General Tso’s chicken is a sweet, tangy, and mildly spicy dish made with crispy fried chicken pieces tossed in a flavorful sauce. Although named after General Tso (Zuo Zongtang), a 19th-century Qing dynasty military leader from Hunan, there is no evidence he had any connection to the dish. Its origins trace back to the mid-20th century, when Chef Peng Chang-kuei, a Hunanese chef living in Taiwan, is credited with creating an early version that was more savory and spicy. Later, Chinese chefs in New York adapted the recipe in the 1970s, adding sugar and deep-frying the chicken to appeal to American tastes. Over time, General Tso’s chicken became an iconic example of Chinese-American cuisine — a dish inspired by Chinese flavors but reinvented abroad.