The Fortune Cookie Chronicles


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    and featured on The Colbert Report, Martha Stewart, TED.com, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose Tomorrow, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR stations coast to coast. Also selected for Borders Original Voices and Book Sense. Follow me on Twitter! Fan me on Facebook.

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    WNYC Brian Lehrer Show

    Friday, April 18th, 2008

    I did a lovely interview on Brian Lehrer (scroll down for mp3…no permalink?) on Wednesday, right before the Asia Society talk with the Fuchsia Dunlop of Chinese cookery fine.

    Fortune Cookie Chronicles on CNN with Lola Ogunnaike (and a Jack-o-Melon).

    Saturday, April 12th, 2008

    CNN ran a segment on Chinese food in America by my former colleague Lola Ogunnaike. Produced by the lovely Ethel Bass. We actually filmed at an Empire Szechuan, a descendent of the original restaurant that sparked the delivery revolution. I asked Lola what was different from print and television, and one of the things is […]

    Genghis Cohen…this tops Shalom Hunan even.

    Monday, March 31st, 2008

    Oh my god. When I saw this, I made Josh turn the car around so I could take a picture of Genghis Cohen (which opened in 1983 as a Chinese restaurant, but also now serves as an acoustic lounge). The Jewish-Chinese connection marches on.

    Time.com: Explaining General Tso (convergence)

    Friday, March 28th, 2008

    Time Magazine has a video with me talking about American Chinese food at Chinatown Brasserie. I’m interviewed by Gibert Cruz who himself is a print journalist by training. But we are all learning video. It’s all about convergence, I’m discovering.

    The Library of Congress Flyer

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    I know, if I had my act together, I would have posted this before the event at the Library of Congress. But notice the iconic use of fortune cookies (which are more recognized in America than anywhere else)

    NYTBR: Wok On and podcast!

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    The New York Times Book Review runs its review of my book this Sunday by Jan and Michael Stern. It’s already online now and it actually closed 10 days ago, on a Wednesday. (The Book Review, like the Magazine, has a incredible close-to-distribution lag, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me but may involve […]

    Wisconsin Public Radio on the origin of the fortune cookie

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    Here is the mp3 of an interview I did on the origin of the fortune cookie on Wisconsin Public Radio a week ago, along with Eric Hagiwara, for their Friday food program. (I know. Delay. Book craziness. Why else am I catching up on blogging on a Saturday morning at 6 a.m.?!). They liked me […]

    Preparing for The Colbert Report

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    Here is my explanation of what it’s like to prepare for The Colbert Report on The Huffington Post: Don’t try to be funny. That was the piece of advice that was repeatedly given to me when my friends first heard I was booked on The Colbert Report to talk about my book on Chinese food […]

    Introducing fortune cookies to China

    Thursday, March 6th, 2008

    During my trip to China, I took along boxes of Wonton Food’s fortune cookies and gave them out to Chinese people along the way. This is a compilation of their reactions. (The people here are from Houyu, Kaifeng, Shenzhen and Changsha).

    Video: Watch fortune cookies being handmade in Japan

    Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

    Here, on the New York Times site, is the  video of fortune cookies being made in Japan that went with my article. I’m not sure why they only put some videos on YouTube (about 150 at last count). Sadly, they don’t give you the ability to embed it either in the blog.

    More Jews and Chinese food: Christmas at Shalom Hunan, a proposed documentary

    Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

    The Jews and Chinese food is a topic that never stops (that is why there is a whole chapter of it in my book!). Here is an 8-minute Youtube video, Christmas at Shalom Hunan. (Shalom Hunan, real place, in Brookline) The description: “What do Jews do on Christmas? In many parts of the U.S., eat […]

    There ain’t much else to do on Christmas except eat Chinese food if you’re a Jew

    Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

    Brandon Harris Walker‘s hilarious music video, Chinese Food on Christmas, has already gotten over half a million views. The chorus (as much as I was able to transcribe it): We eat Chinese food on Christmas. Go to the movie theater too. Because there is not much else to do on Christmas, If you’re a Jew. […]

    My book on world tour (well…only to the UK)

    Saturday, November 24th, 2007

    So my galley went on a trip to the UK and friends sent me a photo of my book galley from Oxford… It also went to Scotland (and maybe Wales too? actually I think it skipped Wales) on this trip. (Btw. I used Splashup.com to edit it online. Amazing. It’s Photoshop in your browser)

    And maybe that 7-11 clerk is actually an anthrax specialist too

    Monday, October 15th, 2007

    I saw this sign while driving through Kansas hunting Chinese restaurants.

    The scene of an accident. I wonder how the owner felt.

    Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

    I (and many others) walked by broken Sanyo flat-screen television on October 8, 8:30 a.m. Corner of West 70th and Columbus in Manhattan. For some reason. I found this scene incredibly New York. I wonder where the owner is, what happened, and how (he? she?) felt when the screen hit the ground.  

    The fortune cookie writer is getting a little saucy…

    Friday, August 17th, 2007

    This fortune found on Flickr shows that the fortune cookie scribe was running out of ideas, no?

    General Tso’s Kitten? Only if He Misbehaves

    Thursday, June 28th, 2007

    My friend Jennifer sent me a picture of her cat named General Tso! I’m sure the Qing Dynasty Chinese warrior would be amused to learn that he has pets named after him overseas more than a century after his death (yes he actually existed, watch this blog for more details. I’ve even met his family, […]

    I <3 flickr wordpress widgets

    Tuesday, June 19th, 2007

    I just installed Josh Gerdes’ SimpleFlickr Plugin to display Chinese restaurant photos from Flickr and it was breathtakingly easy. When I saw the line of code I was suppose to drop into the page, I thought, “Is that it? That can’t be it.” It took maybe 10 minutes and it comes back with this beautiful […]

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