This week on the channel +986K views this week

Great Big Story serves Springfield's cashew chicken family history

David Leong's sons explain how crispy fried chicken helped introduce Chinese-American cooking to Missouri diners.

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Great Big Story Story of October 30, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

The Real Story of Missouri's Cashew Chicken

Great Big Story sits down with Wing Yee Leong and his brother at Leong's Asian Diner, where a local favorite began with a practical observation: their father's customers liked fried chicken, even if Chinese food was unfamiliar to them.

In "The Real Story of Missouri's Cashew Chicken," the brothers describe David Leong's solution in the 1960s: debone the chicken, bread and fry it, then add cashew sauce. The channel's only new upload this week has drawn roughly 13,000 views. Among the comments are a Missouri native describing the dish as a taste of home and another viewer remembering a favorite St. Louis restaurant that served it before closing.

Wing Yee also recalls a visit by McDonald's researchers before the launch of Chicken McNuggets. It's an intriguing family recollection, though the sequence alone doesn't establish that one dish inspired the other.

The Route 66 table remains well set elsewhere on the channel. The new cashew-chicken film is its busiest upload by daily views, followed by the Kansas and Oklahoma food guide, with its ham sandwiches, oysters and onion burger. The longer Missouri episode, which also visits the Leong brothers, rounds out that group.

Across the channel, the catalog added nearly a million views over seven days while subscribers held steady. Daily viewing is currently below its usual pace. Nearby food channels had livelier weeks, particularly Nick's Kitchen, while Epicurious and Jamie Oliver also had unchanged subscriber counts. For Great Big Story, this week's fresh contribution is a small, specific piece of Springfield's food history, told by the family still cooking it.

Published on Trari

Where next?

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What viewers say

Born and raised in MO and this is the food i crave when I think of home!
@caitlinw9978See it on YouTube
I have not been able to find this particular cashew chicken in ages in STL. Since my favorite restaurant decided to retire fifteen years ago.
@nonyabisness-cg7mfSee it on YouTube
So glad GBS is back
@noahwebb6381See it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube