By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
FALL RIVER – As strange as it may sound to anyone outside the southeastern region of Massachusetts or parts of Rhode Island, the chow mein sandwich is a delight to the palate of many. Created in the 1930s or 1940s, the sandwich is typically served on a bun with chow mein noodles and brown gravy made with onions, celery and bean sprouts, maybe with chicken, shrimp or beef or pork.
The sandwich is served “strained” or “unstrained” depending on preference of vegetables. It was made popular thanks to Frederick Wong, a Cantonese immigrant who got into the family restaurant business in Fall River in the 1920s, realizing New Englanders were particularly fond of gravies.
An instant hit
Fall River was booming with factories and textile mills that employed a large number of immigrants at the time and Frederick Wong knew how to cater to the taste buds of those working in the area. The sandwich was an instant hit with immigrant workers who had started arriving in Fall River in the late 1800s looking for work. Many of the Chinese immigrants came from the West Coast after working on the country’s Transcontinental Railroad and getting pushed out by hostility surrounding the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Wong opened the Oriental Chow Mein Company on Eighth Street in 1926. In the beginning, he only sold the noodles to local restaurants. However, right before the start of World War II, he began packaging the noodles along with a packet of gravy in bright yellow boxes under the Hoo-Mee brand name. In 1942, chow mein was added to the U. S. Army cookbook. The crunchy noodles also fulfilled the need for a cheap and filling meal for the cost of a nickel. A meatless version was sold for Catholics on Fridays as well.
Enduring popularity
Renowned chef Emeril Lagasse, who grew up in Fall River, has made no secret of his love for the sandwich. The chow mein sandwich was part of Fall River’s school lunch menu well into the 1990s and was on Nathan’s Famous menu in Brooklyn, New York as recently as 2013. It has been the subject of a Brown University anthropology dissertation, and one large Chinese restaurant sold nearly two million sandwiches during its 40 years in business. The dish was so popular that a band called Alika and the Happy Samoans wrote a tribute song about it in the 1970s.
JamesEdwardMulletty8828 commented on YouTube:
“This Should Be Fall River’s National Anthem!”
PiercedMikey explained:
“It has to be Fall River chow mein though, it’s a local recipe for the noodles.”
Barbara Wong arrived in Fall River shortly after World War II and five years later, she met Frederick’s son Albert, who took over the business from his father, and the two married in 1953.
Albert Wong ran the company until his death in the 1990s.
Rising from the ashes
In 2009, a fire destroyed the Eighth Street factory and Barbara was besieged by customers wanting to know if she would rebuild or if the noodles would be back. Wong received so many phone calls that she had to disconnect her phone. Restaurants even reported losing business because they were forced to purchase their chow mein noodles elsewhere. A few months later, the Oriental Chow Mein Company reopened for business.
In a 2019 interview discussing the 19th century immigration to Fall River and the universal language of foods, food historian Imogene Lim told WCAI reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan, “If you’re thinking, [European] immigrant groups, what do they know about Chinese food? But they know something called a sandwich. So, a sandwich becomes something accessible to them as a way to ease in that notion of Chinese cuisine.”
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