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Want to cure your child from picky eating habits? Send them to China!
A recent New York Times article entitled, “Scorpions for Breakfast and Snails for Dinner” suggests that there’s no reason why kids should hate veggies, and that it’s even more absurd that parents have to resort to hiding veggies in junk food to get kids to eat healthy (think Jerry Seinfeld’s wife’s cookbook, Deceptively Delicious…)
The proof? Kids in China (and all around Asia) eat “crazy” things like deep fried scorpions and duck necks all the time, and they never think it’s weird or disgusting. Even crazier, kids in Asia in general have no problems eating vegetables and tofu WITHOUT ceaseless hounding or coercion from parents…contrary to their Western counterparts.
The article offers a reason why Asian kids aren’t as picky: in poor [Asian] countries, it’s a privilege just to have food on the table, and people can’t afford to be picky with their food. Maybe this was the case in my Dad’s generation, but things are definitely different now, so this explanation is only half the story. Lots of Asian nations have risen above sustenance level and the people aren’t afraid of starving to death anymore. Asian people eat everything - including vegetables - because they’re cooked in a totally DELICIOUS way! Maybe Asian kids are better at eating veggies because vegetables are just yummier, Asian-style.
As an immigrant Chinese kid, I truly didn’t understand why my American friends hated veggies….until I TASTED American-style veggies. Beans were flavorless and mushy, carrots and broccoli were flavorless and mushy, and the prevalent cooking method was to boil veggies till they turned to, well, mush. If I had to grow up on that, I’d throw hunger strikes every day.
If you grew up on ma-po tofu, gailan with oyster sauce, bibimbob, and veggie tempura on the other hand, how could you EVER view veggies as foe?
9 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink, Observations
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There are always things that I’ve thought would make it well here in the South. One of the big things for several years now on the west coast has been bubble tea. The pearls are made of tapioca starch and are usually given a large straw in which to suck up the pearls and the drink.
What’s interesting is that there are machines out there that make this stuff and personally I believe that if consumers start looking at a more healthier lifestyle, then these are no different than smoothies with the pearls in them. Either way, this is making its way into the South, which in my opinion is absolutely fantastic. If you’re around this area, you can find it at Phoenix Asian Cuisine, one of the finer fusion asian restaurants around locally.
All I have to say is, “Finally. Yum yum.”
Photo Credit: (roboppy)
5 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink, Observations
5 Comments
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Kewpie is the sun!
It was junior high when we first met. When mother brought you into the door from the local Uwajimaya and offered you a sandwich. That was the day that our lips first touched.
I recollect the first time I caressed your soft, plastic bottle. As I gently twisted your red cap and unleashed your flow of delectable mayonnaise onto my Iron Kids white bread. The texture. The buoyancy. I remember the enticing smell like it was only yesterday. Your delicious flavor was like sweet nectar to a bumblebee, and making those other bottles on the shelf seem so trivial.
Since then, there have been other mayonnaise in my life and my only excuse is that I have not searched you out like I should have. But I’ve reminisced. I’ve longed for another taste.
I just wanted you to know that there were words that I failed to tell you, when we first met and I’ve regretted ever since. So at our next tryst, I will affectionately whisper to you, “I <3 you, Kewpie. I <3 you."
Photo Credit: (jensteele)
5 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink
15 Comments
LA Business Journal posted an article today about the influx of Korean business owners snatching up property in the aging and not quite dead Little Tokyo neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Most recently, the Little Tokyo Shopping Center, which I can say is probably the largest retail-related building in the area, was bought by Korean-American investors.
So what’s next? While it’s not new that non-Japanese people and businesses have taken stock in Little Tokyo, this will be the first big development aimed at the Korean community who have been moving into the area.
Their plans call for a renovation of the shopping center to accommodate new tenants in three anchor spaces: a Korean market that’s about 30 percent larger than its counterparts in Koreatown; a full-service Korean spa with various herbal steam rooms; and an electronics retailer.
This is a little sad to me. The Mistuwa grocery store (previously Yaohan) has been a staple for the Japanese American community in the area. For as long as I could remember, my grandparents, parents and occasionally me (but only for Japanese pastries because I’m fat like that), have frequented the shopping center for all of their cooking/food needs. Granted, we could most probably do the same with a Korean market, but there’s nothing like having a giant Japanese version of Vons in the neighborhood.
Usually, developments that encroach upon Little Tokyo make me mad — but what can you do when it helps foster another (way larger) Asian community? To me, it’s such a historical area and further proof that the Japanese American population has been around for ages. I know there are other better Japanese neighborhoods around Los Angeles, but where else can you walk around a place where fellow Asians have been frequenting since the early 1900’s?
It’s just another sign that the Little Tokyo as we once knew it has slowly been dying away. Sad… but I hope they share the Korean BBQ.
(Flickr photo credit: Steven Williams)
15 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Food & Drink
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Left: Sam Yoon. Right: Jun Choi.
This past Friday night, instead of catching the premiere of Sex and The City, the movie (which I saw Saturday night), I wound up attending the Asian Americans for Good Government (AAGG) PAC welcome reception and dinner for Mayor Jun Choi (Edison, NJ) and Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon, with Yul Kwon serving as the host.
