Talk:Egg foo young

Tommy Cooper told this joke about egg foo yung.

How do you make egg foo yung?

Take a young egg... and foo it.

Surely it's "egg fu yung"? Cptoatsy 18:39, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

When I originally wrote the egg foo young I thought I was the only one who ate it thanks for proving me wrong! Lbparker40 20:50, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

What needs to be discussed

What part needs to be discussed? Benjwong 02:46, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

This food is generally understood in North America to be a very Westernized dish that was developed for American tastes, using American-style "Chinese" ingredients, and essentially something that isn't known in China. Is this incorrect? It's certainly one of the 10 or so dishes most familiar to Americans in the 1950s, when Chinese food started to become most popular (along with chop suey, chow mein, moo goo gai pan, fried rice, lo mein, etc).

We've had this problem with several dishes that Taiwanese and Hong Kongers insisted that they had grown up eating in restaurants in those places, but I am uncertain whether some dishes invented by Cantonese in America may have found their way back to those places over the past 50 years or so. This is one dish about which these questions are important to answer. And we can't just rely on our own experience, but really find sources that can explain the real origin of this dish, as well as the differences (if any) between the "original Asian version" and the "Americanized version." Badagnani 04:05, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

There is no mentioning of anything but North America in this article at the current moment. Are you saying it should mention places in the fareast?? Benjwong 04:18, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm saying I didn't understand why you removed the North America references, leading one to believe it is primarily an actual Asian dish that originated in Asia. These are the questions that need to be addressed, as well as what I mention above, about it being generally considered a highly Americanized food item. Perhaps more than one of these things are true, as we've found in the past that no one person or culture usually knows the full story of many of these foods. Badagnani 04:42, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Then the controversial part must be "Egg Foo Yung has Chinese origins, by means of the traditional Fu Yung Egg slices, a dish from the city of Shanghai. This dish is prepared with beaten egg whites and minced ham. Some northern parts of China have also been known to use chicken instead of ham. From these dishes early creative Chinese chefs in the American 1950s and 1960s created a pancake filled with eggs, vegetables, and meat or seafood." and should be put back? I think that's what you are suggesting. Benjwong 04:51, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Some of that seems dubious but I try to give the benefit of the doubt to the person who originally added text, and find out how they knew that (though maybe they just made it up, or heard it somewhere, or some guy in a restaurant in New York or someplace claims that he invented the dish, or his father or grandfather, or some prior chef at his restaurant invented it). It would be best if we can get it sourced. Do you know some of the "back-story" of egg foo young before it was introduced to the U.S. (if there is one)? Badagnani 04:54, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

While people may eat something similar in shanghai, I am doubting it as an actual origin. Just as you may eat pizza in Taiwan, but you wouldn't be saying it was from Taiwan. Using flickr as a loose guide. The people uploading the correct pic of egg foo young seems to all be from US and the west in general. People who claim they are uploading pictures of egg foo young in Chinese 芙蓉蛋 are uploading pictures of regular omelette. Benjwong 05:01, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

If you're certain about this, this can be a start to fixing the article. However, the "original" Cantonese versions of omelette, or the northern-style ones those Cantonese chefs may have had in mind, should be mentioned in the article as well, to put the dish's creation in context. Good sources (old cookbooks on Google Books or in a library) would be important to ahve as well. Badagnani 06:01, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Why is the title of the page spelled "Egg Foo Young"?

I thought it was spelled "egg foo yung" why is the title "egg foo young"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.73.17.222 (talk) 16:01, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

I believe "egg foo young" is the most common way this has historically been spelled on Chinese restaurant menus in North America. Badagnani 21:25, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Name

According to a food writer acquaintance in Taiwan, this dish may have originated in China, since it is named after a flower whose name appears in literature 1000 years ago in China. She says that Chinese people compared the eggs in egg drop soup ("egg flower soup") to the hibiscus flower. Need sources for this. Badagnani 21:27, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Changes

I Added a Piture (Lbparker40) on 7/07 & agian on 12/07... This one has the proper liscensing and should not be lost as the previous one was... the pic is good.