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Have You Eaten Yet: Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World
Bottom of the pile
24
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
8/100Critics
40/100Scholars
Author:
Cheuk Kwan
Publisher:
Pegasus Books
Date:
January 3, 2023
A global narrative of myriad personal stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, laborers, and dreamers who populate Chinese kitchens worldwide.
What The Reviewers Say
At its best, Kwan’s book reveals the ways in which diasporic Chinese restaurants are like test kitchens experimenting in opportunities for a better life, however nebulous that pursuit might be.
Have You Eaten Yet? is similar to Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour, though Kwan’s writing is more equanimous than Bourdain’s.
Flavorful descriptions of foods mix with adventuresome travel mishaps. Less-remembered history surrounding the Ming dynasty’s venturing into Africa, and how Chinese people fared under apartheid, enrich the book, while sprinklings of film references are hip, atmospheric flourishes. Here, traveling encompasses word-of-mouth scouting for film locations from the Amazon to Norway, but also lessons in ethnography. The stories of women in particular are resounding, encompassing both vulnerability and stalwart resolve. Have You Eaten Yet? is a fascinating, inquisitive global search for Chinese tastes that evoke home in any corner of the world..
More than culinary tourism, the book portrays enterprising individuals striving for better prospects.
