Joshua David Stein Variety Hour...Half Hour
The Search for General Tso
This week on the Joshua David Stein Variety Hour... Half Hour, host Joshua David Stein is in search for General Tso! In the wake of the documentary, "The Search for General Tso," Joshua speaks with Director Ian Cheney about his unravelling of a captivating culinary mystery. General Tso's chicken is a staple of Chinese-American cooking, and a ubiquitous presence on restaurant menus across the country. But just who was General Tso? And how did his chicken become emblematic of an entire national cuisine? Joshua gets the scoop behind the documentary and hears from Ian the source of inspiration and curiosity to seek out the truth behind this dish's phenomenon. After the break, Joshua welcomes Mr. Jing-Qiang Guo and Ms. Eugenie Chen of the Chinese Classical Music Ensemble to not only chat about Chinese music and their traditional instruments (the erhu and ruan), but also the importance of keeping this style of music alive and well. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.
"Even as chefs adapt Chinese food to regional cuisines, which creates this very new thing called Chinese-American food, I'm guardedly optimistic that as more immigrants come in from other parts of China that we'll also be willing to explore other regional Chinese cuisines." [13:08]
--Ian Cheney on the Joshua David Stein Variety Hour... Half Hour