Growing and marketing Chinese vegetables in central Kentucky. In the last 30 years, Asian immigrants entering the United States increased rapidly. Chinese immigrants alone, including persons from Taiwan and Hong Kong, numbered more than 680,000 from 1960 to 1992. Population is almost evenly distributed in the central city, urban, and rural areas. Lexington ranked sixth in the top ten U.S. cities for increased rate of international immigrants during 1994.
Vegetables are basic to Chinese cooking and are found in some form in most dishes.
Traditional Chinese cooking methods, such as steaming and stir-frying, are now widely adopted in the west. The use of Chinese vegetables is not limited to Chinese cuisine. Many are used for Oriental and European cooking and may be used as substitutes in, or tasty additions to American dishes. For thousands of years, China has developed its vegetable industry and has become rich in vegetable resources. More than 170 species, including water, perennial, and wild vegetables are used in China today.