Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey (Anne Mendelson) comfort food grilled fish

grilled fish

and rosehip soup

including the poetically titled cek mek molek (“beautiful lady”) and the curious-sounding lompat tikam (“jump and stab”)

Radfar is not alone

enabling anyone to stir-fry with wok hay

Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey (Anne Mendelson) comfort food grilled fishChinese food first became popular in America under the shadow of violence against Chinese aliens, a despised racial minority ineligible for United States citizenship. The founding of late nineteenth century "chop suey" restaurants that pitched an altered version of Cantonese cuisine to white patrons despite a virulently anti Chinese climate is one of several pivotal events in Anne Mendelson's thoughtful history of American Chinese food. Chow Chop Suey