While Americans slather on ketchup on their burgers and hotdogs during the July 4th weekend, they might not know that ketchup’s origins are from Asia. This article talks about ketchup’s origin as a sauce from Indonesia, its eventual use of tomatoes (it didn’t start out using tomatoes), and how it grew to be so popular. It’s a fascinating story – ketchup reached American via Britain via the Dutch on its path from Asia. After tomato canning companies began make ketchup from tomato waste products, it became so cheap that most people stopped ketchup at home and from ingredients other than tomatoes.
The article also mentions other ketchups, such as banana ketchup from the Philippines pictured here. We have a lot of this stuff in my house, and I like the spicy version best. It’s great with embotido and with scrambled eggs or omelettes.
I find it engaging to look at how food from Asia and other parts of the world influence and are transformed here in the United States. What other sauces could have a similar popularity as ketchup? While Americans, on average, are said to eat 32 ounces of ketchup a year, there has been talk that salsa is more popular than ketchup. This article from the Wall Street Journal claims that while salsa sales revenue are larger than ketchup, ketchup still outsells salsa in terms of units. Another Asian style sauce with potential is Sriracha, developed as a David Tran’s take on a traditional Asian sauce from Sriracha Thailand. Sriracha is another popular condiment in my house, and I have been to cooking classes where professional chefs used it to open up flavor. It makes me wonder what the next “hot” sauce from Asia will be!
Hat tip to John on the pointer to the Sriracha article.
OMG! I can finally sleep now that I am certain Russell, the cute kid in Disney/Pixar’s Up, is in fact Asian. I mean, just look at the colour scripts for the film — Pixar was sensitive enough to have foreseen debates around Russell’s background and provided us confused and lost Asians with these handy colour scripts. Because we all know that those 45 degree, upward lines in place of eyes are codes for “Asian.”
All those online debates about Russell’s ethnic background can end now. After these scripts, there cannot be any more debate. The verdict is clear: Russell is one of us.
(thanks to Jun’s post on 8asian’s tumblr)
Starcraft — a real-time strategy video game that was created by the same publishers as World of Warcraft — has been around since 1998, and while us American gamers have given up the game for the greener pastures of raids and PVP Battlefields, don’t tell that to the Koreans, where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised tournaments with appropriately screaming announcers, never mind the game has last longer than most marriages.
And if you live in San Francisco, you too can hire a hardcore Korean Starcraft player for only twenty five dollars an hour! I’m not just being a stereotyping asshole either; his Craigslist ad is actually titled “Starcraft lessons from authentic Korean.” For only $200-$350, you can learn everything from basic Starcraft resource building to telling someone to “QUIT QQ” in basic Korean. And lest you think that ByunTae is being somewhat ironic that a couple hundred dollars worth of lessons will lead to “Korean girls [being] intrigued that you’re such a good Starcraft player,” this CBC documentary available on YouTube points out that, yes, professional Starcraft players do have female fan clubs. Groupies for playing Starcraft? Gives the term Zerg Rush a whole new meaning.
(Flickr photo credit — and apologies — to brad_bechtel)
Shi Pei Pu, the inspiration of David Henry Hwang’s acclaimed play, M. Butterfly, was reported by the New York Times to have died recently at the age of 70 years in Paris.
Shi Pei Pu and his lover, Bernard Bouriscot, an accountant working for the French embassy in Beijing, were convicted by France in the mid 1980s for espionage after Bouriscot was caught giving French documents to the Chinese after the Chinese government found out about the affair between the two men. According to Shi, however, Bouriscot was led to believe that Shi was actually female first by claiming that he was actually a woman forced to live as a boy by his family. Later as the affair became sexual, Shi kept up the charade by hiding his genitalia and always having sex with Bouriscot in the dark, even showing Bouriscot a 4 year-old boy who Shi claimed to be their son. Bouriscot and Shi were both arrested for espionage by the French when Bouriscot tried to bring Shi to France even though Bouriscot openly had a male partner. Howvever after Bouriscot learned in prison that Shi was actually male and had deceived him for decades, he attempted suicide. Bouriscot has lived as a laughingstock ever since, especially since people have wondered, “How could he not know his lover was male for decades?”
