I did appreciate learning more about the history and injustices faced. It’s always good to get another perspective from other cultures. Thank you for the advanced copy!

This was an interesting book, but I had a little trouble following the direction of some of the essays, and the way they were meant to be structured. I appreciate the sources after each chapter! Still, I would recommend this to people in academia, but maybe not for casual readers.

Non-fiction November

Part I: Gastronomic Sites

1. "Bumbay" Bibingka: Culinary Crosscurrents between India and the Philippines ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For a book about food, we get hot and heavy into politics and colonization real fast. I love it. What is food, if not politics? Who determines what is authentic? What is fusion?

Bibingka is quintessentially Filipino. But if we explore its backstory a bit more, we see it is made with very Indian ingredients. The Philippines and India were colonized by vastly different empires. How did this food come to be?

📖 Arsenic and Adobo

📺 Street Food: Asia

🎵 Ruby Ibarra

🥡 Lasita

2. Garlic, Kimchi, and Other Banchan: The Intimacies of Food in the Lives of Adopted Koreans ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Did I just cut an onion? I teared up a bit...

Diaspora kids have it hard. Adoptees have it harder. I, as a Vietnamese American that understand the language better than I speak it, find it comforting to connect to my culture through food. These Korean American adoptees are often adopted as babies into white families. They do not grow up with food. What, then, does food mean to them?

📖 Crying in H Mart

📺 Taste the Nation

🥡 Han Bat Sul Lung Tang

3. I Love Phở: Entrepreneurship and Ethnicity in the American Heartland ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I will never live somewhere without decent Asian food. LA is already a struggle, because the nearest good Vietnamese food is in OC. I know it doesn't look far on a map, but traffic is a bitch.

I don't want to get into the habit of saying never this, never that, but I will never live in the Midwest. The region horrifies me with its lack of diversity, and as such, lack of good Asian food. And yet so many of my people, and so many others, call this place home. They open restaurants that cater to vast audiences, but again, what is authenticity?

People fight over Northern and Southern phở. I'm in the Northern camp. But it was apparently in the American Heartland that short rib phở was invented, a dish I've seen both in Houston and OC. And isn't that funny?

📖 A Pho Love Story

🎥 Peach Blossom, Phở and Piano

📺 The Sympathizer

🥡 The Paper Bridge

4. Generation Boba ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Is boba the great unifier between Asian Americans? Who does this include? East Asians? Southeast Asians? South Asians?

I don't really want to talk about boba liberalism, so I won't.

Know that I love and enjoy that SGV is a safe space to be Asian American. Great place for food. I will not willingly take the 10 east on a weekday. Maybe even the weekend. Laugh.

And while Americans of all sorts love boba, and other Asian food, Asian Americans were still violently murdered in the midst of COVID-19.

📺 Parts Unknown

🍵 CHICHA San Chen

Part II: Food Politics

5. Dirty Dining? The Chinese Roast Duck Bill, Food, and Public Health in Asian America ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am so tired of hearing about Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. White people eat plenty of MSG in every other disgusting food they consume. That should also make you tired.

I found the Roast Duck Bill interesting. Just because something doesn't meet western cooking standards doesn't mean it's wrong. I haven't heard about a roast duck killing anybody. Don't like it? Don't eat it.

📖 Invitation to a Banquet

📺 The Search for General Tso

🥡 Mein

6. Foraging for New Futurities: Studying Mess and Food Sovereignty in Conversation with Asian American Food Politics ⭐⭐

I'm sorry. This one was a little boring.

However, it did interest me when settler colonialism was mentioned, and not just in regards to white people. Asian Americans took over Hawai'i, and this isn't talked about enough.

🥡 8oz Poke

7. Food Justice and Urban Change in a Historic Chinese Neighborhood in the Time of COVID ⭐⭐⭐

Even more about Chinese Restaurant Syndrome and how people stopped eating Chinese food during the pandemic. And yet, when Italy's cases soared through the roof, no one stopped eating pasta. Curious. And racist.

8. Upscaling Authenticity: Asian American Food Gentrification in Chinatown ⭐⭐⭐

Look, I adore Roy Choi, but he definitely had something to do with the gentrification of LA Chinatown. The Chinese left Chinatown years ago. They're out in SGV.

But if you roam the old neighborhood, you'll still see the remnants of the people that grew up there, that are just trying to live out their last years in peace. Roy, along with some other young Asian American chefs, drove a lot of them out. And post-pandemic, Chinatown is unfortunately very dead. Lasita, which I love, but is definitely gentrified, is the only restaurant open late.

