Sweet and sour pork

Sweet and sour pork is a Chinese dish that is particularly popular in Cantonese cuisine, North American Chinese cuisine, and Korean Chinese cuisine. It can also be found on the menu in most UK Chinese restaurants. A traditional Jiangsu dish called Pork in a sugar and vinegar sauce is considered its ancestor.

The origin of sweet and sour pork was 18th century Canton or earlier. A record shows that the renowned Long Family in the prosperous neighbouring Shunde county (of the Qinghui Garden fame, and the family was active in the 18th and 19th centuries), used sweet and sour pork to test the skills of their family chefs. It spread to the United States in the early 20th century after the Chinese migrant goldminers and railroad workers turned to cookery as trades. The original meaning of the American term chop suey refers to sweet and sour pork.