Pass the egg rolls! Jennifer 8 Lee, a first generation Chinese American (her middle name, the numeral eight, connotes prosperity in Chinese) has written a rollicking fun book about everyone’s favorite cuisine. Starting with an odd Powerball drawing that saw a huge number of second place winners which turned out to have been selected from a fortune cookie Lee dives into the topic of American-style Chinese restaurants with gusto and explores a number of issues most diners probably never considered.
From the disappearance of the Chinese restaurant delivery man (turns out he was stuck in a Brooklyn elevator for four days before the building’s management noticed) to stories of the very hard working Chinese who work in these restaurants, Lee brings a fresh and vital perspective. I was amazed to learn, for instance, that there are more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, that Christmas day is one of their busiest days of the year (Thanksgiving is the only day they are closed) and that most restaurant employees east of the Rockies are dispatched from a warren of employment agencies beneath the Manhattan Bridge in New York City’s Chinatown.
Lee invests a great deal of research into the origins of the fortune cookie (originally a Japanese creation that is only popular in American style Chinese restaurants) and also takes the reader along on an immigrant’s journey from China to the United States. The book’s one weak chapter, inspired by an editor’s request (Lee is a reporter for the New York Times) to find the world’s "greatest" Chinese restaurant seemed a bit out of place. If you’ve ever ordered Egg Foo Young or dished out General Tso’s Chicken from a white cardboard tub, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is sure to please. Highly Recommended.
Tags: Adventures In the World of Chinese Food, Book Reviews, Books, Jennifer 8 Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
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July 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Oh, wow. I SO need to get a copy of this. Thanks for reviewing it!
July 7th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I heard about this book on NPR and then promptly forgot about it. Thank you for the reminder!
July 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I heard this author talking about her book on a local radio show a while back and meant to buy it (and, of course, promptly forgot and lost the post-it note under more current post-it notes). Thanks for the review and the reminder!