"Chinese food" news and stories

In a move not at all meant to be ironic, Panda Express is seeking to expand to (drumroll, please) China, reports Forbes Magazine. Chinese-American chairman Andrew Cherng states that he's "working on some angles" and might do business with Golden Eagle retail group, a large Nanjing-based retail and real estate company.

But can the makers of Beijing Beef and Kung Pao Chicken sell food to the folks who invented bird's-nest soup? Chinese food in America is often radically different than what is actually served in China, notes the blog Foodista. And what has thus far succeeded in China are the U.S.-based chains that do all-American fast food, including McDonald's, Starbucks, Yum!, Dairy Queen and Papa John's. Kentucky Fried Chicken alone has about 3,000 Chinese outposts. That said, the menus are often modified to suit a Chinese palate.

"When Andrew moved to America, he brought his father's recipes with him," explains the Panda Express website. With the help and business savvy of his wife Peggy, he knew that a real meal served fast, hot and fresh would catch on like a wok on fire! And did it ever."

Let's see if bringing those the same recipes back to his homeland is equally as hot.

How to explain the rather dull and predictable options when it comes to vending machines in America compared with the rest of the world? Why can't we get on-demand ramen, as the Japanese do. Or, even if we wanted one, a Chinese hairy crab? Sure, as Slashfood reported in May, there are Maine lobsters out there in a machine somewhere, but in the U.S. these aren't exactly around every corner, as they are in many other countries.

Vending machines in America: They're pretty much everywhere you don't want to be. Airports. Hospital waiting rooms. Down a long, fluorescent-lit hall in your office at ten o'clock at night as you curse your boss for another late night and try to cobble together dinner from a bag of chips, some powdered donuts and a Coke. Which is what makes the Village Voice's compilation of "10 Wild and Crazy Food Vending Machines" from around the world so refreshing, from a Chinese contraption that allows you to try to catch your own live hairy crab with a robotic claw to the Dutch automat that serves up croquettes.

According to the Chinese, who have for millennia eaten black chicken (which in China is called wu gu ji, or black-boned chicken), putting the dark poultry into a stew or soup may be just the thing to cure a cold,cramps, or a headache. Some people have called it an anti-oxidant powerhouse -- a true superfood. But don't look for Silkies at your local Piggly Wiggly market. Urban Asian markets are where you'll find these midnight-colored chickens, but it's worth the search. As a very wise man once said, black is beautiful.

• Even garlic is going green -- and adding nice mellow flavor as it does.
• "Zinfandel's like Beyonce"... and these wines are Zin's sexy backup singers.
• For the Vegas-bound, here are tons of great new restaurants.
• If you're thinking more about China than Vegas, try out Yu Garden -- a taste of Shanghai without the 12-hour plane trip.
• What is this, chopped liver? Why, yes, it is actually.

• Chicharrones, anyone? US plans to loosen regulations on pork-rind products.
• Restaurants are closing and reopening at record speeds in New York. How long does it take to change the look and the menu?
• After the massive recall of cured meats last week, popular labels such as Daniele, Dietz & Watson, Black Bear of the Black Forest and Boar's Head found themselves recalling products due to possible salmonella poisoning.
• Food & Wine published their list of the World's Top 10 Life-Changing Restaurants. Two American restaurants made the cut -- Thomas Keller's The French Laundry and Dan Barber's Blue Hill at Stone Barns.