The Nixon Dinners That Taught Americans to Stop Worrying and Love Peking Duck

(via Atlas Obscura)  Nixon’s unprecedented presidential trip to China in 1972 steadied a rocky diplomatic relationship. But for Americans following along at home, what the president ate was just as interesting as the speeches.  Before Nixon’s visit, American Chinese food leaned heavily towards the “American” part of its name. To appeal to Americans, many Chinese chefs slathered dishes with gravy and served fortune cookies (a San Franciscan invention) and egg rolls (likely a New York invention).