Thank you for whoever fixed my Chinese name on the Wikipedia page
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 23, 2008
Someone fixed my Chinese name on my Wikipedia entry so it is traditional rather than simplified. Thank you.
Topics: Chinese Food | No Comments »
Cashew chicken, also Chinese American
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 23, 2008
A reader sent me the Wikipedia post on cashew chicken (腰果鸡ä¸), which I had not realized, originated in one of its forms in Springfield, Missouri when Chinese restaurateur David Leong was looking for something to appeal to the local palate, so made this dish with fried chicken-type bits in the 1960s. (again the secret in America = chicken + fried. Think General Tso’s, Orange, Lemon, Sweet and Sour).
I’m curious though, whether only the fried-chicken version of cashew chicken originated there, as there are stir-fried versions (no batter dipped) I’ve seen. Which one came from which, or perhaps they involved independently?
Cashew in Chinese is è…°æžœ, which roughly translates to waist fruit. I wonder if cashew is called that because it is bent in the middle, like it’s bending at the waist. (Cool photo from Glenna Anderson Muse.)
Topics: American Chinese | No Comments »
14k Fortune Cookie Jewelry (why?)
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 23, 2008
Sent to me by a coworker. A Rachel Leigh fortune cookie necklace, which is made of 14k gold, so this is not the cheap costume stuff. (Who is Rachel Leigh, I don’t know, but it’s these kinds of Web sites that make me feel like I should).
Just goes to prove how iconic fortune cookies are in the United States. I can say with some authority that they are not selling 14k gold fortune cookie jewelry in China or Japan.
It actually comes with instructions: “Remove the fortune ribbon, tie it near the clasp of the necklace, and make a wish. When the ribbon falls off, your wish will come true.” This is a bit of an odd tradition, nothing to do with fortune cookies (American or Japanese) at all, just this general notion of luck/fortune/three wishes from a genie in a bottle. This is actually a very bad set-up as it seems to set up a perverse incentive for the owner to accidentally tug/pull off the ribbon doesn’t it?
Topics: Fortune Cookies | No Comments »
Facialisation and racialisation…Fortune Cookie Chronicles’s Academic Cousins
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 23, 2008
A reader just sent me a blog summary of an academic paper on Chinese takeaways in Great Britian.
The title of the paper, by David Parker, is ‘The Chinese Takeaway and The Diasporic Habitus- Space, Time and Power Geometries” — which is just a fancier way of saying “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles” (kidding). It is published in an academic volume called Un/settled Multiculturalisms: Diasporas, Entanglement, Transruptions, edited by Barnor Hese (Zed Books, 2001).
No seriously, it seems to touch upon some of the similar ideas as I present, just in drier form. Here is a summary of the essay from the blog: “For Chinese people born in the UK or outside China and Hong Kong, the concept of being Chinese living and based within an indigenous culture, the diasporic habitus involves strategies and the structuring of Diasporas that highlight the reinvention of cultural forms, practices and emphasises transition on its part, such as the takeaway franchise.” And also “Parker’s insight into the takeaway counter makes for compelling reading: he sees that the positioning of the counter occupies a relationship between facialisation and racialisation.”
You could read this, or read my book. Which is more fun? My hope actually is that my book gets picked up as a text in college courses (either Asian American studies or food and culture). It actually has extensive footnotes and a bibliography.
Think the kids would find it a relief.
Topics: Chinese Restaurants | No Comments »
#26 on 3/30/08
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 22, 2008
Yay. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles hits the New York Times extended bestseller list at #26 on the March 30 issue (which is up today).
Because of the way the list operates, that represents the second week of sales, or the week closing on March 15 (my birthday).
As my friend pointed out, 2 + 6 = 8.
Topics: Book Musings | No Comments »
General (Tso’s?) Sushi? A reader responds
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 22, 2008
Getting reader emails like these is in part why authors write — to know they have changed how someone looks at the world. The line about whether the General of the sushi is the one of chicken fame or not made me burst out laughing.
After reading your book, I have to say; I’ll never look at Chinese food the same way again. I was astounded by all of the Chinese foods that are actually American! I loved everything about your adventures in the world of Chinese food.
