But thanks to its mass production, distribution, and advertising of products that have remained largely unchanged for the last century, La Choy has had a large and lasting impact on Chinese food in America. Classic dishes like chop suey and (much later on) General Tso’s chicken were adapted for American tastes and demands. Much of the discussion over the history of American Chinese food has been centered around the resilience and resourcefulness that scores of small, independent Chinese restaurants-helmed by immigrant Chinese Americans-determined to crystallize a new American cuisine, in spite of restrictions and racial animus. One hundred years later, its mass-produced Chinese food products, designed to “add spark to your meal planning” with “delicious, different Chinatown meals,” per a 1958 recipe booklet from the brand, are a nationwide business with annual sales of $75 to $80 million. In 1922, two friends from the University of Michigan founded La Choy in Detroit. But the company’s true origins lie in the Midwest. Today, the logo has the Chinese character for “east” beside the brand name. Walk down the dubious ethnic aisle of an American supermarket, past the Old El Paso taco dinner kits and jars of Indian and Korean sauté sauces, and you’re bound to find them: canned “chop suey” vegetables, bottled soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, maybe a box of fortune cookies, and crispy twigs of fried noodles in a can, all from a brand called La Choy.
La Choy soy sauce bottles and canned bean sprouts are a familiar sight in American grocery stores, but behind this hundred-year-old brand is a story fit for Hollywood.
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