanging in there and his family still runs fancy restaurants where yes, they serve General Tso’s chicken.
