Tasty Noodles & Dumplings – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The first time I noticed that the dishes served to people of Asian descent weren’t covered in neon bright sauce, I wondered why those strange looking dishes weren’t on the menu. Or maybe I just didn’t see them. I asked my server (who was barely conversant in English) and was essentially told I wouldn’t like “authentic” Chinese food. “What the heck am I eating?” I asked myself. That was the beginning of my explorations into the ancient and traditional culinary culture of China. I delved into just what dishes are considered “authentic” and just what “authentic” means. Dogmatists and purists insist that dishes that weren’t “invented” in China are spurious, not legitimate. They use such terms as “Americanized” and…