OK, originally this post started out about the city of Chongging, China (more about that at bottom.) However, it took a serious turn as you can see by the title. So Chongging, does that sound a little like Chun King to you? It did to Italian-American Serviceman Luigino “Jeno” Paulucchi, and boy did it pay off!
To keep this as simple as I can, it began in the 1920s with the Chop Suey craze. Later, events in 1965 and 1972 made it more popular. And by the 1980s Chinese cuisine peaked in popularity and was America’s dominant, mass-consumed ethnic food. And amidst that, in the 1940s Jeno Paulucchi capitalized on it! Here’s an excerpt from the food site, CulinaryLore (food science, history and much more) by food historian Eric Troy, titled Chun King Chow Mein: First Canned Chinese Food, Sold by an Italian American.
“By the middle of the 1950s, canned Chinese food was one of the most popular “international foods” sold in grocery stores. Paulucchi had grown up in the grocery business, and after serving in Asia during World War II, he came home thinking about how much his fellow soldiers like chop suey. Jeno started the company with a borrowed $2500. At first, his sales were to local Minnesotans, selling to, of all people, a Scandinavian market, but he soon went national. His first large supermarket account was Food Fair.
I won’t go into it more, except to say that Paulucchi thought Chongging sounded like Chung King and that’s apparently where the name came from. You can read all about that at the link above.
However, as I alluded to in the beginning, this post started out about the city of Chongging, China. Chongging was the wartime capital of China from 1938 to 1945. But today it’s one of the cities where people live who visit this site! Here’s a look at the top five visitors from countries so far in 2026:
And from the over eighty cities in China this year, here are the top five city visits. And coming in at number four is Chongging! (or Chun King if you prefer):
FINALLY (whew!) Here are a couple Chun King commercials from the ’80s with Actor Keye Luke; Charlie Chan’s Son No.1, Lee Chan, in eleven films and here as Master Po of the television series Kung Fu:
So to all our Charlie Chan fans from China this month (especially those from Chongging) a big “Thank You So Much” for visiting. How about some Chun King Chicken Chow Mein, Chop Suey, or Egg Rolls, tonight? Heck, it was made by an Italian…can’t be all that bad!
“He who keeps the friendship of a prince, wins honors. But he who keeps that of a cook, wins food”
(Keeper of The Keys, 1932, Chapter 10)
