WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Chinese Food on Christmas 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.000 Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.280 Jerry's even here. She's sitting in for Dave c the 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.720 super producer. Uh. And this is short stuff a good 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.160 one too, if you ask me. Yeah. So, I know 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.599 that A Christmas Story is one of your favorite movies. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.280 And I know that that great scene at the end 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:31.160 that is unfortunately now dripping with ethnic overturns and racism. Sure, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.199 but it was. It's still a funny scene of the 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.519 family going out to eat Chinese food on Christmas and 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.080 an empty Chinese restaurant. The only problem I have with that, well, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:43.760 aside from the other stuff I just mentioned, is that 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:48.040 it's not it's not full of Jewish patrons. Yeah, it's 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.559 pretty much empty if I remember correctly. Isn't it They're 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.320 the only ones there. It is entirely possible that I 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.800 think that takes place in Cleveland, outside of Cleveland, doesn't it? 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.800 Or is it Indiana? I think it was shot outside 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.280 of Cleveland, but maybe said in Indiana. Okay, there was 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:07.880 probably not a Jewish person to be found in Indiana 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:13.319 in the nineteen Maybe that's probably it. And my god, 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.400 did you know Bob Clark died in a car accident 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.400 brought on by a d U I driver in two thousand. 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.200 I had no idea until just recently. So yeah, his 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.640 his oldest son r I P. Bob Clark and son Um. 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.240 But yes, so there is something weird in that there's 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.840 no Jewish people in there, because at any Chinese food 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:39.240 restaurant on Christmas in America, especially these days, you're going 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.160 to find plenty of Jewish people eating there. In fact, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:46.480 it's a huge tradition among the Jewish American community. It 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.720 turns out. Yeah, and you brought up this very kind 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:55.240 of funny moment at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:00.880 Justice Elana Kagan, someone said, where were you Um during 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.200 the Christmas attack launched by al Qaeda the year before, 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.280 and she said, like all Jews, I was probably at 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.360 a Chinese restaurant. What a great line. And apparently Chuck 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.359 Schumer was like, well, the reason being is because it's 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:19.080 probably the only place open. So he just kind of ruined. Yeah, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.160 he did. He explained it, but he probably didn't need 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.280 to explain because from you know, just researching this, but 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.560 also my own awareness, like eating Chinese food on Christmas 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:30.840 is not just a Jewish tradition any longer it's become 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.560 an American tradition. But it definitely traces its origins back 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:39.120 to the Jewish community, and apparently right around the turn 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.720 of the last century in the Lower East Side of 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.400 New York City is where the it really finds its roots, 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.920 which is pretty cool that you can trace something like 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:51.160 that back like that, Oh totally. It makes sense because 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.400 if you're typing, if you're talking about different types of food, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.440 like like Mexican food or Italian food, there's you know, 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.800 like dairy mixed in with the me eat in a 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:03.440 lot or most of the dishes, so it's it's hard 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:08.040 to eat kosher. Chinese food, first of all, doesn't have dairy. 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.720 You know. My famous story about does have cheese on 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.680 it in the Chinese restaurant. Still one of the great 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:16.280 things that ever happened to me as a child was 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.760 overhearing that conversation. But they don't, you know, they don't 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.400 have dairy in their food generally, and uh, the stuff 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.200 is just you know, if you've got your meat and 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.720 you've got rice, and you've got things that are cooked together. 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.040 But it's like vegetables and meats cooked together. It's not 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.280 It doesn't have like cream sauce or cheese and stuff 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.160 like that, right, which to a Jewish person is basically 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.040 the tantamount to being kosher. And you know, today it's 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.400 really easy to um be kosher in America because the 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.520 food industry back and I think the fifties said, oh, 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.680 you know, there's a lot of Jewish people who live here. