New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee gives an entertaining and anecdote-laced talk about her search for the stories and histories behind some of the West’s most popular Chinese-American dishes. Startling facts emerge: did you know that America has more Chinese restaurants than McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Wendy’s outlets combined? Or that the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved in a Chinese restaurant in D.C.? Or that fortune cookies are actually a Japanese invention? One of the highlights of this 16-minute talk is video footage of Ms. Lee’s journey to the Chinese mainland, where she proceeds to introduce fortune cookies to the locals. “What is it?” asks one man, suspicious. Another gingerly takes a bite, then announces, “There’s a paper inside!” Many more tales and tidbits are available in Ms. Lee’s latest book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.

Some reactions from the usual suspects at K & A:

“I was the one who suggested this talk, actually. I stumbled across it on Twitter. I thought it was an interesting topic.” —Sandra Barron

“I thought it was interesting to see how diverse food can be. It’s refreshing to see how you don’t need someone to tell you what makes a dish authentic or not. It reminded me of how much I miss British Chinese food. Even though it’s probably not as high-quality as Japanese Chinese food …” —Helen Lewis

“I thought it was a good demonstration of speaking too quickly. Makes it a little hard for an international audience to follow the ideas … I also didn’t feel there was any strong central theme that resonated with the audience. I mean, anyone that lives overseas knows that foods are adapted. Just look at McDonald’s. <derisive snort>” —Arnold Fisher

“What’s chop suey? No, really. Chop suey?” —Betty Loi

“It was food for thought.” —William Brooks

“I didn’t know that fortune cookies came from Japan, so that was very interesting. But I agree with what Arnold said: I didn’t see what the point was.” —Keiko Kuwahara

As for me, I found it fascinating to see the different ways food can sync up with politics, history, and geography and slightly alter the tone of each. It also put me in the mood for the best Chinese dish on the planet: sweet and sour soy balls at The Lotus Pond, a Buddhist-run vegetarian cafe in Victoria, Canada. It would probably be unrecognizable on mainland China, but as Ms. Lee says, Chinese food is just like Linux: “sort of an open source thing, right, where ideas from one person can be copied and propagated across the entire system.”