Lee, Jennifer 8. - The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

[oyceter]

Lee begins the book by telling the story of an unprecedented number of winners for a lottery, all of whom had gotten their winning numbers off of fortune cookies. She goes on to examine Chinese food, although despite what the title says, it's more American Chinese food, with occasional forays into other diasporan Chinese foods. Hopefully no one here is surprised to learn that American Chinese food classics such as fortunes cookies, chop suey, and General Tso's chicken aren't very Chinese at all, in that they were born in the USA. On the other hand, Lee argues that you can't define them as un-Chinese. (Although fortune cookies were actually invented by some Japanese Americans, which I hadn't known.)

Since I am a snob, I still refuse to think of most Chinese food in the US as actual Chinese food, despite Lee's arguments. And she does note that Chinese food in the US is sweeter, saltier, and deep fried more often than Chinese food from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, along with noting that it's somewhat sanitized for USian taste—no bones, no gristle, no dark meat, no strange body parts.

I have to admit, the breezy tone ended up being off-putting for me, along with the lack of depth, although the book may be more interesting to someone who doesn't know about the differences between American Chinese food and Chinese/Hong Kong-ese/Taiwanese Chinese food (Lee distinguishes between food from China/HK/Taiwan and food from anywhere else). I also had a hard time reading some of the history because the breezy tone often goes along with history, and that history mostly consists of Japanese internment (or why Chinese Americans ended up marketing the fortune cookie instead of its Japanese-American inventors), the Chinese Exclusion Act, illegal immigration, and other fun things. On the other hand, I did not know that Chinese delivery men are frequently robbed, beaten, and/or killed on the job, so I did learn that.

Lee seems to be more apolitical than anything, though of course "apolitical" is still a political choice. Still, because of that, I wanted a different kind of examination of Chinese food in the US, one that doesn't necessarily conclude that the changes it went through were good, but I also have a great deal of vested interest, thanks to being made fun of for what I eat.

Comments

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in reading this, it's been on my 'books to find' list for a while now.

I've been thinking about the idea of Chinese diasporic food of late. I refer to the food my family eats as Chinese, but as my partner pointed out recently (I hadn't even thought about it until this point), what we eat isn't Chinese food, it's Malaysian-Chinese food. But that doesn't make it any less Chinese, doesn't make us any less Chinese, etc. And I like being Overseas Chinese, rather than from the Mainland/HK/Taiwan. But I wonder what my opinion would be of Overseas Chinese if I weren't one.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yeah, I keep being reminded that even the Chinese food in Taiwan is very different from China's. I remember reading an article on how a lot of Chinese chefs ended up moving to Taiwan when the Communists took over and how China had to refocus on its cuisine of late.

I think what separates diasporic Chinese food from things like American Chinese food to me is partially the audience? I am a snob about American Chinese food because it's Chinese food tailored for white people, and more specifically because of the disparities in income, legal status and etc. that separate the people making the food from the people consuming the food.

Um. I guess you could use that argument to talk about class differences with food as well and how fancy restaurants "dress up" "poor" food to appeal to people (fancy corn dogs, frex).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Delivery jobs in general are fairly dangerous, as the delivery person has to show up alone, carrying cash, to an unfamiliar house in an unfamiliar neighborhood. And I bet it'd be interesting to look at the demographics of who gets attacked and who doesn't, and the demographics of the neighborhoods.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yeah, definitely.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

"apolitical" is still a political choice.

Nothing like stripping away cause and motivation behind oppression to make it sound like an accident or act of nature. ("And then the Indians magically disappeared. And black people showed up. And Japanese got put in camps by a wind that came across the US during WW2. etc.")

I'm pretty sure some interesting study could be had about how employment laws restricting chinese to restaraunts and laundries shaped Chinese American food. Or what role being run out of town had on the distribution of the diaspora. Or having men only for decades shaped the food cooked/eaten. Etc.

[oyceter]

Heh yeah. I was very much thinking about the laundries and restaurants and etc., and I wish Lee had gotten more into that. Although she does mention the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Japanese internment and stuff, so it's not hidden, but it's also not the focus.