I'm impressed at how much archival media you were able to find...and you aren't even in Canada, are you? I don't remember ever seeing a Gold Chin, probably because most of those malls were not nearby to me then. If you want a possible topic for Chinese food in Canada, consider the company Wing's Food Products. I'm in Toronto, but I met some of the Wing family in Montreal years ago. I read that Wing's sold the sauce and condiment part of their business to Venture Foods of California in 2016. I've seen many of their products over the years, such as soy sauce packets and fortune cookies at restaurants, as well as egg roll wrappers, Chinese sausages and noodles at grocery stores.
My family ran a restaurant in Montreal and we ordered condiments/supplies and, I think, bean sprouts for chow mein from Wing's. The second son(?) of that generation and I went to McGill at around the same time so we recognized each other when we crossed paths either at the restaurant or down at their warehouse. I believe that he went to work for the company after McGill.
Thank you! I am in California. I am lucky newspapers.com includes newspapers from all over the world. Simon Fraser's Chinese Times collection is one of my favorites (chinesetimes.lib.sfu.ca/), and of course UT's Spiller menu collection (discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/menus). In fact, I oftentimes find Canadian local resources a lot more accessible than American ones. And yes! Wing's is definitely on my radar. The other one is bobo balls.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow Haha, I literally know nothing more than that we ordered our condiment sachets and won ton and egg roll skins from them. This was almost three decades ago!
Living in downtown Toronto from 1992 to 2009, the only mall Chinese restaurant that I ate at was a small Chinese buffet place at B1 in Eaton Centre. It disappeared around 2000 but it was value for the money. I did eat at Sai Woo 1x but it was obviously past its prime by then. Interesting video! The daikons looked terrible in that Chinatown shop. Hehe
I think I had Panda Express for the first time in my life only a few years ago! 😆 I recently read something super interesting with Sai Woo (regarding lost dishes), thinking whether I have enough to work on an episode.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow I have never eaten at any of the Chinese fast food chains except for a take out bowl of won ton soup from Manchu Wok. Not recommended! Sai Woo was quite famous in TO from what I gather.
Great research and video (as usual)! Since part of this relates to "first food court" and another aspect is "fast food," how does the timeline of this (Gold Chin) line up against fast food Chinese cuisine outside of food courts? Is the creator's claim (I think?) of developing the "fast food" concept in 1970 legit, or were there other people using the fast food concept prior to this outside of malls?
Haha, of course you would ask this question! I have no doubt local Chinese restaurants got a spot in the "first food courts" around the country, as pointed out in the Frank Fat episode. As for "fast food", it depends on the definition (streamlined operations, franchising, etc.) and then there's "chain" (Department of Commerce defines a chain as having four or more stores), and "successful chain". But to answer your question, heh, there will be an episode for it. Hint: Drive-ins.
Your channel and docs are astonishing and wonderful. Thank you for producing and sharing.
Aww, thank you!!
I'm impressed at how much archival media you were able to find...and you aren't even in Canada, are you? I don't remember ever seeing a Gold Chin, probably because most of those malls were not nearby to me then.
If you want a possible topic for Chinese food in Canada, consider the company Wing's Food Products. I'm in Toronto, but I met some of the Wing family in Montreal years ago. I read that Wing's sold the sauce and condiment part of their business to Venture Foods of California in 2016. I've seen many of their products over the years, such as soy sauce packets and fortune cookies at restaurants, as well as egg roll wrappers, Chinese sausages and noodles at grocery stores.
My family ran a restaurant in Montreal and we ordered condiments/supplies and, I think, bean sprouts for chow mein from Wing's. The second son(?) of that generation and I went to McGill at around the same time so we recognized each other when we crossed paths either at the restaurant or down at their warehouse. I believe that he went to work for the company after McGill.
Thank you! I am in California. I am lucky newspapers.com includes newspapers from all over the world. Simon Fraser's Chinese Times collection is one of my favorites (chinesetimes.lib.sfu.ca/), and of course UT's Spiller menu collection (discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/menus). In fact, I oftentimes find Canadian local resources a lot more accessible than American ones.
And yes! Wing's is definitely on my radar. The other one is bobo balls.
@@waisinglee1509 Oooh, I might have to talk to you when I work on the Wing's episode. ;)
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow Haha, I literally know nothing more than that we ordered our condiment sachets and won ton and egg roll skins from them. This was almost three decades ago!
i used to eat at the bramalea city centre location in the 70s and 80s
Living in downtown Toronto from 1992 to 2009, the only mall Chinese restaurant that I ate at was a small Chinese buffet place at B1 in Eaton Centre. It disappeared around 2000 but it was value for the money. I did eat at Sai Woo 1x but it was obviously past its prime by then. Interesting video! The daikons looked terrible in that Chinatown shop. Hehe
I think I had Panda Express for the first time in my life only a few years ago! 😆 I recently read something super interesting with Sai Woo (regarding lost dishes), thinking whether I have enough to work on an episode.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow I have never eaten at any of the Chinese fast food chains except for a take out bowl of won ton soup from Manchu Wok. Not recommended! Sai Woo was quite famous in TO from what I gather.
Great research and video (as usual)! Since part of this relates to "first food court" and another aspect is "fast food," how does the timeline of this (Gold Chin) line up against fast food Chinese cuisine outside of food courts? Is the creator's claim (I think?) of developing the "fast food" concept in 1970 legit, or were there other people using the fast food concept prior to this outside of malls?
Haha, of course you would ask this question! I have no doubt local Chinese restaurants got a spot in the "first food courts" around the country, as pointed out in the Frank Fat episode. As for "fast food", it depends on the definition (streamlined operations, franchising, etc.) and then there's "chain" (Department of Commerce defines a chain as having four or more stores), and "successful chain".
But to answer your question, heh, there will be an episode for it. Hint: Drive-ins.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow I look forward to it! Thanks.