Hwang takes this bizarre story in M. Butterfly as a way to explore various themes that have always been dominant in Asian American literature: the exoticizing of Asia to Europe and the US, otherwise known as Orientalism; gender roles and expectations of both Asian American men and women; and finally it was one of the first Asian American literature pieces to openly talk about queerness. Hwang brilliantly turns the question of, “How can Bouriscot not know that his lover was male?” on its head, and fires back to the audience, “Does it really matter if his lover was male?” It also explores the question of what white men are falling for when they take Asian lovers, male or female: are they falling for their lovers because of who they are, or is it because of what they represent?
I’ve always loved reading the play, and it was one of the first pieces of literature I taught when I taught Asian American literature at UCSB and SFSU back in the day because it explores these questions so brilliantly. Unfortunately, the movie is something that’s always given me headaches. I have heard that the DVD of this movie just came out, so I’ll have to see if I can actually watch this movie without getting a headache or throwing the DVD out the window.
My 4th of July* is usually associated with fireworks, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, concerts, baseball games, and various other events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the good ol’ US of A. If I hadn’t already made plans to be with family this July 4th, then I’d definitely be at the Ford Amphitheatre. Why?
This 4th of July marks the first US performance by South Korean pop legend Shin Hae Chul and his band N.EX.T. at the Ford.
One of Korea’s most famous celebrities, Shin Hae Chul is regarded as a “genius” of Korean music who, along with his younger cousin Seo Taiji, transformed the Korean music industry in 1992, paving the way for the contemporary K-Pop genre. Shin Hae Chul is known for his musical experimentation, artistic excellence, controversy, and has often been compared to John Lennon.
His progressive stance on social and politic issues, including the legalization of marijuana, government control of the school system, and North Korea, has made the “Prince of Darkness” a liberal icon in South Korea, a radical voice representing a significant portion of the population. N.EX.T. (New Experimental Team) is widely acknowledged as Korea’s greatest and most exciting live rock band, known for the ability to switch through a multitude of genres.
Presented by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Asiatic Empire, Shin Hae Chul and N.E.X.T. will appear at the historic Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, on Saturday, July 4, 2009 for one night only.
Out of respect for the recent death of former South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun, who had a close relationship with Shin Hae Chul, N.EX.T. canceled all of its shows in Korea. So the only chance to see N.EX.T. this summer is actually at this performance.
Los Angeles is the first stop of these artists’ Awakening World Tour, but expect a solid turn-out as L.A. has the largest Korean community outside of Korea. I know from personal experience in attending concerts and performances of Korean artists that the community does come out to support. Regardless, this show is not just for the Korean community but for anyone who appreciates world music and wants to enjoy the rare treat of one of the best international rock bands that has never played in America.
If you’re curious about the music of the band, below you can access the mp3s of the songs they will be performing on July 4. Anyone can access the songlist and the mp3 soundfiles to the songs by:
1. Go to www.webhard.co.kr
2. Log in by typing in => id: humanent, pass: hm1021501
3. The directory to the info is => home/guest folder/20090704 N.EX.T in L.A.
Our friends at Asiatic Empire have kindly offered up a pair of tickets to this one-night-only event!
What you could win: a pair of free tickets to the one-night only performance of Shin Hae Chul and N.EX.T.
Saturday, 7/4/09, 7:30PM PDT
Ford Amphitheatre
Los Angeles, CA, USA
How do you enter?
Simply leave a short comment stating why you’d like to see this show. (Be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you’re the winner.)
Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Thursday, July 2 at 11:59 pm
One lucky winner will be randomly selected and contacted on Friday morning.
Rules for entering:
1) Please be in the Los Angeles area (or willing to travel to LA on your own dime) and serious about using these tickets; if you’re too busy to use these, please don’t take them away from someone who will!
2) Tickets are non-transferrable; they are good for you and a guest.
3) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.
Prize courtesy of: Asiatic Empire
*Happy Canada Day on July 1, Canadian friends!
