You are correct about the America-made Chinese food thing. Most, if not all, “Chinese restaurant’s” in North America serve food for Westernized tastes——ginger beef, chow mein, eggrolls, kung pao chicken, even the more “unusual” Chinese dishes like Peking duck and spicy tofu. Fast food Chinese restaurants serve typical American Chinese fare——fried rice, eggrolls, chow mein, etc. You can get a few really “authentic” Chinese dishes in some Chinatown restaurants, but the better thing to do is to buy food takeout in Chinatown eateries where new Chinese immigrants go. These are usually the small, corner stores or BBQ shops where crowds of noisy Chinese immigrants visit. Chinese immigrants want to buy food “authentic” to the tastes of their homeland, so they frequent these places. If you want to try even more authentic, unusual Chinese food, go to the home of a traditional Chinese family and they will serve you things like “steamed grapefruit rind in salty pungent shrimp sauce”, “preserved salted dried fish”, “boiled daikon radish stew”, “foong cheng” (Chinese sausage), “preserved salty duck eggs”, and stir-fried “buck choy”. My grandmother used to cook these all the time for us, and on occasion she would also make black Judas Ear fungi (it’s a black rubbery kind of thin mushroom) with goldenrod blossoms and goji berries. The only thing about real, homemade authentic Chinese food that you may not like is that it can be very odorous, pungent, and disagreeable to the Western palate! Lol. But if you dare try, please do. Hope you get a chance my friend. You might like it! Sometimes food that doesn’t smell or look good can be surprisingly tasty! ;)