Sweet-and-sour pork: the signature dish of contemporary American Chinese food. Sold in cheap diners, strip mall buffets, and P.F. Chang's, this dish is a staple of contemporary American life. But critics charge that this dish is bad, epitomizing everything that is wrong with American Chinese food. Greasy, sweet, and MSG-laden, sweet-and-sour pork is a distortion of "real" Chinese cooking, arguably more American than Chinese. In this talk, I will challenge current views of sweet-and-sour pork by situating this dish within a history of cross-cultural contact and exchange. Through a mouth-watering tour of early modern Chinese meat stews and fried things, I will also reconsider popular assumptions about culinary authenticity and argue that you should once again relish your sweet-and-sour pork - without shame.