How the Chinese Diaspora Feeds Itself, in 100 Dazzling Illustrations
In an ink-black night sky, against the stars of distant galaxies, a solitary Chinese mantou bun emanates steam, circled by red chili oil like a spicy ring of Saturn. This is not a newly discovered solar system; itโs one of 100 artworks in #ChineseFoodiesOfIG100, a digital exhibition of illustrations that welcome viewers to the dining tables of the Chinese diaspora.
Curator Jenny Lau, a Chinese-British Londoner who writes and coordinates events about Chinese food under the moniker Celestial Peach, grew up in Hong Kong until the age of 11, when she and her mother moved to a London suburb. She is one of the approximately 45 million ethnically Chinese people who live outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and together comprise a dizzyingly diverse Chinese diaspora found in nearly every corner of the globe.

Starting in June of 2019, Lau, a communications consultant by day, interviewed 100 chefs, food writers, food artists, and food entrepreneurs from all over the Chinese diaspora for an Instagram series called #ChineseFoodiesOfIG, asking them questions over email such as โWhere are you from? Where are you really from?โ, โWhatโs in your fridge?โ, and โWhat does Chinese food mean to you?โ For more than two years, Lau published an interview almost every week, her subjects ranging from Chinese-Malaysian-British photographer Louise Hagger to Chinese-American culinary luminary Grace Young. Last October, after her 100th interview, she crowned the series with the #ChineseFoodiesOfIG100 exhibition, commissioning 40 artists, mostly of Asian descent, to illustrate intervieweesโ answers to the question, โWhat does home taste like?โ
โI knew I wanted to put the interviewees at ease and kind of set the tone for the interview,โ she says of the question. โIt was a signal for โฆ โI want you to show me the real you.โโ

Identity can be a fraught topic among the Chinese diaspora, a group that has forged lasting communities in an estimated 130 countries and faced xenophobia in many of them. The diaspora started in the 1400s, when Chinese traders established Chinatowns throughout Indonesia, kicking off centuries of migration throughout East and Southeast Asia. In the 1800s, millions of Chinese laborers settled in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and other parts of Asia after the Opium Wars forced the Qing dynasty to allow mass emigration. And in the past century, millions more people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China have settled all over the world in search of economic opportunity and political refuge.
The descendants of these waves of immigration have shaped and been shaped by each of their adopted homes. In Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, home to some of the worldโs largest Chinese populations, centuries of intermarriage between Chinese and Southeast Asian people produced the hybrid Peranakan culture, and in Peru, the Latin American country with the largest Chinese ethnic group, Peruvian Chinese people are responsible for arroz chaufa, a Peruvian national dish reminiscent of chaofan, or fried rice.

Although millions of Chinese people live in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia, Lau says that in much of the English-speaking world, โall of the people talking about Chinese food who are being profiled and pedestaled are white people.โ A few years ago, an agent rejected a book proposal by Lau, saying, โIโm sorry, we already represent Ching He Huang,โ a Taiwanese-British food personality. โThis very prominent agent who has a roster full of white men was telling me that she couldnโt even entertain me being on a roster with another Asian woman,โ Lau says. With #ChineseFoodiesOfIG, Lau passes the microphone to Chinese people so they can tell their own stories, on their own terms.

The exhibitionโs 100 interviewees share myriad, delicious iterations of home in the Chinese diaspora, brought to life in visuals that draw from disciplines ranging from cartoon illustration to 3D design. David R. Chan, a chronicler of American-Chinese restaurants, tells Lau that โgrowing up [the taste of home] was very Americanizedโwe didnโt even celebrate Chinese New Year,โ but that he has absorbed culinary influences from Toishan, his wifeโs birthplace. Cartoon artist Kaitlin Chan rendered his answer with cartoon postcards of vegetables flying above a wok and men eating hot dogs. Erika Ho, a Los Angeles-based designer, drew a psychedelic, red-and-green print of shrimp, tamarind, and coconuts to depict the Peranakan roots of Jian Loh and Brian Ooi, Malaysian-Australian owners of Australiaโs first bulk Asian grocery.