📖 On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family

🎥 Days of Being Wild

🥡 Mỹ Dung Sandwich Shop

Part III: Alimentary Struggles

9. "Yellow Fever" at Whole Foods: Curating (White) American Palates ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am very amused by an Asian American woman running a fast casual restaurant called Yellow Fever, but I can see why this didn't work for white people at Whole Foods.

📖 Yellowface

10. Becoming Meat: Queer Intimacies between Dogs and Asians ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This country is embarrassing. Dogs are treated better than people.

In other countries, dogs aren't just pets. They are animals. Whether you agree with it or not, that makes them a viable food option. I have a former friend who went on a boohoo journey to save the dogs in China and South Korea. I did not donate. It is none of our business what other people do or eat. Mind your own business.

📖 Slow Noodles

11. Shrimp Wars: The Trials and Triumphs of Vietnamese American Shrimpers of the Gulf Coast ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As a Vietnamese American that grew up in Houston, I knew stupid little about the Seadrift fishermen's struggles with the KKK. While I learned some in Carolyn's new book, linked below, Dr. Ha's essay brings new light and facts.

📖 The Family Recipe

🥡 Crawfish & Noodles

12. Canned Food Carcerality: Prisoner and Refugee Foodways and Memories of Camp ⭐⭐⭐

Being Japanese and Vietnamese is an interesting mix. I was about to say it's not one I've encountered before, but I lied. My cousin's kids are this mix. Oops.

Anyway, as both Japanese Americans and Vietnamese Americans have survived war and war camps, what else do they have in common? Food is so prevalent across both cultures, that to withhold certain foods, is almost to withhold life. This isn't dramatic.

📖 We Are Not Free

Part IV: Gustatory Intimacies

13. Debt Forgiveness: Reflections of a Farmer's Daughter ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I didn't realize how many language intricacies could be involved in farming, although it makes sense given the nature of any business. Minari was my introduction to this, and chicken sexing, which I never want to think about again. Food production is horrific.

📖 The Last Story of Mina Lee

🎥 Minari

14. Feeding the Dead: On Atang and Pitik ⭐⭐⭐

Ancestor altars are very Asian. I want to say they pre-date colonial religion, but I have no idea. Filipinos are, for the most part, Catholic. And yet they hold to these altars just like Buddhist and Shinto Asians. Sounds like the Catholic Church had to change in order to keep some of their converts. Sucks. Change some more.

📖 Saints of Storm and Sorrow

📺 Take Out

15. Eating Ancestrally: Resisting with and Learning from Our Families' Foodways ⭐⭐⭐

I imagine being a white-passing mixed kid is hard. But, I imagine, so is the reverse. I found it hard enough to connect with my heritage when both parents are of the same background.

I don't know many Sikhs, but those I do know are proud. Post-9/11, there was so much racism against them. It is generally a peaceful religion. I would say most are. The most radical people I know are Christian.

📖 The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters

🥡 Cali Tandoor

16. Mango as Relation ⭐⭐⭐

I wasn't as into this one, but I do love a mango. As someone that has never eaten one in Southeast Asia, though, this needs to change. Who wants to go?

Part V: Culinary Texts

17. From Community Cookbooks to Online Blogs/Websites: Generational Shifts in Japanese American Foodways ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've always loved that Japanese Americans have names for each generation that has been overseas. I don't love that I didn't know about the internment until I was an adult, but education, am I right?

Japanese cuisine is one of my favorites. I could eat it every day. This is made more difficult by my soy allergy, and there are certainly dishes I miss, e.g. miso soup.

📖 Never Been Better

🏛️ Japanese American National Museum

🥡 Izakaya Wa

🍵 Tea Master Matcha Cafe and Green Tea Shop

18. A Taste of Transpacific History: Gendering Korean Cookbooks ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Adoption is hard. Multiracial adoption across different cultures is harder. And yet, when I discovered Kimchi Chronicles, I couldn't stop watching.

📖 Tastes Like War

📺 Kimchi Chronicles

🥡 Soot Bull Jip

19. A Fork in the Road: Cosmopolitanism, Cookbooks, and Vietnamese Street Food ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I hate cultural appropriation. I make amazing Swedish meatballs, but I'm not out here writing Swedish cookbooks or starting a Swedish restaurant. Bye, Bobby Chinn.