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.360 Now there's like a whole market for making kosher foods 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.120 or just labeling foods is kosher that we're already kosher anyway. Um, 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.600 But before that, Chinese restaurants were one of the only 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.760 places out in the rest of America where a Jewish 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.120 person could go and and feel pretty confident about having 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.080 a kosher meal. So you know, that in and of 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.480 itself makes sense. And there's also some other Um, there's 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:19.599 other some commonalities too, especially between Eastern European Jewish people 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.320 and um Chinese cuisine, and that there there's a lot 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.720 of sweet and sour dishes common to both. Um. Creplock, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.120 which is like a meat filled dumpling, is is um 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.280 kind of resemble some of the Chinese meat filled dumplings 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.320 like dim sum um. And then also the pancakes Chinese 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.599 pancakes resemble blintzes too, so it's not like it was 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:46.560 just the most entirely foreign concept to to a lot 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.520 of these Jewish Americans who were recently arrived. Um, but 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.240 it was still exotic and new too. Yeah. So we'll 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.359 take a break now and then as promised, I know it, 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.719 let us astray, but we will head down to the 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:34.000 lower side right after this. All right, So you promised 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.200 talk of the lowery side where this was kind of born. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.040 So there's a woman named, and this is not a joke. 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.880 Her name is Jennifer eight Lee, the number eight. I 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.760 guess she's named after the movie. I don't know. I 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.719 didn't get that far. I just verified that he was 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.080 in a type of Yeah, Jennifer eight with Andy Garcia 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.400 and I can't remember who else and John John Goodman. 0:05:55.480 --> 0:06:01.000 I can't remember who Duma Thurman. Oh maybe maybe, Well 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.440 you you talk and I'll look up about that. All right. 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.920 So Jennifer eight Lee as a producer of the Search 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.000 for General. So is it it's General? So right, it's 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:16.440 it's General eighth. And she had this to say. Jews 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.479 and Chinese were the two largest non Christian immigrant groups 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.120 at the turn of the century. Uh. And so these 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.360 groups were linked by living in the lower side of Manhattan, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.200 and they were also linked by otherness. And uh. Two 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.599 for Jewish people to love Chinese food, um, she feels 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:36.520 just says a lot about immigration history in the United 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.200 States and being an outsider in the United States kind 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.720 of living together, which is really kind of a nice thing, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.160 I think. Yeah, I thought that was a really good point. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.479 I'm sure it's an accurate point too, but it's something 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.640 that's kind of easy to overlook. A lot of people 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.880 just kind of I think narrow it down to, oh, well, 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.000 that was what was open on Christian and um, Christian 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:00.440 holidays and Sundays, which is true. Um, like that, that's 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.520 you know, Chinese restaurants going to be open on Christmas. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.480 So if you're a Jewish person looking to go out 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.920 to eat, you know, the Italian place is going to 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.679 be closed because they're celebrating Christmas. The the the Irish 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.440 pubs probably going to be closed because they're celebrating Christmas. 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.720 So the Chinese food happened to be open, but it's 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.240 definitely there's a lot, a lot further deeper layers to 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.600 it than that. Yeah. Another one is that, Um, Chinese 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.280 people had no history of being prejudiced towards Jewish people, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.720 which was a big deal. Uh. They were open on Sundays, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:36.320 they were open on other Christian holidays. They I think, Um, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.640 there could have possibly been a reputation at some Italian 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:44.040 restaurants are early in the day of early in the 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.640 days of New York that they were maybe um, not 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.360 as welcoming for Jewish people, but a nice way to 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.600 say it at the very least. You know, if you 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.760 were a Jewish and you went to an Italian restaurant, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:59.880 you might take note of the extensive religious Yeah, the imagery, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.960 the word Virgin Mary and Jesus with the crown of 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.320 thorns and all that, and be like, good, you know, 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.000 I'm going to the Chinese food place instead. Yeah. Yeah, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.480 And it wasn't necessarily hostile, right, but yeah, it wasn't 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.640 like come in Jewish friends necessarily who knows, but they 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.200 didn't have to think about it at the Chinese restaurant. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.600 And then what's more, too, it wasn't just the Jewish 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:25.400 community that was welcomed with open arms to Chinese restaurants 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.640 during this time. Um, if you were black too, you 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.080 could find a place to eat at a Chinese restaurant. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.000 They like, they didn't discriminate against anybody. They were like, 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.000 you got some money and you want to eat, come 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.640 on in. Yeah, it's very nice and welcoming. Uh. In 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.640 the thirties. By the time the nineties rolled around, Jewish 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:49.880 cookbooks like full On had Americanized versions of famous Chinese 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:54.320 dishes like egg Fu young and chop suey and Uh. 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.840 The Lowery Side sort of started expanding. Jewish people moved out, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.319 moved to different boroughs, different neighborhood out into the suburbs, 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:03.640 and bada being bad a boom. All of a sudden, 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.280 Chinese restaurants were following because they know they've got a 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.480 good customer base. Yeah, dude, So there I saw that 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.199 there's something like forty thousand Chinese food restaurants in the 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:19.040 United States. These days there's fourteen thousand McDonald's forty thousand 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.800 Chinese food restaurants. And it was the this the aspora 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.680 of the Jewish community from the Lower East Side of 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.880 New York further and further out into America that kind 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.720 of drew Chinese food restaurants out with them. So you 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.960 can thank the Jews from New York for your local 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.079 Chinese food place that you love so much. Give him 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:41.880 a give him a tip of the hat and say 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:46.040 thank you Jewish friend. Um, I appreciate you bringing the 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.640 Chinese food restaurant this way. That is really cool. I know. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.880 They became sort of neighborhood hubs in Jewish communities and 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.160 they would see friends and neighbors and the families were 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.800 there and children were playing together. Uh. It was just 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.480 a sort of a beautiful symbiotic relationship, it seems like 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.880 from the beginning. Yeah. Yeah, And so over time the 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.200 rest of America said, hey, the Jewish people are really 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.800 onto something here. Let's uh, let's get in on this. 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.760 And now a days like eating Chinese food on Christmas 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.600 is just a general American tradition um. And you can 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:26.040 see that apparently in Google searches um for Chinese food, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:31.000 which I guess skyrocket on Christmas or right around Christmas, right, yeah, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.360 I think, um, they go up or actually that's a 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:38.000 grub hubs status Chinese food is up a hundred and 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.880 fifty two on Christmas Day. But uh, it definitely the 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.560 Google search peaks on Christmas Day. And that's been going 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:49.120 on since they've been keeping track of Google stats, and 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.280 so apparently the most popular Chinese food order in all 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.120 of America on any day, but in particular Christmas days 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.880 that General Sow's. Have you ever had Chinese food on Christmas? Yeah? Yeah, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.480 And as a matter of fact, I didn't realize how 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:03.319 cliche wey where you mean? And I would go get 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:11.400 General So's chicken at a Golden Buddha on on tenth 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.400 in Midtown, not the one indicator. And we just drove 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.800 past it the other day and it's it's gone, which 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:18.960 is kind of sad. So there goes our Christmas tradition. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.360 But um, yeah, for for a few years we would 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.400 go eat Chinese food on Christmas. Is good. I love 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.240 Chinese food so much. Yeah, I do too. I need too. 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.120 As a matter of fact, um, researching this the other day, 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.360 we ended up getting Taie. It wasn't Chinese, but you know, 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:35.199 close enough, but I was like, we've got to get 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.559 some Chinese food. Um. Just from reading about all this 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.760 and seeing words like egg fu young and chop suey 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.040 and stuff, it made me so hungry for it. I 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.480 never had that's that stuff. I don't even know what 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.120 chop suey is, so that I think it's a short 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.080 stuff in and of itself, but supposedly they think it's 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.280 chop suey basically means leftover, so that it has its 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.120 own origin story. We'll do one on chop suey two. Okay, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.079 sweet sweet indeed um. So if you want to know 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.880 more about Chinese food on Christmas, well then buddy, you've 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.000 got a day to figure it out and then try 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.840 it for yourself tomorrow. Because the Jewish community figured it 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.760 out a long time ago. And since I said that, 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:21.240 it means that short stuff is out. Stuff you should 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.920 Know is a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.320 For more podcasts. For my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.080 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:29.760 favorite shows.