Eating Chinese: Culture on the Menu in Small Town Canada

by Lily Cho

" Chicken fried rice, sweet and sour pork, and an order of onion rings, please. " Chinese restaurants in small town Canada are at once everywhere - you would be hard pressed to find a town without a Chinese restaurant - and yet they are conspicuously absent in critical discussions of Chinese diasporic culture or even in popular writing about Chinese food. In Eating Chinese , Lily Cho examines Chinese restaurants as spaces that define, for those both inside and outside the community, what it means to be Chinese and what it means to be Chinese-Canadian. Despite restrictions on immigration and explicitly racist legislation at national and provincial levels, Chinese immigrants have long dominated the restaurant industry in Canada. While isolated by racism, Chinese communities in Canada were still strongly connected to their non-Chinese neighbours through the food that they prepared and served. Cho looks at this surprisingly ubiquitous feature of small-town Canada through menus, literature, art, and music. An innovative approach to the study of diaspora, Eating Chinese brings to light the cultural spaces crafted by restaurateurs, diners, cooks, servers, and artists.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.

Or, perhaps more accurately, "No, if you're looking for an interesting book about the history of chinese food/restaurants/culture in small rural towns in Canada". This is an academic tome based on Cho's PhD research which really focuses on the idea of diaspora - and how it can be applied to Chinese immigrants to Canada.

There is some relation to Chinese restaurants in rural Canada, but the ties are tenuous.

Also, the book is full of big words. Lots of big big words that, at the end of the day, say very little.

Now, I've been to grad school. I can read big words with the best of them. I know about concepts like agency. And if I were doing research in a field related to this one, I would probably be super-excited about this book.

But, I was expecting something a lot more popular culture-y.

This is not that book.

However, the bibliography is QUITE extensive and probably the best thing about this book (from my perspective) because there I may have found the more popular culture-y books I was looking for :)

Confession: I did not finish this book. It is organized into five essays. I read three. I simply could not get through the last two. So, I'm marking it as "read" (b/c I feel this should count towards my reading investment for this year) but I've also started an "Abandoned" shelf - b/c life is too short to keep reading books you're not enjoying.

[Dai Lo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like an academic paper.
Excellent title and had high expectations to learn about the topic, but it was a let down.
Nothing to take away from this book. No interesting history.
Best part was the 4-5 historic photos.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of an academic paper than anything. Would love more photos and stories about the actual cafes and the people who have lived and worked there. Menus could be cool. It didn't have a han side, it was mostly analytical.

[Vidu]

Read for Menu RA job.

[Patricia]

Too academic for my needs.