20. Monique Truong's Familiar Tastes and Stranger Appetites ⭐⭐

This went right over my head. I did like the bits about being Vietnamese American and queer, but also in the South. I feel like that's a very particular experience.

📖 A Bánh Mì for Two

21. A Visceral Archive of Survival: Doreen Fernandez's Sarap and the "Crisis-Ethos" of Philippine Cuisine ⭐⭐⭐

I don't think people should be judging, or rather looking down upon, other people's cuisines. The fact that multiple Chinese cuisines have elevated status in the Philippines is crazy to me. Well, maybe not crazy.

📖 Chloe and the Kaishao Boys

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and NYU Press

This had some fascinating essays about race and the role it plays in cuisine in an American landscape.

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.

So the subtitle probably gives it away, but this book is an academic collection of essays that center on the Asian American experience and food culture. Comprised of 21 essays it ranges from the popularity of Japanese community cookbooks to the Vietnamese population of shrimpers who were devasted by Katrina.

It also addresses a lot of racist misconceptions about Asian food and the way (especially in the United States) people have demonized preparation or standards for Asian cooking (such as cleanliness of restaurants, roast duck holding temperatures, and other).

While at times it could get a bit verbose and tedious (which I attribute to its academic formulation), it contains a wealth of knowledge even for the casual reader (like myself). I think the audience is definitely geared more scholarly but if you really love food history and sociology this is a book to read (and probably the first edition too which I've yet to get my hands on).

Review by M. Reynard 2024

Special thanks to NetGalley and NYU Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was more educational and academic than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. I do wish that there were more pictures/pictures in color to break up text, especially when shifting between essays.

Rezension zu Eating More Asian America: A Food Studies Reader, herausgegeben von Robert Ji-Song Ku, Martin F. Manalansan und Anita Mannur

Eating More Asian America ist ein tiefgründiger und vielseitiger Sammelband, der die kulturelle und soziopolitische Bedeutung von Essen innerhalb der asiatisch-amerikanischen Gemeinschaft und dessen Resonanz im Mainstream-Kulturraum beleuchtet. Die Herausgeber Robert Ji-Song Ku, Martin F. Manalansan und Anita Mannur führen die Leser durch eine Fülle an Essays, die asiatische Lebensmittel und Esskulturen als Schlüsselelemente für das Verständnis der asiatisch-amerikanischen Identität präsentieren. Das Buch ist die Fortsetzung des einflussreichen Bandes Eating Asian America und baut auf dessen Grundlagen auf, indem es neue Perspektiven und analytische Methoden zu kritischen Essensstudien aufzeigt.

Einblicke in die asiatisch-amerikanische Erfahrung durch Essen
Mit 21 Essays, die sowohl historische als auch zeitgenössische Perspektiven abdecken, illustriert das Buch die zentrale Rolle von Lebensmitteln wie Boba-Tee, Matcha und Pho in der asiatisch-amerikanischen Kultur. Diese Lebensmittel sind nicht nur eine Quelle der Nostalgie und Identität für die asiatisch-amerikanische Gemeinschaft, sondern haben inzwischen ihren Platz in der breiten amerikanischen Esskultur gefunden. Im Gegensatz zu einer rein kulinarischen Abhandlung geht dieses Buch jedoch tiefer und betrachtet, wie Lebensmittel zum Spiegel und Symbol für ethnische Identität, kulturelle Integration und soziale Spannungen werden.

Durch die Analyse von Gerichten wie Kimchi, Bibingka und Curry zeigt das Buch auf, wie diese Speisen nicht nur als Geschmacksrichtungen, sondern auch als Werkzeuge zur Konstruktion und Darstellung kultureller Zugehörigkeit und Migration fungieren. Die Herausgeber positionieren das Essen als eine Form von "Wissen" und "Sein" – es hilft uns, asiatisch-amerikanische Realitäten besser zu begreifen und zu verstehen, wie diese kulinarischen Traditionen nicht nur anheimelnd, sondern auch identitätsstiftend und aktivistisch sein können.

Vielfalt der Perspektiven und Methoden
Einer der herausragenden Aspekte von Eating More Asian America ist die breite Palette an methodologischen Ansätzen, die in den Essays genutzt werden. Die Autoren bringen unterschiedliche Disziplinen und Methoden in das Gespräch ein – von Ethnografie und Soziologie bis zu politischen und kulturellen Analysen. Diese interdisziplinäre Herangehensweise macht den Band besonders spannend, da er den Lesern die vielfältigen sozialen, politischen und kulturellen Facetten asiatisch-amerikanischer Lebensmitteltraditionen aufzeigt.