I recently went to a Chinese restaurant with my family and was baffled by the amount of American “Chinese” dishes on the menu. I checked if the soy sauce on the table actually contained any soy (it did) and scanned the menu for any tradition Chinese dishes. I was pleasantly surprised to see things like Ox tongue and frog. My family was more or less interested when I started reciting things about the fortune cookies on the table. I found one other thing in this restaurant that surprised me. General’s Sushi. Now, I wasn’t sure if this was the same general of chicken fame or just some dish that needed a name. Thank you for opening my eyes to the true Chinese food and culture. You have changed my view of all cultural foods forever.
Topics: Book Musings | No Comments »
Cary Goldstein is on vacation, so Carolyn Mimran is publicity woman for the week
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 22, 2008
Twelve’s publicist, Cary Goldstein, is on a (much needed) vacation — and totally unreachable (yay). Working on 12 books a year on an unrelenting pace is incredible task, and he has done an admirable job.
Anyway, so people needing to reach a publicist this week can reach Carolyn Mimran, his assistant, at carolyn dot mimran at hbgusa dot com.
Topics: Chinese Food | No Comments »
Zoe’s in Somerville, where the Chinese go to eat
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 22, 2008
I did my WBUR interview with Here and Now at Zoe’s in Somerville, which is ote cited asone of the most authentic Chinese restaurant in the Cambridge/Somerville area. (See Yelp reviews, which have mixed opinion on the authenticity).
It’s a place where the dominant language spoken over tables is Chinese — especially last night since it was Good Friday, which seemed to knock out the Catholic foodies that I sometimes observe there. I think our table was the only one where we were speaking English.
Topics: Best Chinese Restaurants Around the World, Chinese Restaurants | No Comments »
May 7, Wednesday at The Lighthouse
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 21, 2008
Just got booked at The Lighthouse, an incredible institution, for May 7th, Wednesday as part of their Dorothy Strelsin Author Series, a program
So the program will (likely?) run from 6 to 8 p.m with a reception 6 – 6:30, then discussion/presentation at 6:30, followed by reception, book selling and signing. It will take place at the their headquarters, at 111 East 59th Street, between Lexington annd Park Avenues, in the Benay Venuta Hall, on 2nd floor.
Topics: Appearances | No Comments »
Washingtonian Chat Transcript from March 20
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 21, 2008
On Thursday I did an online chat with the Washingtonian, which was really fun. (good questions) Sara Levine coordinated.
Washington has been a surprisingly strong market for the book. (Great events at both the Library of Congress and Politics and Prose, who exercised their marketing muscle. Standing room only with ~150 people each.)
Topics: Appearances, Media & Interviews | No Comments »
USA Today: “Fortune Cookie is a sweet treat, told in a lively, engaging fashion by a writer who clearly knows, and loves, Chinese cuisine.”
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 20, 2008
Leslie Cauley reviews The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for USA Today. Overall positive, with some interesting criticisms that I hand’t heard yet, basically TMI. Too many details on Chinese food. Things you wanted to know and didn’t. (Shrug)
Topics: Reviews | No Comments »
Derek Shimoda’s The Killing of a Chinese Cookie
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 20, 2008
Derek Shimoda’s documentary, The Killing of the Chinese Cookie, is playing in the International Asian American Film Festival. I convinced Derek to come with me to Japan to document the Japaneseness of the cookies when I heard he was working on a documentary. I have a funny story about when we first talked on the phone, but will share it later. San Francisco Chronicle does a piece on the doc. more »
Topics: Fortune Cookies | No Comments »
Details on the Seattle Underground Dinner
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 20, 2008
So I just got sent the info for the details of the very cool undergroundish Seattle dinner on March 30 hosted by Michael Hebberoy and Onepot.org. (here is a piece on his roving restaurateuring)
Here’s a summary:
Books and dinner for $80, coordinated in large part by Kim Ricketts (yay)
one pot + the fortune cookie chronicles + jerry traunfeld + xuan che = sunday
march 30th.
jennifer 8 lee – acclaimed nytimes metro reporter and author of the brand new
non-fiction thriller the fortune cookie chronicles – there is much to be said
about her remarkable piece of investigative journalism and the critics sometimes
say it best.
jerry traunfeld – former chef at the herbfarm and chef/owner of soon-to-open
capitol hill establishment to be called “poppy†– I think jerry has won
every award one can foist upon a chef and there is no doubt the man deserves the
credit.
xuan che – the daughter of a chinese-american chef and a graduate of the
california culinary academy, worked with jerry in the herbfarm’s kitchen, and
now cooks at crush. xuan studied cooking in shanghai after winning the woman
chefs and restaurateur’s barabara tropp scholarship.
it should be quite an evening. expect a thoughtful menu by jerry and xuan, a signed copy of the book and at some point in the evening one pot will launch into spirited conversation with jennifer about her work. we will be tucked into a hidden but unbelievably beautiful capitol hill loft.
6:30 p.m. $80/person – reservation info.
Topics: Appearances | No Comments »
Crossing paths with Obama in Philly
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 18, 2008
Totally randomly, I was scheduled to stop in Philadelphia for two NPR interviews at WHYY at the same time that Obama was giving his eagerly anticipated (historic?) speech on race right across the street at the National Constitution Center. (Here is the text). Here are all the satellite trucks lined out front from WHYY’s second-floor vantage point.
Topics: Media & Interviews | No Comments »
Smith Magazine Q&A
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
Elaine Chen writes up our Q&A for Smith Magazine
INTERVIEW: Jennifer 8. Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
Monday, March 17th, 2008
New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee started tracking down a suspiciously high number of lottery winners, and ended up following a trail that led through hundreds of Chinese restaurants on six different continents. The book that resulted from this epic journey (read an excerpt here) ended up being about a lot more than fortune cookies, although you certainly learn some surprising things about them. (They brought luck to 110 Powerball winners, and they actually originated in Japan!) Instead, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is ultimately about how Chinese food and Chinese immigrants have spread throughout the world, encountering failure and success, then ultimately emerging as something new—but still at its core Chinese.
Topics: Media & Interviews | No Comments »
The Library of Congress Flyer
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
I know, if I had my act together, I would have posted this before the event at the Library of Congress. But notice the iconic use of fortune cookies (which are more recognized in America than anywhere else)
Topics: Appearances, Fortune Cookies, Photo | No Comments »
Christian Science Monitor: “Where Lee shines most is in the narration of the stories of the real-life people she meets on her worldwide discovery tour.”
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
Terry Hong reviews my book favorably in the Christian Science Monitor:
‘Fortune Cookie Chronicles’: 40,000 egg rolls… to go
A New York Times reporter goes global, tracing the origins of America’s Chinese food.
By Terry Hong
Luddite me made a surprisingly funny joke to two techies after reading Jennifer 8. Lee’s delightful The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. “McDonald’s is to Microsoft as Chinese restaurants are to Linux,” I chirped confidently. My friends at first couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mouth – technology and I do not get along – and then they couldn’t stop laughing.
Topics: Reviews | No Comments »
Someone added my Chinese name to my Wikipedia entry in simplified :( form
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
So someone added my Chinese name to my Wikipedia entry (gleaned, I suppose, from the coverage of the book in Chinese language media). I actually find it a bit grating because they used the simplified character of my name instead of traditional character which is 2x the simplified character (which is what I grew up with since my parents are from Taiwan). I have never in my life used the simplified character, even when I was in Mainland China, I always wrote my name out with the traditional character.
In case you are wonderig, my Chinese name means competitive. It’s an unusual name for girls, and very striking. In traditional character it looks like two men running side by side (competition, get it?). You lose that in the simplified, sadly.
The name, also sounds like the character for tranquil, which is a much more traditional feminine name. This confuses a lot of people until they see my name written, and then they’re like “Ooooh, that is so much more appropriate.”
Topics: Chinese Food | No Comments »
Politics and Prose, Kosher Chinese Food and Standing Room Only
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
This is one half of the audience at my Politics & Prose event at Sixth and I Synagogue which is in Chinatown. (It was like the perfect convergence of my book: literary, Jews, Chinatown).
