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The Mid-Autumn Festival is about a week away during a busy time for my family, so quick and easy ways to celebrate are on my mind. Maybe you, too? Ideas and inspiration are coming next week! ~Wes
New in our community this week:
- A famous Guangzhou rice roll chain arrives in Los Angeles.
- Eddie Huang and Constance Wu open up in interviews.
- Healthy school snacks for your child’s lunch box.
Family Corner
One of the best parts of grade school is eagerly opening your bag to see what treat Mom and Dad packed for you to eat. Finding healthy, satisfying snacks is challenging enough, but what if it’s also important that your child’s school snacks incorporate a Chinese influence? Chinese American Family
As we all prepare for next week’s Mid-Autumn Festival, here are 18 family-friendly YouTube videos in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka about the holiday’s historical origins, along with songs, poems, stories and tutorials for making mooncakes. Chalk Academy
Hapa Mama Grace Hwang Lynch shares a series of posts from her family’s summer trip to Taiwan. First up? Pictures and descriptions of all the delicious foods they ate. Oh my goodness. Hapa Mama
Voices
“Papa, your accent has never been anything to hide from,” Kimberly Yam writes. “It’s a stubborn reminder of your first language, resplendent and lovely. Every misplaced word of English is a gateway to the stories you hold deep in your heart.” Huffington Post
The New York Times continues its “Overlooked” series of unreported obituaries with Lau Sing Kee, an early 20th century American war hero and civic leader who also became a convicted criminal for skirting discriminatory immigration laws. New York Times
Entertainment
In a recent interview, restaurateur and author Eddie Huang recounts that his constant aim is to smash the “model minority myth” about Asian-Americans. “In America,” he says, “there is a desire to identify, to describe, and then categorize people.” CBS News
Actress Constance Wu candidly describes a burden children of immigrants can carry. “In a strange way, sometimes you feel like you have to protect [your parents] from the things that they don’t understand.” Huffington Post
A new generation of comedians is challenging stereotypes about Asian American masculinity and redefining old notions, while reminding us all how much further the culture has to go. New York Times
Food
Sasha Chan and her staff are in the eye of an unrelenting storm. It’s 1:30 p.m. on a Tuesday at Yin Ji Chang Fen, the first LA-area branch of the Guangzhou-based Cantonese rice roll chain, and Chan is greeting customers who won’t stop coming in. Eater
Los Angeles chefs are rewriting the playbook for Chinese food. When a chef like Shirley Chung says she specializes in “progressive Chinese-American cuisine,” she means that she’s cooking without limitations. Food & Wine
For many Asian immigrants across the United States, growing food that’s absent from larger grocery chains and then cooking familiar dishes is a radical act of cultural preservation. Huffington Post
History
Professor Gordon H. Chang’s new book “Ghosts of Gold Mountain” offers a definitive history of the Chinese laborers who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad and forge modern America, only to disappear into the shadows of history. The Mercury
A Grain Of Rice
“Some people thought that the United States had learned a valuable lesson from the misguided Chinese Exclusion Act — that it was wrong to deny a person an immigrant visa because of race or ethnicity. This was never supposed to happen again.” — Professor William Wei
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