In combination, these illustrations create a virtual community. โOne of the things I always hear from other diasporic people,โ Lau says, โis โI feel like I canโt be myself,โ or โI feel like I have three or four versions of myself โฆ โ Well, maybe you donโt have to choose, because weโre all playing that game.โ Interviewees have told her they cried answering her questions, and readers have told her the same. Artists, interviewees, and viewers of the exhibition have formed friendships. Travis Post and Lisa Zak, owners of the Sichuan restaurant Plenty of Clouds in Seattle, met Tiffany Ran, the chef behind Taiwanese pop-up Ba Ba Lio, through #ChineseFoodiesOfIG, and have since begun a culinary collaboration, says Lau.
Amidst the diversity on display in these illustrations, Lau says, โthere was something that really connected those 100 different answers. I guess itโs what I call Chinese-ness.โ Itโs impossible to define, but Lau says that for Chinese people living away from mainland China, โChinese-nessโ might be โmore about that process of having to work out what home is.โ

Many of the interviewees located home in comforting regional Chinese dishes they ate during childhood. โHome tastes like all the childhood dishes I had when I was a small kid in China,โ said Berlin-based recipe developer and food writer Sissi Chen. โMy favorite dishes were fish fragrant eggplant, a whole roasted chicken, tomato-egg stir fry, huge fluffy baozi, and just simple mantou with any type of cooked warm dish.โ
But for many in the diaspora, home tastes like a mix of markedly Chinese foods and foods that are not Chinese to the naked eye. โCantonese cuisine values vividly fresh ingredients, and so my parents loved foraging for the best that the Pacific West Coast had to offer,โ said Lee F. Man, Chinese-Canadian food writer and founder of the Chinese Restaurant Awards. โRock cod caught by my father, wild watercress gathered by my mother, and locally raised chickens all made their way to our dinner table.โ

Malaysian-born, Australian-raised, and London-based recipe developer Helen Goh said, โHome tastes like congee with all the trimmings. And also challah on Friday nights when I do Shabbat meals with my husband and children.โ
And plenty of the interviewees described a home anchored by women. Sihan Lee, a Singaporean restaurateur in France, said that, having grown up with Hokkien and Hainanese grandmothers and a Filipino helper, โIf you ask me to describe what does home taste like, it would be a combination effort of the three female powerhouses in my life. Humble plates of chicken adobo, spicy szechuan vegetables tossed with pork, old cucumber braised in stock till yielding and tender, as well as Hainanese beef stew accompanied with a bowl of steamed white rice.โ
![Home tastes like โwarmth and comfort, [a] โhug in a bowl,โ that feeling,](http://img.atlasobscura.com/HtTpOT2Hn5yGwmoytJKDYOfM_gu6Spsoo_21rrjP6Uo/rs:fill:12000:12000/q:81/sm:1/scp:1/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h/em9uYXdzLmNvbS91/cGxvYWRzL2Fzc2V0/cy8xYzQ2YjQ2Yi0x/NDQxLTQzNWItOTlj/YS0yN2I0ZjU0MjEx/NDFjNjU2MDEyMzU1/OWJlZWYwNzlfZW1p/bHkgY2h1bmcuanBl/Zw.jpg)
If thereโs one thing that these interviewees share, itโs that their kitchens are windows into their most vulnerable selves. โTo a lot of these people,โ Lau says, โthat dining table is a safe space, and itโs comfort, because that home cooking is allowing you to embrace your Chineseness.โโ Home tastes like โEating an egg tart, sitting on gung-gungโs lap at dim sum,โ said American food podcaster Coral Lee. Burmese-Chinese-British cookbook author Emily Chung said it tastes like โWarmth and comfort, [a] โhug in a bowl,โ that feeling.โ
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought an onslaught of anti-Asian racism some nine months into the project, intervieweesโ answers became more pointed. Gabe Chan (@woke_wok), a Chinese-Canadian chef, said in his interview, โMy heart goes out to all the Chinese restaurants who are struggling during these times and with the racial violence that has occurred and will continue to occur (letโs be honest). Chinese food existed before us and will exist long after us even with the pandemic. Chinese food forever.โ
Amidst this rise in xenophobia, Lau hopes that the exhibitionโs dazzling food imagery and vulnerable interviews will help non-Chinese viewers understand the vast, diverse Chinese diaspora. โCome for the food, and stay for the conversation,โ Lau says, before adding, โAnd help with the dishes.โ



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