Why is all chinese food the same

but it still tastes absolutely gr8

because u r not in china

Try Hunan style, it is much spicer./.

chinese food is so good except the westernized ones, which you are eating.

Sorry you have had such a bad experience with Chinese food,this is really not the case,Chinese food is popular in many countries ,perhaps the reason being it has been adapted to the taste & requirment of that particular country,apart from that looking around,trying out new places & styles might lead you to finding something you really like.

sorry can not agree with you:
1.chinese food is really different from many others! I am chinese I know it u thought that maybe because u have not eaten too many someday come to taiwan & try more!

2.we look very different ok, not small eyes! actually I had the same kinda thought as u that I thought american r all look the same expect the hollywood stars who I can tell. yet now I find i was wrong since I've built the bridge to ur culture. again come to taiwan for a trip u will find more :-)

^_^

A menu in a typical Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong contain over one hundred dishes. Too bad you come across the worst possible aspect of Chinese cuisine, i.e. those in China towns in a foreign country. I suggest you go to Hong Kong / China and you will know what real Chinese cuisine is.

Yes, u definitely r missing a lot of goodies!!!!!!! I do not know what kind of Chinese food u r having there, but I usually do not eat Chinese food when I travel to other countries.

I sincerely hope that u would visit Hong Kong or Shanghai / Beijing someday & try the real Chinese food, the ingredients u listed r just basic & most commonly used, u did not put oyster sauce nor black bean sauce nor xo sauce, may be u never heard of these sauces.

Below is a website which u may view some photos of Chinese food the restuarants serve in Hong Kong. You click the district name then click the restaurant is name, the photos of the dishes would appear.

http://hongkongfoodguide.com/eng/index.shtml

Below is a website showing some popular recipes of Chinese food & the recipes r written by a Hong Konger, so please excuse his Chingish, but u may find there r a lot of different ingredients be used in the recipes & u can view the photos of the food too

http://nicemeal.com/chicken.html

Below is my best answer to another question about Hong Kong sauces which I posted some sauces that the westerners may not be familiar with or never heard of them, if u r interested u may also have a look too.

http://..com/question/index;_ylt=AhfxJynC51gszZAxnHqDf1Lty6IX?qid=20070423143608AAUOpNc&show=7#profile-info-LLUpLLhMaa

By the way, Chinese home cooking demands using fresh ingredients, freshly killed chicken, duck, goose, fish or seafood, etc. r the best & we still have a habit to buy the ingredients in the wet market daily some housewives go the market twice a day, the livestyle is very different when compare to the western world. Restaurant cooking mostly use frozen meat, unless the restaurants r expensive ones!

China is a big country, we have 8 different types of cuisines & they all r different in tastes, way of preparations.. u may have a quick glance about them in below website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_food

It sounds to me like your problem is that you're eating Chinese-American food, which is very different from actual Chinese food. I've had some amazing Chinese food in Japan, for example. It is very different from what we get here in most of the US. Also, Chinese home cooking is different from Chinese restaurant cooking, so maybe if you find a homestyle Chinese place that might appeal to you.

All of your Chinese food seems to come from a Chinese buffet or take out place which are so westernized that you always get the same thing. If you do not live in a city with a large asian population, you will never get to eat real Chinese food. Chinese food is far more sophisticated then Italian, Japanese, Thai, or Korean food.

I think I have to agree with u here. I went on a tour of China & after two days I got sick of the food. Anything that was ''different'' was basically inedible, so I had to stick to safer dishes, which did all begin to taste the same. And not only that, I found it to be too oily & salty. It was hard to find really healthy AND tasty food in China, it was either tasty & unhealthy, or healthy & plain/nothing special. I recommend, like the other people here, to try Thai or Korean foods.there is SO much variety, flavors, & a lot healthier.

Many different dishes are chinese: simple and more complex. It can be boiled, poached, steamed, stir-fried, pan-fried, deep fried, eaten raw or dried. It can be bland, spicy, sweet or sour as well. All that depends on the availability of good ingredients, skill level, talent and creativity of the cook.

