Film focuses on Chinese food culture in America
Late at night, sliding into the red booth at a Chinese restaurant in Ohio, Ian Cheney ordered General Tso’s chicken like he had done countless times in college.
But this time was different.
Cheney and his best friend Curtis Ellis were in the middle of their Iowa-bound road trip, working on their film “King Corn” which details the harm of industrial farming.
And as they made a pit stop at the midwest Chinese eatery, Cheney and Ellis questioned their typical order of the famous deep-fried, sweet-spicy chicken and thought, “Who is General Tso anyway?”
The question inspired the two to create a documentary on Americanized Chinese food favorites “The Search for General Tso.”
The film was showcased March 21 at USF St. Petersburg’s fourth and final lecture of this school year’s Food for Thought series.
“When we started the project it was because I was curious about the phenomena of Chinese food restaurants across the country,” said Cheney, who spoke after the screening.
Throughout the film, Cheney and Ellis traveled to explore the Chinese food industry in the United States, and focused on how meals have been modified for American taste and the discrimination that Chinese restaurants face.
“I learned a lot of what I feel is not really a part of the American history narrative: The unbelievable racism that has been articulated in government policy toward Chinese Americans,” said Cheney.
He said the hardest part of making the film was balancing its serious and lighthearted aspects.
“We felt we had an opportunity and a responsibility to tell that story, but we also had a whimsical premise of this almost goofy, gooey, red, spicy chicken dish that everybody knows,” said Cheney. “We wanted to keep those two tones throughout the film and fortunately, I think we were able to find characters who helped us carry it through.”
The group working on the film didn’t want to get too political or touch on contemporary immigration policies, he said, and instead just show the viewer a different perspective on the industry.
“We said, let’s do something more subtle. Let’s change the way people feel when they go into a Chinese restaurant. Let’s change the way people see the family running that restaurant and the backstory of the food that we take for granted and don’t pay that much for.”
USFSP Journalism Professor Janet Keeler organizes the Food for Thought series and chose Cheney’s film for the last lecture because of its tone.
“I was looking for something that had a diverse atmosphere to it,” said Keeler. “The last speaker we heard was kind of more science and environment-oriented. I was looking for something slightly light-hearted, but still with a good message.”
Keeler, former food and travel editor at the Tampa Bay Times, said next year’s speakers will possibly include a panel of local farmers. a possible panel of local farmers.
“The idea of it is to sort of get USF St. Pete down as a place where we can talk about food ideas and culture,” she said.
