Ever since Debbie Lee made a, uhm, less than stellar attempt at becoming The Next Food Network Star, there’s been a noticeable lack of Asian Americans from the South talking about food.
Enter Natalie and Margaret Keng, a mother and daughter team from Smyrna, Georgia who describe themselves as two Chinese Southern Belles that instruct a course on Asian Fusion History at nearby Emory University in Atlanta. Here you can watch them go into a supermarket and explain oriental snacks, like Haw Flakes and the oh-so-mysterious Pineapple Cake.
Okay, so I jest a little bit. While the “Ni hao, y’all” at the end of the video made me bury my face in my hands a little bit, you gotta realize this video wasn’t made for us — I can only assume the video and class is made for a roomful of Scarlet O’Haras, middle-aged women that would faint at the sight of chicken feet not on a plantation served on a dinner plate. And personally, this Yankee is intrigued by the thought of Fried Rice-a-Roni or five-space rutabaga. I’ll try anything once, y’all.
(Hat tip: Stan, who is my favorite Chinese Southern Belle. Total in-joke, sorry.)
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6 Comments to “YouTube: Chinese Southern Belles Explain Haw Flakes and Pineapple Cake”
Ben Hwang wrote:
That's cuz…. there's not really great Asian food in the South. Unless you really have a hankering for hibachi. Atlanta now has a pretty large Asian community, but it's still tough to find the really good stuff anywhere else in the South. Personally, I don't think even the RTP area is that great. Not that there's anything bad about the Chinese-American to-go cuisine, but yeah…
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 1:57 pm | Permalink
Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim wrote:
I'm wondering, Texas is part of the south too right?
The Vietnamese and Chinese food I had down there was not bad. I even had something that was sort of Tex-Mex/Asian Fusion style type of food too.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 5:20 pm | Permalink
Linda Chan wrote:
Wow. I got really hungry watching this. Haw flakes rule!
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 7:10 pm | Permalink
Tristan Dewar wrote:
Vietnamese food is pretty good in NC.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 9:11 pm | Permalink
longliveVY wrote:
Texas is very much part of the South.
Houston has 103,000 Asians with 24,000 being Chinese. Dallas/Plano has 15,000 Chinese people. And Austin has 8,000 Chinese people. That being said, Houston's Chinatown–about 20 city blocks– is basically the same as living in Taipei or Beijing.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 11:49 pm | Permalink
timat8asians wrote:
I'm disappointed. I wanted to hear more about Haw Flakes which were my absolute favorite snack growing up.
Posted on 06-Oct-09 at 11:49 am | Permalink
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