Beef Stroganoff are considered the traditional side dish for beef Stroganoff in Russia. The version given in the 1938 "Larousse Gastronomique" includes beef "strips", and onions, with either mustard or tomato paste optional. After the fall of Tsarist Russia, the recipe was popularly served in the hotels and restaurants of China before the start of World War II. Russian and Chinese immigrants, as well as US servicemen stationed in pre-Communist China, brought several variants of the dish to the United States, which may account for its popularity during the 1950s. It came to Hong Kong in the late fifties, with Russian restaurants
National dish of such countries simply cannot be represented by any single national dish. Furthermore, because national dishes are so interwoven into a nation's sense of identity, strong emotions and conflicts can arise when trying to choose a country's national dish. In Latin America, dishes may be claimed or designated as a ""plato nacional"", although in many cases, recipes transcend national borders with only minor variations. Both Peru and Ecuador claim "ceviche" as their national dish. Stews of meat, plantains, and root vegetables are the "platos nacionales" of several countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean: Colombian "ajiaco", as well