Curiosity leaves me with some itches I just have to scratch.
When it comes to people and social phenomenons, often times knowing “what” just isn’t enough– the “how” and “why” need answering too. At its best, this trait helps me to get to the bottom, or at least gain a better understanding, of unanswered questions; at worst it leads me down time wasting digressions.
My current beef is with Chifa, or Ecuadorian Chinese food. While there’s nothing wrong with the cuisine itself, the mystery behind the origin of the name irks me.
The Backstory
I first encountered Chifa when I travelled to Peru in 2016. I remember looking for a place to eat and seeing restaurant after restaurant with ‘Chifa’ written in the front glass window. I asked my best friend, and travel companion at the time, what it meant and she told me Chinese food. When I asked her why it was called Chifa, as opposed to the more literal ‘comida china’, she replied with a stumped shoulder shrug.
Fast forward to May 2017 when I first got to Ecuador. At the end of our first week in country we met our host families for training. During the car ride home we hit a ton of traffic. At one point I Iooked out the window and there it was again in bright, red lettering: CHIFA. When I asked my host family about the origin of the name, I was met with another blank response.
Since then, my nagging fixation has evolved into a whole other beast, because at its core, food is so much more than what we eat; it embodies the history of a culture and people too. Hence, when I wonder about the origins of the term Chifa, questions regarding immigration trends and the wider affects of Chinese diaspora in Ecuador trail close behind.
Where It All Started
As in my own case, the origins of Chifa begin in Peru. The country’s first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived at the end of the 19th century. The majority were men from the Guangdong province in Southern China who had been contracted to help meet foreign labor demands in sugarcane farming, mining, and railroad construction. Of the 91,000 chinese immigrants that arrived in Peru between 1848 and 1874, the majority settled on the coast and in select cities. In general, the conditions under which they worked were poor and often dangerous.
Going into the 20th century, a large portion of Chinese-Peruvian immigrants moved from working in the aforementioned low-wage, labor positions to working in the manufacturing and service sectors. This shift was accompanied by the opening of Chinese grocery stores and restaurants, particularly in cities like Lima. Before long, loans words from Cantonese, the first language spoken by most Chinese immigrants at the time, started to enter the Peruvian lexicon.
The term Chifa emerged in Lima somewhere between the 1920s and 30s. In Cantonese, ‘chi’ means ‘to eat” while ‘fan’ means ‘rice’; A less common translation is ‘to eat’ and ‘go’ respectively. Per Wikipedia, as a phrase chi fan means “to eat rice” or “to have a good meal”. Over time, both words merged into one and evolved into the name for the fusion between Peruvian and Chinese cuisine. By extension, the restaurants selling Chifa also came to be known by the same name.
The Evolution
I use the word fusion to describe Chifa because, as you might expect, changes were made to Chinese dishes being served in Peru. This was in part due to limited access to authentic Chinese spices and ingredients and the inclination to accomodate the differing tastes of Peruvians. Likewise, the same could be said for Chinese, Italian, or really any international food found in the US.
Perhaps the strongest comparison between terms and the influence of international cuisine can be drawn between Chifa and Chinese Food in Peru and Tex Mex and Mexican Food in the United States. Both are genres of food inspired by, but decidedly different from their foreign culinary predecessors. The change in name of the by-products denote that they are a derivative, as opposed to an attempt to replicate, original Chinese and Mexican food respectively. From Peru, Chifa made its way to Ecuador out of geographic proximity and Ecuador’s own small influx of Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century and 1970s.
Migration Trends in Ecuador
In comparision to Peru, Ecuador’s Chinese, and Asian immigrant population as a whole, is quite small. Perhaps the highest inflow came in 2007 when Ecuador’s visa restrictions were removed and an estimated 4,300 Chinese immigrants entered the country. As of 2009, some sources estimate the Chinese migrant population to be 50,000. This contrasts sharply with the 2010 census that estimated the total Asian-Ecuadorian community to range from 2,500 to 25,000 people. Given the lack of consistent data, its impossible to quantify the Chinese/East Asian-Ecuadorian population with more accuracy. Nevertheless their presence in Ecuador’s retail, entertainment, and of course food industries can’t go unnoticed.
Widening My Lens
As a US citizen, my bias is to see immigration from distant countries as a “US thing”. In reality, the phenomenon happens in every part of the world to varying degrees. Digging into the origins of Chifa has highlighted this concept for me.
Although this is the first, it probably won’t be the last time I write about immigration trends in Ecuador. There’s got to be a reason why there are so many shawarma restaurants in Quito…
Sources:
1. Carlos Arrizabalaga, “Chifa y chaufa,” Accessed November 1, 2017, http://carlosarrizabalaga.blogspot.com/2009/10/chifa-y-chaufa.html
2. Celcilia Agramonte, “Origen de la palabra Chifa,” Accessed November 1, 2017 http://www.generaccion.com/usuarios/325/origen-palabra-chifa
3. Countries and Their Cultures, “Asians in South America,” Accessed November 1, 2017, http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Asians-in-South-America.html
4. Mazza, Jacqueline, “Chinese Migration to Latin America and the Carribean,” Published October 2016, http://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Chinese_Migration_to_LAC_Mazza-1.pdf
5. Migration Policy Institute, “Ecuador: From Mass Emigration to Return Migration?,” Accessed November 1, 2017,
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ecuador-mass-emigration-return-migration
6. SICREMI, “Ecuador – Overview of the history of international migration in Ecuador,” Accessed November 1, 2017, http://www.migracionoea.org/index.php/en/sicremi-en/269-ecuador-1-si-ntesis-histo-rica-de-las-migracio-n-internacional-en-ecuador-2.html
7. Wikipedia, “Chifa,” Last edited: 29 October, 2017. Accessed November 1, 2017, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chifa
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