Choi discussed his background and how he ran and upset an incumbent mayor, but also discussed the Jersey Guys’ (radio shock jocks) insulting and making racist remarks regarding Choi and Asian Americans on their show over a few hours, back in 2005 when he first ran for mayor. Personally, I had not heard of this case before. The on air apology by the Jersey Guys’ directly to Choi is quite interesting. What Choi had a problem with most of all was the Jersey Guys’ calling Asian Americans not “real Americans” or un-American - perpetuating the belief that Asian Americans are not real Americans.
Sam Yoon also talked about his run for Boston city council member and about he was the first Asian American to ever run, let alone get elected to city council, and how Boston politics was traditionally dominated by the Irish and Italian American community, even though they did necessarily represent or reflect the diversity and interests of Boston citizens.
Both Choi and Yoon were very impressed with the attendance of the reception and dinner, given the fact that Asian Americans are so much more in the mainstream on the West Coast than on the East Coast, and that we have an embarrassment of riches of Asian American representatives. And we were. In attendance was a real who’s who for Asian American politicians at the local level in the San Francisco South Bay and Greater San Jose area, including:
My point when going around the dinner table is that although California overall makes up 12% of the Asian American politician, when I go to any political events in the San Francisco Bay Area (which is overall around 20%), there are definitely not 20%, or 12% of 5% - maybe 1 %? - in attendance that are Asian American. If Asian Americans want to be taken seriously politically, we need to get involved - either through running for office, volunteering, openly supporting candidates or simply donating money. It’s a real pleasure to have seen Jun Choi and Sam Yoon, along with the local Asian American politicians and hear how they are making a difference not only for their communities, but also for Asian Americans overall.
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Discrimination, Food & Drink, Lifestyles, Observations, Politics
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I just heard about this event on hapihour.org:
Yul Kwon and the Asian Americans for Good Government (AAGG) Political Action Committee (PAC) are hosting a welcome reception for Edison (NJ) Mayor Jun Choi and Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon on Friday, May 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Dynasty Restaurant, 10123 N Wolfe Rd. Cupertino.
Yul Kwon is personally bringing Mayor Choi and Councilor Yoon to California to provide our community with opportunity to connect East and West Coast AAPI community and civic leaders.
The reception is sponsored by the following AAGG and community leaders: Yul Kwon, Hsing Kung, Sandy Chau, C.C. Yin, Talin Hsu, Johnnie Giles, James Yu, Albert Chang, Arnie Fong, Henry Yin, Maria Chen, Otto Lee, Gilbert Wang, Christine Young, Paul Fong, Barry Chang, Albert Wang, Joel Wong, Limin Hu, Kansen Chu, Daisy Chu, David Sheen, Lisa Quan, Margaret Abe Koga and others.
Financial contributions in support of Mayor Choi and Councilor Yoon are welcome and encouraged. More details on Facebook here.
As I had blogged before, I had met Sam Yoon a few years ago. Yoon is on the Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee and will be helping to decide how to settle the Florida and Michigan delegates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
No Comments | Posted in: Announcements, Food & Drink, Politics, Uncategorized
4 Comments
I read last week that Yul Kwon, most known as the winner of “Survivor: Cook Islands,” had opened a Red Mango in downtown Palo Alto. Ernie had posted previously that Kwon had trouble opening a Red Mango in San Francisco due to the city’s strict zoning restrictions against chain stores.
I first heard of Red Mango when I had written about Pinkberry being highlighted in an American Express commercial. Being new to the Korean export of frozen yogurt, I decided to drop by downtown Palo Alto Sunday afternoon to try for myself this frozen delight. We’ve been experiencing a heat wave the past few days in the Bay Area, so the store was pretty crowded. I got my original small yogurt with strawberries, and just loved it. The strawberries were fresh and very sweet and a nice compliment to the frozen yogurt. The Red Mango is not too far from the Apple store in downtown Palo Alto, right on University Avenue. I think it’ll be a big hit given its location and tasty treats.
While waiting in line, I saw that the store had a Danoo video screen - the first time I saw a Danoo enabled HDTV screen in a real setting. Danoo is a company my friend co-founded.
4 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink
4 Comments
I can’t be the ONLY one here to have taken these stinky tummy pills to cure stomach aches, gross poop and indigestion, right? I actually used to think Seirogan was just something my mom invented until my college roommate once wished aloud that she had the stinky rabbit-poo-ish pills that HER mom used to give to her. And then we realized we were soul mates, as we would complain about the odd smell of the medicine but the miraculous relief it would give us.
Or not. But it’s definitely an Asian thing, right?
So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered special Seirogan PILLOWS on the Tokyomango blog. Better yet, the pillows even SMELL like the pills! Alright, that’s pretty disgusting, because that last thing I’d want to smell while trying to nap is Seirogan. I think the pills are really a weird placebo because it’s the smell that really makes you feel even more sick, so once you eat one and put the bottle away, you automatically feel better. Or something like that?
Anyway, I also can’t believe they sell pillows of Kinkan, the best mosquito bite medicine, as well. I used to always get the worst allergic reactions to the mosquitoes every humid summer in Japan (allergic reaction = bites would turn into humongous red bumps…okay, TMI), and Kinkan was the only thing that would make them feel better. My mom probaby still has the same bottle in our medicine cabinet at home. And it probably still works, too.
Ahh, the wonders of Japanese medicine.
Wait, let me rephrase that. Ahh, the wonders of Japanese merchandising.
4 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink, WTF
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“Sol Food” sounds like a place that I want...
