This article appears to be poorly-written satire. You mean it’s not?
I had always thought Gen Tso’s chicken, although based on Hunan-style cooking, was created in the US.
I get so tired of SOME people claiming certain dishes to be only theirs. Fried chicken, watermelon, etc. do not belong to only one racial group: they are Southern food. I (totally caucasian as far as I know) grew up eating Southern food. Fried chicken was routinely a Sunday dinner. Sometimes when I was a little child, we would put a quilt on the grass to sit and eat watermelon that my grandparents had grown. Good Heavens!!!
You are correct. General Tso's chicken was created in New York City.
Although based on Chinese-style cooking, the main American contribution to General Tso's chicken is using fried chicken. I laughed out loud when I read the Oberlin student's claim that the cafeteria's General Tso's chicken was not authentic because it wasn't fried. Frying the chicken is the uniquely American aspect of the dish!
There is a documentary about the history of General Tso chicken. Saw it on Netflix. It’s on Amazon and Hulu also.
IIRC, the New York chef stole the idea from a chef in Taiwan who made the dish for General Chiang Kai-shek.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw12Pk1eA6A
General Tso’s chicken (named for Tso Tsung-t’ang, a nineteenth-century Chinese general) is apparently of US origin, as is chop suey.