It was that kind of intermarriage, the welcoming of someone into a family, despite the rhetoric, which allowed for that dish to eventually make its way into my mom’s kitchen in Hermosillo in the 1980s, and to many other kitchens, becoming a staple and a comfort food for that outlived the prejudice. One such man, Abelardo Juanz, and now his descendants, operate one of the longest running Chinese restaurants in Hermosillo, Restaurante Abelardo, where chop suey is one of the most beloved dishes. As most were male, intermarriage with Mexican women occurred, and many integrated into the community. Pockets of Chinese immigrants remained within Sonora, even after the forced expulsions. Or for Anglo capitalists, but absolutely not for the Chinese. It is not without irony that the anti-Chinese sentiment in Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries so very much mirrors the anti-Mexican sentiment felt in the United States for so long, even mirrored by the expulsion of Chinese immigrants from Mexico in the 1930s.

Mexico was for Mexicans- so said the slogan of the time. The political discourse of the time both praised the great ability of Chinese laborers despite their small stature and weak appearance, then quickly pivoted to decry their predilection for gambling and vices of all kinds, declaring a need to protect Mexican women from them, lest they be corrupted. Unfortunately, it was not only Chinese labor that was imported into Sonora, but anti-Chinese sentiment as well. Mexico in the late 19th century didn’t have this cheap and plentiful labor, nor did it have the funds for these desired modernizations. There was a need for cheap and plentiful labor to lay railroad tracks, cut tunnels through mountains and dig precious metals out of mines. The story of Chinese immigration into northern Mexico is much the same as their story in the western United States. What's interesting is that this dish doesn’t have much of a home presence in American households the way it does in Sonora, and even in Mexico, this homecooked noodle dish is limited mostly to home kitchens in Hermosillo, much in the same way a taste for root beer and hot dogs was left behind due to foreign investment, mining and railroads. Yes, the same chop suey found in every Chinese-American restaurant from coast to coast.

However, this noodle dish is just as typical of Hermosillo as the world famous Sonoran doggos.

One dish I grew up eating from my mother’s kitchen may not fit the expected Sonoran profile of golden fried beef and potato tacos, machaca con huevos, tamales and carne asada. A simplified version of chop suey is commonly found in Hermosillo.

Chop suey house