Chinese food isn't Chinese food, according to Ball State University graduate student Xue Ming Liang.
"It's not that Americans don't like real Chinese food, it's just that the chefs don't know how to cook it very well," Liang said.
Liang said that in China, people who want to eat American food usually go to McDonald's, Pizza Hut or KFC.
"Pizza Hut is very popular," Liang said.
Liang has some experience with multicultural foods. Back in Beijing, she worked in China's first TGI Friday's.
"Business people used to take people there to impress them; it was really expensive, most people couldn't afford it," she said.
But unlike American restaurants in China -- where a Big Mac is still a Big Mac -- the foods served in Chinese restaurants in America are often strikingly different from what you would eat in Guong Dung, Shanghai or Beijing.
"In China, food is usually more dry," Ball State senior and Hong Kong native Carrie Ng said. "We don't like to add to much sauce, and we usually don't have everything mixed together."
Ball State professor of geography Christopher Airriess, who spent his childhood in Asia, said the spices used in American Chinese restaurants set the food apart from authentic Chinese cuisine.
"Most non-European foreign foods are adapted to suit American tastes," Airriess said. "With regard to Chinese food, you'll usually find a lot more sugar and heavy spices."
Airriess said another common sight at Chinese restaurants in the United States -- the all-you-can-eat buffet -- is not particularly authentic.
"It is extremely uncommon to see buffets in China," Airriess said.
Ball State Chinese Student Association President Wei Ma said different regions of China are known for different types of food. Dishes from the south-eastern province of Guangzhou are the most familiar to Americans because the majority of Chinese immigrants came from that region.
"Usually people who live in southern China are considered better cooks than those from the north," Ma said.
Ma said food from Guangzhou is typically known for its light and fresh qualities whereas dishes from his home province of Sichuan tend to be heavier with more spices.
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