Food & Drink
How The Japanese Interment Led To Victory Gardens
Did you know that the government’s Victory Gardens from World War II, where families were urged to grow their own food, was spurred by the interment of Japanese Americans? From The OC Register: “…[T]he San Francisco Museum…says Japanese truck farmers in California were responsible for a $40 million a year industry in fruits and vegetables. By March, 200,000 acres had been confiscated, sold off or given away to “non-Japanese” farmers mostly from Dust Bowl regions. [...] Continue »
New York May Ban Shark Fin Sales, Following Other States
Earlier this week, New York State legislators introduced a bill that would ban the sale, trading, possession and distribution of shark fins, possibly as of 2013. California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington already ban shark fin and Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia have legislation pending.
What LA Thinks Japanese Food Is Vs. What Japanese Really Eat
I admit that when I first saw the title of this LA Weekly article, “L.A.’s Idea of Japanese Food vs. What Japanese Really Eat,” I wanted to hate on it. Say that the writer Andrew Froug was wrong and didn’t know what he was talking about. However, no matter how many times I read the article, I couldn’t find anything that I disagreed with. So instead of doing that, let’s just say that this is [...] Continue »
California Shark Fin Soup Suppliers Sue State Over Ban
A group of Shark Fin Suppliers has sued the state of California over the state’s ban on Shark Fins. The Asian American Rights Committee of California says that the new law violates the U.S. Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce. New fins are currently banned from being imported into California in an attempt to help shark stocks by affected by fin harvesting, but fins already in the state can be used through July 1, 2013.
Is Filipino Cuisine Poised To Make It Into The American Mainstream?
Whenever I see an article like this titled “Filipino Cuisine Poised to Break through Gastro Ceiling,” I think “yet again?” Over twenty years, I ate at Cafe Glenda on Solano Avenue in Berkeley and thought, “Has Filipino food finally made it?” Efren wrote about Filipino Food becoming the In Thing four years ago. A few years later came a discussion on how and why Filipino food was unassimilated. So what’s new and different this time?
Top Chef’s Dale Talde Opens New Restaurant Appropriately Named Talde In Brooklyn
Dale Talde of Top Chef hasn’t been forgotten yet. His pan-Asian restaurant, Talde (Wow, where did he get that name?) is officially a go in New York. Gothamist has a sneak peek: “The restaurant is now officially up and running, turning out plates of Hawaiian pork buns, oyster-bacon pad Thai, Korean fried chicken and more, plus wine, beer and cocktails like Brooklyn Sling (gin, Luxardo, pineapple, house-made grenadine and bitters) and the Pacquiao Punch, a [...] Continue »
Asians Behaving Badly: Pinkberry Co-Founder Arrested For Beating Homeless Man
Usually when you take a cold, delicious bite of Pinkberry frozen yogurt, you don’t think about tire irons and homeless people. But maybe you will now, thanks to the latest news that the co-founder of the (still kinda) popular fro-yo chain, Young Lee, was recently arrested for some questionable behavior.
Guy Cooks McDonalds Value Meal in a Rice Cooker, Takes Gross Photos
Healthy Asian cooking, eating your heart out: according to Neatorama, some guy cooked an entire Big Mac Value Meal in a rice cooker: “It’s prepared on a bed of rice in a rice cooker, which magically makes everything healthier. Be sure to use all of food-like products included in the meal. Yes, even the Coke Zero. Pour it in. Cook for a few minutes and then serve with chopsticks.” Somehow, we don’t think Mary is [...] Continue »
Westernized Chinese Food and Westernized Chinese People
By Calvin The Montreal Gazette published an article in November about “vintage Chinese restaurants” in that city, meaning the “dying breed” of restaurants that served Canadian Chinese cuisine. These days, writing on Westernized Chinese food (see my review of Banquet and The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for some good book-length examples) often points out how foreign this cuisine is to Chinese people: “When I first saw the menu, I was like, ‘What’s that? And what’s that?’ [...] Continue »
CEO Clara Shih of Hearsay Social Named to Starbucks Board of Directors
A few weeks ago, CEO & Co-Founder of San Francisco-based Hearsay Social Labs (a social media enterprise company) Clara Shih was named as a director for Starbucks. Quite an accomplishment for anyone, but especially at the ripe old age of 29! Considering how few Asian Americans there are at the CEO, upper management or board of directors level, I was pleasantly surprised to hear about Shih’s news. And women are notoriously poorly represented in Silicon [...] Continue »
Paul Qui, My New Top Chef Crush
Good bye, Dale Talde. And hello, Paul Qui. This Austin based “chef-testant” is competing on the current ninth season of Top Chef and I’m already rooting for him to win the final prize. Don’t get me wrong: it was hard to pick a chef favorite–especially with so many other Asian Americans competing. (Yes, I discriminate like that when it comes to reality TV shows.)
Top 5 Favorite Things About Japanese New Years
Besides Groundhog Day, my favorite holiday is New Years. I look forward to it every year. I always forget though that most people (in America) just think it’s a day to watch football and the Rose Parade. For those who don’t know, New Years or oshogatsu in Japan (and for Japanese Americans) is the most important and elaborate holiday of the year. Japanese Americans (JAs) have lost much of the Japanese part of their culture. [...] Continue »
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Oct 14: (Seattle, WA) From Fields to Family: Asian Pacific Americans and Food
Mar 1: (Atlanta, GA) The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946
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