Anybody noticed how many Asian American women food bloggers there are? Food writing seems to have surpassed local news anchor as the liberal arts Asian American woman's career path of choice. They're both talky vanity careers with service elements; the former requires a large appetite, the latter requires shiny helmet hair. Sit down meals are often central to Asian family life, and cooking is still a highly valued skill in Asian cultures (as I'm sure it is in France, Italy, Ethiopia and many, but not all, other cultures). But is that all there is to it? Is it, as a friend said with a wink, because we're nerds and like computers?
Check it out: There's me, Chez Pim, The Girl Who Ate Everything, Daily Gluttony, Not Eating Out in NY, Feisty Foodie, The Delicious Life, I Heart Bacon, Su Good Sweets, Best of L.A., Tuna Toast, not to mention people like Saveur's Julia Lee, Padma Lakshmi, novelists like Monique Truong, Mei Ng, Amy Tan to an extent, etc. I'm sure I'm missing tons. This is not to dismiss all of the great Asian American male food writers and bloggers, but they do seem to be outnumbered.
In February, there's a new book (disclaimer: it's being published by my employer ) called Stealing Buddha's Dinner which is about a young Vietnamese immigrant's coming-of-age and her obsession with food, specifically name brand junk foods which she coveted, paralleling her adolescent desire to fit in. I was a little shocked at how much it resonated with me -- the obsession with Little House on the Prairie food (remember the green pumpkin "apple" pie and maple syrup squiggles in the snow?), Chef Boyardee (ahem), the mix of shame and pride for the foreign food cooked at home. As I wrote in the reading guide (yes, for money that they paid me), in a consumption culture, she's trying to eat her way toward an American identity, to become an American from the inside out. Bich Minh Nguyen, the author, has more at her website. Reading it made me feel, well, a little unoriginal. But well understood. And I'm not saying that because they pay me to, I swear.
I used to study the one Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-by-Step Cookbook we owned and imagine what it would be like to make parker house and clover leaf rolls, how sweet and sticky a floating island might taste, how filling and savory a flaky beef Wellington might be. I'd wish silently that we had all-purpose white flour in the house instead of arrowroot starch and small boxes of Mochiko rice flour. Cookbooks fed my imagination far more than they fed my stomach.
In any case, I'm glad that whatever cultural significance food had for me has been distilled into personal significance, because now writing about food is my way of using the mundane to circumnavigate the vastness of life.
I say the more the merrier. Besides, I know my Connie Chung dream died when I found out she was married to Maury Povich.
hi there... there is is a global list of asian women food bloggers over here.
Thanks for the link! I've talked about the "why are there so many Asian female food bloggers?" thing with other people too! Other Asian females, that is. And...I have no idea. Maybe I think there are so many because I'm an Asian female and thus have more comtact with other Asian females than, say, an Irish dude. OR MAYBE NOOOT.
I don't really cook though. :[ My family is atypical as far as Chinese food customs go, I think.
...uh, whatever, YAY FOOD YAY.
Now I gotta check out Stealing Buddha's Dinner.
I'm half Asian, and I too have a Laura Ingalls Wilder obsession. But I think the Asian connection has something to do with adventurousness. Eating Chinese foods conditioned me to be more willing to try an unfamiliar dish, which in turn made me more excited about food in general. Of course, my Caucasian dad is a pretty big fan of food too . . .
Thanks for the list, Deborah! It's amazing!
Funny you should mention Stealing Buddha's Dinner - I read it last year (for work) and found it touching. But I think your site (and writing) can hardly be considered unoriginal. Irreverent and smart and spot-on in the taste department, yes, however.
Ah Luisa, that's very kind of you to say. My website is blushing.
I've wondered about that as well actually. It does seem that I've been surprised to find so many Asian women interested in blogging about food and occasionally I'll read a site for a while before realizing/discovering the person writing is also an Asian female. It's not like it makes a difference to me, either, but I do note it in the back of my head for some reason like "Oh wow, she's Asian, too". Friends of mine suggest, as you say, it has to do with the cultural obsession of food and some have also suggested what Aoife says- the adventurousness that comes hand in hand with eating parts of Asian cuisines. It's very interesting, isn't it? Personally, food has always been one of those things that brought family together, and in a way, it makes me feel closer to my family, my roots, even as far as I've gone from them (not physically). My brother, however, does also food blog but not as obsessively as I do- that might have to do with being a girl, though :)
it's because foodblogging is basically socially acceptable pornography - like erotic or romance literature but you don't have to feel cheeky writing or reading it. and being asian (male or female, it makes no difference, although you birds probably get it a lot more than we blokes do by virtue of being perceived as sex objects around the world), we come from repressed upbringings where we can't talk about actual sex like normal people can, much less have it without likewise feeling a bit naughty. basically our parents never taught us about the birds and the bees now did they? so we channel our energies into food porn, the next best and most basic and elemental thing to a rowdy shag...
This post literally made me laugh out loud!!! :D
In a previous life, I *too* wanted to be the next Connie Chung. And was shocked to find out who she was married to!
You know, I was going to do my a PhD in sociology looking at this whole food blogging Asian American identity - but then thought.... eh, why jump through so many hoops when I can just eat and blog. :)
Happy 2007!
(remember the green pumpkin "apple" pie and maple syrup squiggles in the snow?),
Remember? Hell, when Portland OR got shut down by snow last week, I reenacted it!
I also spent a lot of my childhood reading the Betty Crocker Step-by-step, and even got the updated version when I moved out of my parents' house (it still is my go-to cookbook for basic food). But I'm Mexican-American, not Asian. Alas.
Rameniac, interesting theory. I might say that emotional illiteracy plays as much of a role as sexual repression. My parents communicate love through food, so I do too. Food is not a stand in for sex, for me; if anything it's more of a stand in for love.
I hate to think of myself as repressed. I love a good sex column as much as the next voyeur, but I don't lament keeping that part of my life out of the public realm.
Besides, I'd have to be having sex to write about it.
Wait, what was I saying about food not standing in for sex again?
I'm with Aoife -- maybe a.a. women just have a natural advantage in terms of knowing about a lot of different kinds of food, as well as having superior light-reflecting hair.
It is probably a statistical fallacy. That is, you take note when you encounter another Asian woman blogging about food, but don't keep track of the other sorts of folks.
Also, I think everyone's Connie Chung dreams died when they found out who she married, whether the dreamer was a boy or a girl. Of course, who am I to complain? Just look who my wife married.