The other half of the audience is at the right, past the laptop. It was about 150+ people, standing room only. They served (and ran out of) kosher Chinese food from Royal Dragon.
My presentation went pretty well tonight, to the point that someone suggested that I go on the Jewish comedy circuit (my humor, growing up in NYC, is a bit Seinfeld influenced). I realized that Americans aren’t really used to funny Asian-American women. American humor comes in Jewish and black, and a bit of Latino now, and that Canadian Indian guy with the western name. As for Asian American women, it’s basically like Margaret Cho…and that’s it.
Topics: Appearances, Book Musings | No Comments »
New York City Asia Society, April 16, with Fucshia Dunlop!
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
I’m very excited that I’m doing an event with Fucshia Dunlop, who is the other woman on this planet who is as obsessed with General Tso’s chicken as I am. She tracked down Chef Peng to Taipei as well! Fucshia’s book Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, is often paired with mine on Amazon.
Here is the basics of what we know now about the event
April 16, 2008
Registration: 6:00—6:30pm
Discussion: 6:30—8:00pm
Book Signing and Reception: 8:00—9:00pm
Asia Society and Museum: 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York City
REGISTRATION (212)-517-ASIA (M-F 10am-5pm)
Online tickets https://tickets.asiasociety.org
$15 Students
$15 Members
$20 Nonmembers
No cancellations, exchanges or refunds
For more information, please visit our website at: www.asiasociety.org
Topics: Appearances | No Comments »
Harvard Advocate poster with Chinese Take-out Carton
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
I think the posters for my events are quite adorable and amusing. This one from The Harvard Advocate (and another one I will show from the Library of Congress) uses symbols of Chinese-ness (fortune cookies and takeout boxes) that are actually things largely indigenous to America.
The takeout boxes are so American they are not really even used in Canada (which is a aluminum and Styrofoam market, as was explained to me). As you will read in the book, invented to hold shucked oysters (why they are still called “pails” in industry vernacular) and then adapted by Chinese restaurants for takeaways. The one above is made by Fold-Pak, which is the largest take-out box manufacturer in the country.
For all the Crimeds/Crimexecs who have been teasing me because they say it’s treason to speak at The Advocate, I will simply say: They Asked!
Topics: Appearances, Chinese Food, Chinese Restaurants | No Comments »
Meat vs. Rice, American Manhood against Asiatic Coolieism, Which Shall survive?
By alexis | March 17, 2008
So I spoke at the Library of Congress today. (Packed room! maybe 150 or so people, with people standing in the back. Sometimes I think, who are all these people and how did you hear about the book?) Anyway, Abby Yochelson, a librarian there, pulled some documents from my bibliography, including this one.
 It is by Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, and it is called “Some Reasons for Chinese Exclusion: Meat vs. Rice, American Manhood against Asiatic Coolieism, Which Shall Survive?” Published in the Congressional record. Basically it makes the case that Chinese people, because they eat rice, will drag down the standard of living for Americans, who eat meat.
Topics: Chinese | No Comments »
Fortune Cookie Chronicles E-card
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 17, 2008
My publisher designed an e-card!
Topics: Book Musings | No Comments »
How to minimize reading at “readings”
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 16, 2008
I’m running around trying to pack and get all the logistics together before goig o tour. (The itinerary roughly goes Washington –> Philly –> Boston –> San Francisco/Bay Area –> Los Angeles –>Seattle).
I have packed for two weeks at a time while doing research for my book. Packing for two weeks if no one cares what you look like is easy (jeans, T-shirts, sneakers), packing for two weeks when people do care what you look like is headache-y (suiter, portable steamer, four (!) pairs of shoes, pantyhose — I swore during college I would never take a job where I had to wear pantyhose every day.)
Topics: Book Musings | No Comments »
Amazon ranking #8×8
By Jennifer 8. Lee | March 16, 2008
So this was a couple of days ago (on the Tuesday, March 11), where a nice convergence of the tail end of Colbert and a favorable write-up in the New York Times Book Review sent it up to #64 (which my friend Shawn noted is 8-squared) for part of the day.
Topics: Chinese Food | No Comments »