American Chinese Restaurants: Society, Culture and Consumption PDF
Preview American Chinese Restaurants: Society, Culture and Consumption
AMERICAN CHINESE RESTAURANTS With case studies from the USA, Canada, Chile, and other countries in Latin America, American Chinese Restaurants examines the lived experiences of what it is like to work in a Chinese restaurant. The book provides ethnographic insights on small family businesses, struggling immigrant parents, and kids working, living, and growing up in an American Chinese restaurant. This is the fi rst book based on personal histories to document and analyze the American Chinese restaurant world. New narratives by various international and American contributors have presented Chinese restaurants as dynamic agencies that raise questions on identity, ethnicity, transnationalism, industrialization, (post) modernity, assimilation, public and civic spheres, and socioeconomic differences. American Chinese Restaurants will be of interest to general readers, scholars, and college students from undergraduate to graduate level, who wish to know Chinese restaurant life and understand the relationship between food and society. Jenny Banh is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fresno in Anthropology and Asian American Studies. She received her BA from UCLA, her MA from Claremont Graduate University, and her PhD from the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on Asia/Asian American studies, cultural anthropology, and popular culture. Her current research is on restaurants, barriers/ bridges to minority college students, and a Hong Kong transnational corporation. She has previously published “Barack Obama or B Hussein” (2012) and “DACA Spaces” (2018), and co-edited Anthropology of Los Angeles: Place and Agency in an Urban Setting (2017). Haiming Liu is a Professor of Ethnic and Women Studies at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and received his doctorate from the University of California, Irvine. He is an expert on Chinese herbalists, food, restaurants, globalization, and migration. He has authored F rom Canton Restaurant to Panda Express: A History of Chinese Food in the United States (2015) and The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business (2005), and numerous journal articles and book chapters on Chinese Americans. C\ Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group �- http:/ /tayl o ra ndfra n ci s.com AMERICAN CHINESE RESTAURANTS Society, Culture and Consumption Edited by Jenny Banh and Haiming Liu First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Jenny Banh and Haiming Liu; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Jenny Banh and Haiming Liu to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Banh, Jenny, editor. | Liu, Haiming, 1953– editor. Title: American Chinese restaurants : society, culture and consumption / edited by Jenny Banh and Haiming Liu. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: LCSH: Chinese restaurants—Social aspects—America. | Cooking, Chinese. | Chinese—America—Social life and customs. Classifi cation: LCC TX945.4 .A64 2019 | DDC 641.5951—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017390 ISBN: 978-1-138-59986-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-27316-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-48549-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC To my mother Nancy Banh (n ée Ngo) (cid:9179)(cid:7953)(cid:17269), father Chuck Banh (cid:12053)(cid:16420)(cid:12789), sister Christina Banh (cid:12053)(cid:28223)(cid:8360) and all global Chinese restaurant families. C\ Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group �- http:/ /tayl o ra ndfra n ci s.com CONTENTS List of Contributors xi Foreword xvii Sidney C.H. Cheung Acknowledgments xix Jenny Banh Introduction xx Jenny Banh and Haiming Liu Key Terms xxvi PART I Social Analysis 1 1 Creating and Negotiating “Chineseness” through Chinese Restaurants in Santiago, Chile 3 Carol Chan and Maria Montt Strabucchi 2 From Chinese Donuts to Leek Cakes: Navigating Los Angeles Chinatown’s Golden Waters 26 Frances Huynh 3 Feeding Prejudices: Chinese Fondas and the Culinary Making of National Identity in Peru 44 Patricia Palma and José Ragas viii Contents 4 Selling Donuts in the Fragmented Metropolis: Chinese Cambodian Donut Shops in Los Angeles and the Practices of Chinese Restaurants 62 Erin M. Curtis 5 Talk Doesn’t Cook Rice: Chinese Restaurants and the Chinese (American) Dream in Ohio 75 Anthony Miller PART II Culinary Histories 87 6 Surveying the Genealogy of Chinese Restaurants in Mexico: From High-End Franchises to Makeshift Stands 89 Yong Chen 7 Live at the China Royal: A Funky Ode to Fall River’s Chow Mein Sandwich 105 Oliver Wang 8 Under the Banner of Northern Chinese Cuisine: Invention of the Pan-China Cuisine in American Chinese Restaurants 121 David Y. H. Wu 9 Oriental Palaces: Chin F. Foin and Chinese Fine Dining in Exclusion-Era Chicago 136 Samuel King 10 Chop Suey, P.F. Chang’s, and Chinese Food in America 155 Haiming Liu PART III Person-Centered Narratives 169 11 Chinese Restaurants and Jewish American Culture 171 Jacob R. Levin 12 Last Tango in Argentina 187 Cheuk Kwan Contents ix 13 Chinese Restaurant Kids Speak About Labor, Lifeways, and Legacies 202 Jenny Banh 14 Chinese American Chef Ming Tsai: Life of East and West Hybridity 213 Jenny Banh 15 Culinary Ambassador Chef Martin Yan Speaks: Life, “Authenticity,” and the Future of Chinese Restaurants 218 Jenny Banh PART IV Comics 227 16 Prologue: What Number Did We Get? 229 Written by Isha Aran Illustrated by Karl Orozco #372 and #1 A Winning Combo 233 Written by Isha Aran, Daniel Tam-Claiborne, Sophia Park and Julian Tucker Illustrated by Karl Orozco and Sophia Park #249 Dim Sum Drama 236 Written and Illustrated by Isha Aran #818 First In Our Hearts 239 Written and Illustrated by Amelea Kim PART V Visual Analysis 243 17 A Visual Habitat Study for Chinese Restaurants in a California Conurbation 245 Nicholas Bauch and Rick Miller 18 Redefi ning and Challenging the Boundaries of Chinese Cuisine: A Visually Based Exploration of Uyghur Restaurants in the United States 259 Christopher Sullivan
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