The Search for General Tso

Overview

From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.

Directed by Ian Cheney

Top cast

S

Susan Carter

Self - American historian

Ian Cheney

self

P

Philip Chiang

Self - restaurant owner

A

Andrew Coe

Self - food writer

L

Liang Xiao Jin

Self - Chinese historian

Details