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Have You Eaten Yet: Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World by Cheuk Kwan, Cheuk Kwan
theresugar's review
Too much information thrown in at once. One moment, you'd be reading about the owner of the restaurant and the food, the next would be about some history of the country he's talking about and its connection with China. I thought this book would just be about various restaurants, maybe some true short stories and a basic synopsis of each owner and restaurant.
Instead, it was about a mixture of the owner, the food, the many people involved in the restaurant, some sort of history for a while, and the author shooting his show. Just too much, should've been narrowed down a bit more, in my opinion
If you're gonna read this, I recommend brushing up on your food terminology, geography, and history of Asia (particularly China)
Instead, it was about a mixture of the owner, the food, the many people involved in the restaurant, some sort of history for a while, and the author shooting his show. Just too much, should've been narrowed down a bit more, in my opinion
If you're gonna read this, I recommend brushing up on your food terminology, geography, and history of Asia (particularly China)
corriespondent's review
5.0
I spent a month in the Ivory Coast with Liberian refugees on a mission trip with others from my church. One night, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The proprietors were super excited to see someone who looked like me, and my fading Mandarin was just enough to exchange pleasantries. I wish I had been fluent enough and curious enough to find out how they ended up in the middle of a West African city.
I was transported back to that spacious, dimly-lit restaurant as I read Have You Eaten Yet? Author and filmmaker Cheuk Kwan made a documentary about Chinese restaurants around the world, and this book reads like a long form of a travel and food documentary. As you’d expect, there are mouthwatering descriptions of steamed whole fish with scallions and ginger, succulent crab, savory winter melon soup — but in unexpected environments from the midst of the Amazon jungle to the bustling streets of Mumbai and even the island of Madagascar! I hadn’t really read anything about the global Chinese diaspora before, so it was eye-opening to read about the breadth of the Chinese immigrant experience: facing confusing discrimination during apartheid in Cape Town, South Africa, integrating into Israeli life with second generation Hebrew-speaking children, or looking for better opportunities in South and Central America after the US passed a series of anti Asian legislation post transcontinental railroad. The stories of these immigrants include those who fled oppression or war and found a way to survive by opening Chinese restaurants, and I found it interesting how the tension between China vs Taiwan played out so far from their native lands; Taiwan sympathizers lamenting that China is communist; Chinese politics shutting down Taiwanese embassies and trying to win back loyalty of overseas citizens. Also fascinating was seeing the ways Chinese cuisine and people have integrated—or not—in their new homes. Yet even among those who have mixed so throughly with the native populations, a thread of Chinese identity remains. I found space to consider my own in-between identity as a Taiwanese American through these pages — and got hungry, as well!
I was transported back to that spacious, dimly-lit restaurant as I read Have You Eaten Yet? Author and filmmaker Cheuk Kwan made a documentary about Chinese restaurants around the world, and this book reads like a long form of a travel and food documentary. As you’d expect, there are mouthwatering descriptions of steamed whole fish with scallions and ginger, succulent crab, savory winter melon soup — but in unexpected environments from the midst of the Amazon jungle to the bustling streets of Mumbai and even the island of Madagascar! I hadn’t really read anything about the global Chinese diaspora before, so it was eye-opening to read about the breadth of the Chinese immigrant experience: facing confusing discrimination during apartheid in Cape Town, South Africa, integrating into Israeli life with second generation Hebrew-speaking children, or looking for better opportunities in South and Central America after the US passed a series of anti Asian legislation post transcontinental railroad. The stories of these immigrants include those who fled oppression or war and found a way to survive by opening Chinese restaurants, and I found it interesting how the tension between China vs Taiwan played out so far from their native lands; Taiwan sympathizers lamenting that China is communist; Chinese politics shutting down Taiwanese embassies and trying to win back loyalty of overseas citizens. Also fascinating was seeing the ways Chinese cuisine and people have integrated—or not—in their new homes. Yet even among those who have mixed so throughly with the native populations, a thread of Chinese identity remains. I found space to consider my own in-between identity as a Taiwanese American through these pages — and got hungry, as well!
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