This is the second in a series of videos about sustainable agriculture and healthy eating. The series was produced in collaboration with the Global Food Initiative at the University of California.

The history of Chinese immigrants and citizens in California is long, complicated and not entirely pretty. Like every nonwhite immigrant group (and many white ones), the Chinese were treated as second-class citizens. Quotas were low and citizenship was especially hard to obtain. Furthermore, there were restrictions on family members; the vast majority of early immigrants were men, living alone or in groups, but almost always without women.

Many arrived for the Gold Rush in the mid-19th century and stayed to build the railroads. Then followed a kind of Chinese diaspora spreading eastward and scattering small groups of immigrants throughout the United States. Discrimination and outright racism drove many of them to establish independent businesses, including laundries and… restaurants.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were “Chinatowns” in several American cities, mostly featuring restaurants and shops catering to non-Chinese customers. I visited the one in Los Angeles – which is really quite a relic – with Yong Chen, author of “Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America” – and talked with him at length about this history. That, and our visit to a modern Taiwanese restaurant in Irvine, are the main focus of this video.