Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Social Analysis 1. Creating and Negotiating "Chineseness" through Chinese restaurants in Santiago, Chile 2. From Chinese Donuts to Leek Cakes: Navigating Los Angeles Chinatown’s Golden Waters 3. Feeding Prejudices: Chinese Fondas and the Culinary Making of National Identity in Peru 4. Selling Donuts in the Fragmented Metropolis: Chinese Cambodian Donut Shops in Los Angeles and the Practices of Chinese Restaurants 5. Talk Doesn’t Cook Rice: Chinese Restaurants and the Chinese (American) Dream in Ohio Part II: Culinary Histories 6. Surveying the Genealogy of Chinese Restaurant in Mexico: From High-end Franchises to Makeshift Stands 7. Live At the China Royal: A Funky Ode to Fall River’s Chow Mein Sandwich 8. Under the Banner of Northern Chinese Cuisine: Invention of the Pan-China Cuisine in American Chinese Restaurants 9. Oriental Palaces: Chin F. Foin and Chinese Fine Dining in Exclusion-era Chicago 10. P.F. Chang’s and Chinese Food History in America Part III: Person Centered Narratives 11. Chinese Restaurants and Jewish American Culture 12. Last Tango in Argentina 13. Chinese Restaurant Kids Speak About Labor, Lifeways and Legacies 14. Chinese American Chef Ming Tsai: Life of East and West Hybridity 15. Culinary Ambassador Chef Martin Yan Speaks: Life, "Authenticity" and the Future of Chinese Restaurants Part IV: Comics 16. Prologue: What Number did I get? Written by Isha Aran Illustrated by Karl Orozco #372 and #1 A Winning Combo Written by Isha Aran, Daniel Tam-Claiborne,Sophia Park and Julian Tucker Illustrated by Karl Orozco and Sophia Park #249 Dim Sum Drama Written and Illustrated by Isha Aran #818 First In Our Hearts Written and Illustrated by Amelea Kim Part V: Visual Analysis 17. A Visual Habitat Study for Chinese Restaurants in a California Conurbation 18. Redefining and Challenging the Boundaries of Chinese Cuisine: A Visually Based Exploration of Uyghur Restaurants in the United States 19. Diasporic Counterpublics: The Chinese Restaurant as Institution and Installation in Canada 20. Toy’s Chinese Restaurants: Exploring the Political Dimension of Race through the Built Environment

About the Author

Jenny Banh is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fresno in Anthropology and Asian American Studies. She received her BA from UCLA, her MA from Claremont Graduate University, and her PhD from the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on Asia/Asian American studies, cultural anthropology, and popular culture. Her current research is on restaurants, barriers/bridges to minority college students, and a Hong Kong transnational corporation. She has previously published "Barack Obama or B Hussein" (2012) and "DACA Spaces" (2018), and co-edited Anthropology of Los Angeles: Place and Agency in an Urban Setting (2017).

Haiming Liu is a Professor of Ethnic and Women Studies at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and received his doctorate from the University of California, Irvine. He is an expert on Chinese herbalists, food, restaurants, globalization, and migration. He has authored From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express: A History of Chinese Food in the United States (2015) and The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business (2005), and numerous journal articles and book chapters on Chinese Americans.

Reviews

"This edited volume is a significant addition to the thriving Chinese food studies in America. Readers will gain inside stories of Chinese restaurants in the Midwest, East and West coasts, as well as Chinese restaurants in Mexico, Uyghur, Chile, and Canada." - Min Zhou, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology & Asian American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles "The anthology provides contemporary and historical lived experiences of what it is like to work in an American Chinese restaurant.It is an innovative anthology that includes a historical and contemporary view of American Chinese restaurants in terms of culinary histories, comics, visual analyses, person centered narratives and interviews. This book is a great contribution to Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Anthropology, Global Studies and Food Studies." - Professor Xiao-huang Yin, American Studies; East Asian Languages and Cultures; Affiliated Faculty, History Occidental College"American Chinese restaurant is not just stories of social injustices but many tales of opportunities as well. This book is unique because it includes a diverse narrative collection of essays that tells what goes on inside, front, and behind the restaurant. This book has scholars’ contributions as well as perspectives from chefs like Ming Tsai and Martin Yan." - Professor Xiaojian Zhao, University of California, San Diego