National Chinese Takeout Day, November 5: a Gold Rush-era tradition in America
November 5 is observed each year as National Chinese Takeout Day. The day's exact origin and founder are undocumented and it is not an official holiday, but the takeout tradition it celebrates is one of the oldest immigrant foodways in American life.
Chinese restaurants in America trace back to the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Around 1849, Chinese immigrants began opening eateries in San Francisco; community leader Norman Asing ran a restaurant near Kearny and Commercial streets charging one dollar for an all-you-can-eat meal, listed in some accounts among America's first Chinese restaurants. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, restaurants became a main livelihood for many Chinese families. The folded paper oyster pail, patented in 1894, later became the iconic takeout container. By 1980, Chinese food had become the most popular ethnic cuisine in the United States.
(Source: National Dates)
Source: National Dates
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 中餐外卖纸盒（图：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0） / A Chinese takeout oyster pail (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
