Archive for February, 2008
Next Entries »No justice, no egg rolls! Labor strife in Israel
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Rebecca Harrison of Reuters as a fascinating account of how Israeli Asian restaurant workers went on a one-day spring roll strike to protest government policies to replace Asian restaurant workers with Israeli ones. You’d would think it’s an Onion article, except it’s real.
Maybe cupid likes Chinese food too?
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Pink Valentine fortune cookies, now on sale for $4.97 for 50 instead of $7.95. Bargain! Perhaps you can also put them in Valentine’s takeout glitter boxes (also in pink and red), now slashed to $1.97 for a dozen.
How Chinese is All-American, excepted in a magazine that is all-American: Readers Digest
Monday, February 11th, 2008So, my book is excerpted in Readers Digest’s March issue (who knew? they have a ciruclation of 10 million!). I also have a piece in Maxim on the origins of General Tso’s chicken this month and another essay in Food and Wine on how I grew up not understanding how to use the oven. That […]
So what is ‘authentic’ Chinese food anyway?
Sunday, February 10th, 2008Fred Ferretti, a food writer, has a critical piece in The New York Times op-ed page about the authenticity of Chinese food in America. (Ripping on Chinese food in America seems to be a resonant topic for The New York Times op-ed page/NYT Mag this year, see previous pieces by the Zagats, Nicole Mones and […]
So it’s Chinese New Year…Year of the Rat.
Thursday, February 7th, 2008A snippet from an IM conversation early today. Shawn: happy new year! do you celebrate it with family/friends? Me: not in the slightest. i’m more likely to go to seder for passover than celebrate chinese new year. (Hey, the Jewish-Chinese connection in New York goes both directions).
Booked at the Library of Congress (maybe)
Thursday, February 7th, 2008I might be speaking on at the Library of Congress on March 17, thanks to LOC researcher Abby Yochelson (yay). More details to come.
Indian Chinese food, catching on in Singapore?
Thursday, February 7th, 2008Reuter’s Gillian Murdoch seems fascinated by the emergence of Indian Chinese food in Singapore, writing a fairly substantive review of a restaurant there. Singapore, remember, has substantial ethnic Chinese (East Asian) and Indian (South Asian) populations — and the food in the region often reflects that. But Indian Chinese food is not the same as […]
A welcome letter to the Baghdad Chinese Restaurant
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008A friend of mine who works in the Baghdad bureau ofThe Los Angeles Times sent me a welcome letter that his translator wrote to the owner of the new Chinese restaurant in Baghdad (which was informed, in part, by reading this blog). Dear Sir, I was yesterday following up some stories on the web about […]
NPR: Twelve, Betting on a Dozen Books (now with transcript)
Monday, February 4th, 2008NPR has an 8-minute piece on Twelve’s first year in publishing, focusing on Jonathan Karp’s serial monogamy for twelve books a year. Little tidbits. Out of every every 10 hardcover books, 7 fail financially, 2 break even, one becomes a hit. It’s a hit driven business. It’s like corporate legalized gambling. Anyway, Twelve has a different […]
Is Super Bowl Sunday a National Patriotic Holiday
Monday, February 4th, 2008The Giants win. New York City rejoices. I watched the game at the home of my friend Eric (who is throwing my book party). The crowd was heavily mostly Asian/Chinese-Americanish, but the food was totally Super Bowl American –chili, wings, beer, nachoes, dip. When our parents get together, they don’t eat like this. In December […]
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