Betsy's review
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
by Jennifer 8 Lee (Goodreads author!)
Betsy's review
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee (Goodreads author!)
Betsy's review
rating:
recommended for: anyone
Not as much info on egg foo young as I'd like (just kidding) but this casual cultural history of American-Chinese food offered entertaining insights not only into the origins (often American) of dishes like chop suey and general tso's chicken but into the life of Chinese immigrants in general and Chinese immigrant restaurant owners in particular (not an easy life... especially for the kids.)The author travels all over the world (from small-town China to small-town Georgia) to try to better understand her (our?) food and culture, producing some easily digestible nuggets (geddit?) about the orgin of fortune cookies (yes, they're really Japanese) and the reason why Jews eat at Chinese restaurants on Christian holidays. Although this won't be a draw for many, I got a particular kick out of the odd fact that the book begins and ends in Des Moines (at a chop suey joint I've never dared to enter but feel that I now must.)
