Man Credited With Inventing General Tso's Chicken Dies

The chef who has been credited with inventing General Tso's chicken—a world-famous Chinese food staple not served in China—has died, the AP reports. He was 98. Chef Peng Chang-kuei brought the sticky, sweet-and-sour dish to New York 40 years ago. It became a favorite of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the chef's Manhattan restaurant and spread to menus across the country.

Peng's son, Chuck Peng, says his father died Wednesday in Taipei, Taiwan. Chuck Peng runs the family's Taiwan restaurant chain, Peng's, where his father still cooked until a few months ago. He says his father created the dish in the 1950s for a US Navy commander and named it after a 19th-century Chinese military leader. (More Chinese food stories.)