Chop suey is not the only Chinese-American dish that has little connection to Chinese cuisine. But it is unique in its popularity and how well known it became in the late nineteenth century–decades after the first wave of Chinese immigration to America in and around the Gold Rush period in the mid-1800s. By the time chop suey came started being written about, there were Chinese-American communities in many places in the country. The dish, which became popular with white Americans, played an important part in the formation of Chinese-American cuisine and its early popularity. Whatever its origin, chop suey quickly became a familiar part of Chinese-American cuisine–many early restaurants that served Chinese-American food were known as “chop suey houses,” according to Rhitu Chatterjee writing for NPR. “Chop suey” roughly translates to “assorted mix,” writes Ann Hui for The Globe and Mail–and that’s exactly what chop suey is. “The only common practice was to use a wok to stir-fry a bunch of ingredients with an innovative sauce,” Professor Haiming Liu told Chatterjee.