By Vannie
A couple of years ago back in high school, I attended the National Association of Independent Schools/Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Miami. The purpose of this three to four day conference was to reinforce our racial identities through participating in “privilege” activities and brainstorming ways on how to improve diversity at our schools. Four of us represented our upper-class white school — but by some strange stroke of chance, we came to evenly distribute each race: One black, one Latina, one white, and me. We were divided into different groups; first randomly, then by race. Of course, I had no crisis figuring out where to go. In our Asian caucus, we divvied up charts taped throughout the room for us freely to scribble on stereotypes associated with the names: “Asian dating,” “Asian parents,” and one that stood out to me: “East Coast vs. West Coast Asian-Americans”.
As I was baffled on what that meant, I skipped that poster. At the end when all permanent markers dried out from our verbal rants, I saw that the majority of the comments described East Coast Asians as “ghetto” and poor, who “don’t spend our parents’ money,” while West Coast Asians were materialistic and rich, and “more Americanized”. Since I was born a NYC’er (which I guess automatically makes me a hardcore East Coast Asian-American), I replayed visually the few times I visited Los Angeles and San Francisco; I remembered noticing that many Asian girls on the street did carry Gucci and Prada purses, and the boys were mostly nicely dressed with gelled hair.
But is there really a sub-culture I’m not aware of? If there is, is it due to oh, maybe the siren-inducing obsession with celebrity in plastic Hollywood? I know these are stereotypes, but all stem from some truth. I mean, I can safely assume that there are more Japanese in Los Angeles than New York. Right? What do you think?
About Vannie: I’m a 20-year old Taiwanese-American female residing in New York City. I like to call myself an AAA (Aspiring Asian-American Activist.)
“Maybe we can see Kevjumba!”
The Daughter was excited about that possibility of meeting the YouTube star Kevin Wu as we neared U.C. Davis. I had a meeting there with a graduate student who I collaborate with on research, and since the Daughter was thinking about our fearless leader’s Alma mater as a prospective college, I brought her along. She was disappointed when I told her that the possibility of meeting Kevjumba would be zero, because as he points out in this video, he’s back home for the summer. What’s interesting about that video is that it isn’t in his usual channel kevjumba, but it’s in a new channel called the JumbaFund where all of his YouTube proceeds for that channel go to a charity of the viewers’ choice.
We talked before about the lack of Asians in the mainstream media and stereotyping of those who are there. We have also talked about young Asian-Americans are using social media and sites like YouTube that enable them to create works that include and speak to them. The results from the JumbaFund channel show that this new generation is really making some headway and getting some clout, at least financially. Kevjumba is making some serious money for a college student. May proceeds for the JumbaFund channel were $1708. Given that his regular channel (kevjumba) has almost 3 times the number of subscribers, if you extrapolate the number of subscribers to income as a guestimate, he is pulling in $5K a month. There are other estimates that says he is making even more than that. It’s great to see him share some of his wealth with charity. The charity that got the most votes in May was St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. College students didn’t make that kind of money or engage in philanthropy on that scale when I was an undergrad.
The Daughter liked U.C. Davis and is seriously considering it. As you can see in the Jumba fund video embedded above, U.C. Davis has Asian American Studies classes, with guest lecturers like Kevjumba. I wish my university had Asian American studies courses when I was an undergrad. Sadly, it still doesn’t, more than 20 years after I graduated. As you can see at 2:52, U.C. Davis has girls getting freaky in class. My university never had that when I was an undergrad!
This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a fundraiser for Garrett Yee, Candidate for California State Assembly, District 20 (which encompasses Fremont, Newark, Union City, Milpitas, parts of Hayward, Castro Valley, Pleasanton and San Jose). The current Assembly member, Alberto Torrico, will be termed out at the end of 2012.
Yee has served the community in a variety of elected and non-elected capacities; he has been involved in the Army Reserves since 1987, and was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It’s not often you see Asian Americans involved in the armed forces, and in keeping in touch with Otto Lee — a former Mayor of Sunnyvale currently staying in Iraq — I’ve come to appreciate what the great sacrifice that those in the military have to make while those serving in harms way.
Best of luck to Garrett! I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about him as the November 2010 elections are just around the corner.