There is no such thing as a single Chinese food. There are a number of different cuisines in China. Further what you have experienced is very much a westernized and therefore a bastardized version of Cantonese and only Cantonese cuisine.

When you've had the chnace to taste authentic Chinese foods, from various cuisines, you will be singing a different tune and begging to apologize for this comment.

hahaha! maybe that is becuase u never ate real chinese cusine, u just ate take-out from the american-chinese restaurant down the street? americans have changed so much chinese food & made it..completely different i do not really call it chinese food anymore. fortune cookies r NOT chinese, neither is General Tso is chicken, sweet & sour chicken..etc.

If u want something new to try, get out of america, u wo not find good chinese food here unless u have a chinese friend who knows how to cook they way they do in china. trust me, when i first went back to china it was like ''finally! real chinese food!''

The food you're eating is ''western'' Chinese . . . try some authentic restaurants, if you can. It depends what city you live in, but if you have a Chinese neighbourhood, go there and find some.

Boy have you had bad luck with this cuisine. It is one of my favorites. You really should find the local Chinese community and just try everything, there is a wide range of complexity to the cuisine.

First of all u r probabaly eating westernised chinese food where the meat has been over tenderised, where there r lots of msg & the food has been modified to suit the palates of the Western culture.
Chinese food is defined by the region they come from . Have u tried any authentic ones? Cantonese, Shanghai, Yunan, Teochew, Hokkien & , Hakka styles r the mainstyles.
Yes, we chinese love our ginger & garlic just as garlic is essential to all italian food. There is defintely good chinese restaurants around but u might not have had the chance to taste them.
I also agree that other chinese styles from se asia is different & influenced by their malay & indian counterparts. Try them before u give up on chinese food.

well, you can come to malaysia we have different kind of chinese food..

See, in the USA, chinese restaurants do mainstream stir-fry menus in the Mandarin & Cantonese style, & the slightly more edgy ones do some Szechuan (that is the hot peppery style).

But there r seven major regional cuisines in China. So characterizing the chop-suey stuff u get in the USA as ''Chinese'' is wrong.

If u want to exeriment with different flavors, go to a good oriental grocery & pick up some steam buns (frozen, & u will need a steamer to cook 'em properly), & go down their aisle full of pickles & see what varieties might tempt you--pickled peanuts & pickled melon do not taste like anything I've met before.

There r some interesting things they do with pork; get a cook book & find how they prepare their ribs for dim sum, how they do red barbecue pork. Jeff Smith, in ''The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines had a number of oriental recipes that were far from the mainstream.

I also agree with those who suggest that u try other SE Asian national styles; Korean, Thai, Viet, Indonesian--all have some similarities, but each has its own unique delights. Once you've tried Kim Chee, Viet coffee, or satay, u might have a greater appreciation for the range of oriental styles.

Sorry for not totally agreeing with u but for most part ur kinda right but I believe its not all the same maybe u need to go to another restaurant, see they also use sake, salmon, octopus red meet, see weed, various plants, eel, avocado shark which they r not supposed to but then again after eating so much of the same thing it will be the same old thing. So think about it maybe u did have everything all ready but I tell u this must the food we Americans cook is not the food they cook we tend make shortcuts to make a better revenue at the restaurant.

Try korean. It is usually almost fat free, spicy, salty and no msgs. It was on a documentary as one of the most healthiest cusines in the world. Japanese food is over rated.

wow.. seems like you've been having crappy chinese food. it is because the chinese food has been ''westernised''. go to real chinese restaurants! you will be surprised!
if you want chinese food with a twist, go to malaysia where chinese food are fused with malay and indian styles (no exotic meat here)

i've been to guangzhou, china, and chinese food there is amazing! so do not generalise that all chinese food is bad. you just need to explore more

no its not! you have to try HONGKONG and SHANGHAI. really mouthwatering foods there.

it is what it is..i love it

to be like the same face......Chinese people..have the same face so there food most be like this!!!!!!

its their culture