Die thematische Vielfalt ist ebenfalls beeindruckend. Neben persönlichen Erzählungen und Reflexionen über bestimmte Speisen und ihre Bedeutung gibt es kritische Essays zu Themen wie die Politisierung asiatisch-amerikanischer Küchen, die Vermarktung "exotischer" Lebensmittel und die Spannungen zwischen Authentizität und Anpassung an den westlichen Geschmack. Diese Essays legen dar, wie das Essen und die Nahrungskultur zugleich Bindeglied und Konfliktpunkt sein können, insbesondere wenn asiatisch-amerikanische Gerichte und Traditionen durch die Mainstream-Kultur konsumiert und vereinnahmt werden.

Eine kritische Reflexion über Integration und Exotik
Ein durchgehendes Thema in Eating More Asian America ist die Reflexion darüber, wie Lebensmittel, die einst als "exotisch" galten, wie etwa Gochujang oder Ube, nun in den Mainstream aufgenommen und manchmal auch kommerziell ausgeschlachtet werden. Dieser Prozess wirft Fragen auf – wie sich kulturelle Aneignung und Authentizität zueinander verhalten und wie sich die asiatisch-amerikanische Identität durch die Wahrnehmung dieser Speisen verändert. Die Essays untersuchen die Nuancen des kulturellen Austauschs und wie asiatisch-amerikanische Gemeinschaften dabei ihre eigenen Traditionen und Bräuche aufrechterhalten oder neu interpretieren.

Fazit: Ein umfassendes und zum Nachdenken anregendes Werk
Eating More Asian America ist nicht nur eine Einladung, asiatisch-amerikanische Lebensmittel als integralen Bestandteil der amerikanischen Gesellschaft zu sehen, sondern auch eine Reflexion über die komplexen sozialen und politischen Mechanismen, die damit verbunden sind. Die Herausgeber und Autoren zeigen auf eindrucksvolle Weise, wie das, was wir essen, ein Tor zur Kultur, Geschichte und zum kollektiven Bewusstsein einer Gruppe sein kann.

Dieses Buch ist für jeden geeignet, der sich für kulturelle Studien, Migration, Identitätsbildung und die Entwicklung der amerikanischen Esskultur interessiert. Es ist besonders bereichernd für Leser, die sich mit den Spannungen und Möglichkeiten auseinandersetzen möchten, die mit der Verkörperung von Kultur durch Essen einhergehen. Eating More Asian America zeigt meisterhaft, wie Essen mehr als nur Geschmack und Sättigung bedeutet – es wird zu einer Brücke zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, Identität und Integration, und letztlich zu einem Werkzeug für das Verständnis dessen, was es bedeutet, asiatisch-amerikanisch zu sein.

For anyone interested in the intersection of food and culture, Eating More Asian America offers a thought-provoking look at Asian American identity through the lens of food. This collection of essays illustrates how food shapes cultural understanding, identity, and community, making it an insightful read for both food enthusiasts and scholars alike.

Asian American-inspired foods seem to be everywhere these days. While chop suey, sushi, curry, adobo, and kimchi represented Asian American culinary influence a decade ago, today we also see boba, ube, bibingka, phở, matcha, gochujang, and málà as staples of the Asian American food landscape. What was once considered exotic has now been embraced by mainstream culture.

Food studies continues to be a fascinating area within Asian American studies, and *Eating More Asian America* serves as a follow-up to the influential *Eating Asian America*. This book brilliantly illustrates the intersection of Asian American identity and its diverse foodways. It argues that food is much more than mere sustenance; it's a means of understanding our existence and identity. The essays in *Eating More Asian America* reveal the intellectual depth of various foodways and their connections to the racial and political constructs of "Asian America."

Featuring twenty-one essays, this volume reflects the rich diversity of Asian America and the field of food studies itself. It not only covers a wide range of topics and ethnic foods but also showcases a variety of methodological approaches. *Eating More Asian America* is truly a feast for the senses, exploring the many ways critical eating studies have evolved over the past decade.

Eating More Asian America is the follow up to Eating Asian America, brought to to us by the same editors. It is a dense and academic compilation of essays that focus on food and Asian American culture. It consists of 21 essays on various topics within those areas and totals over 400 pages.I would probably say that this book is not for the casual reader, but would be a great resource for advanced cultural or food studies courses.

Thanks to NYU Press and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.