8 Asians

As you know, the month of May is American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and thus it’s no surprise that the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Initiative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have joined up to not only celebrate but also educate how to cook traditional AAPI dishes in a healthy yet also tasty way: “To promote healthy eating among Asian Americans and Pacific [...] Continue »

Wow, it seems like another week, another Din Tai Fung is opening. I saw a friend on Facebook post this news and was wondering, what is going on and why isn’t there a Din Tai Fung in the San Francisco Bay Area: “Just about every day, customers crossing the bridges to Bellevue ask David Wasielewski when Din Tai Fung will come to Seattle. Now, the store’s managing partner has an answer for them: The wildly [...] Continue »

Yes, because that’s news when a CNN journalist eats an unborn fetal duck *rolls eyes*. I do like his speech at the end of this clip where he basically learns everyone there about cultural perspective, especially the host reading off the names of the “gross” foods Bourdain’s eating, the guy who’s like “who in their right mind would eat that?” A hungry one, duh. Bordain references the restaurant in New York that serves balut covered [...] Continue »

Filmmaker Grace Lee is making a documentary on Asian American food, and she wants your stories and ideas. “Asian Chops” (the current working title) will look at Asian America through the lens of food.  A kickoff party, food panel, and brainstorming session for the film was held at CAAMFest for the joint Center for Asian American Media and PBS production.  You can listen to the audio from the meeting, including an overview from Grace Lee [...] Continue »

I’ve lived in LA’s Koreatown for a few years and driven up and down its streets on a daily basis for over a decade. I’ve got some of my own favorite little haunts on this corner and that strip mall, where the soondubu is mind-numbingly good, the bibimbap is to die for, and the karaoke selection includes awesome amazing songs like “Happy Birthday Dear My Friend”. So to see the streets where I have the [...] Continue »

I guess in my excitement last week in discovering a new Din Tai Fung coming to Southern California, I missed the news, or it was not paying too much attention that another location in Costa Mesa was opening up as well in the future: “Din Tai Fung, purveyor of the famed Shanghai-style xiao long bao soup dumplings that burst in your mouth upon consumption, is coming to South Coast Plaza. Arcadia’s Best reports that the 8,000 [...] Continue »

Here at 8Asians, we’ve blogged about the Rise of Asian Majority Suburbs (Jeff) and the racial tensions in a super rich Southern California community transitioning from majority white to majority Asian in a single generation in The “Asianization” of Southern California’s San Marino (Koji). The First 626 Nightmarket (Mary) was an event that exploded beyond what anyone expected–I didn’t even go because on my way there, I saw the immediate tweets and facebook updates of [...] Continue »

Johnny has talked about things that are uniquely Asian American, and one thing that comes to my mind in that category is Huy Fong Foods‘ Sriracha Chili sauce.  Sriracha was created by David Tran as a version of a hot sauce from Si Racha Thailand, and the green topped bottle with a rooster on it has become familiar to Asian Americans and many non Asian Americans.  It has become so popular that there is now [...] Continue »

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I *love* Din Tai Fung. I just came across the Los Angeles Times’ article on a new branch of Din Tai Fung that will be opening up soon: “Popular Taiwanese dumpling chain Din Tai Fung is growing increasingly upscale, with plans to open its fourth U.S. location at swanky Glendale shopping center the Americana at Brand. In September, the eatery will bring its foodie [...] Continue »

David Chan hated Chinese food as a kid. He’s third generation Chinese American, and his parents refrained from sending him to Chinese school while cooking “American” food at home to help Chan fit in more into mainstream American culture in a Los Angeles city that barely had half a percent of its population APIA when Chan was a kid in the 50s. He still can’t use chopsticks. But there’s probably no one on the planet [...] Continue »

Asian American chefs, writers, and bloggers are making their mark on food writing, with many nominated for the 2013 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Awards.   These finalists are in categories ranging from Hiroko Shimbo in American, Jen King in Baking, to Charles Phan in Chefs and Restaurants and First Book.  Many finalists also are from the San Francisco Bay Area, like Phan, Andrea Nguyen (nominated for her book Asian Tofu, shown in the trailer [...] Continue »

With less than a week away, I am looking forward to attending the Center for Asian American Media’s Film Festival, better known as CAAMFest. As a Jeremy Lin fan, I’m of course looking forward to seeing LINSANITY, the documentary, which has been covered extensively with generally rave reviews. But I’m also looking forward to the open night party at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum as well. There is plenty going on, as CAAMFest 2013′s [...] Continue »