Chinese Food

On my train ride home tonight, I overheard a woman's phone conversation with her significant other (SO) on ordering Chinese food for their dinner.
I usually do not pay much attention to people's phone conversation on the train, but tonight when this woman loudly pronounced TWICE that she wanted Chinese, and what she wanted to order, "Wonton Soup" and "Chicken Chow Mein", I cringed!

Chinese immigrants have been in this country for over a century, and I myself have been here for 20 years. Sadly, from my observation and personal opinion, Chinese food in America has never moved on from the past and it stays stagnant with its usual Americanised affair. Meanwhile, generations of Chinese immigrant restaurant owners, both in suburbia and Chinatown, are glad to continuously permeate the stereotype and thrived by serving dishes like "wonton soup/雲吞湯", "moo goo gai pan/蘑菰雞片", "kung pow chicken/宮寶雞", "crab rangoon/蝦龍糊", and with supplement like the "fortune cookies/簽語餅" and "cone shape waxed paper carry out boxes/外買盒"...etc.

For years, I question the real cause of why Chinese food in this country has to live on with the stereotype? Is the American general public too conservative and preferred to stick with the traditional Americanised Chinese food? Or, is it the only way for Chinese immigrants to succeed in the restaurant business by carrying on with stereotype?

Forty years ago, the American landed on the moon; yet for over a century, Chinese food in America has never lifted off. *SIGH*