Play Audiobook Sample
Have You Eaten Yet?: Stories from Chinese Restaurants around the World Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
From Haifa, Israel, to Cape Town, South Africa, Chinese entrepreneurs and restaurateurs have brought delicious Chinese food across the globe. Unraveling a complex history of cultural migration and world politics, Cheuk Kwan describes a fascinating story of culture and place, ultimately revealing how an excellent meal always tells an even better story.
Dotting even the most remote landscapes, family-run Chinese restaurants are global icons of immigration, community, and delicious food. The cultural outposts of far-flung settlers, bringers of dim sum, Peking duck, and creative culinary hybrids like the Madagascar classic soupe chinoise, Chinese restaurants are a microcosm of greater social forces—an insight into time, history, and place. From Africa to South America, the Jade Gardens and Golden Dragons reveal an intricate tangle of social schisms and political movements, offering insight into global changes and diasporic histories, as the world has moved into the twenty-first century.
Author and documentarian Cheuk Kwan, a self-described “card-carrying member of the Chinese diaspora,” weaves a global narrative by linking the myriad personal stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, laborers, and dreamers who populate Chinese kitchens worldwide. Behind these kitchen doors lies an intriguing paradox which characterizes many of these communities: how Chinese immigrants have resisted—or often been prevented from—complete assimilation into the social fabric of their new homes, maintaining strong senses of cultural identity, while the engine of their economic survival—the Chinese restaurant and its food—has become seamlessly woven into cities all around the world.
An intrepid travelog of grand vistas, adventure, and serendipity, Have You Eaten Yet? charts a living atlas of the global Chinese migration, revealing the synergies of politics, culture, and family.
Download and start listening now!
“In my many decades of traveling across continents and oceans…’Have you eaten yet?’ is a phrase I hear often…More than a casual social greeting, the question conveys to me a sense of familiarity, of culture, history, tradition, and of home. It took the keen eye of a great storyteller like Kwan to spin all that to a most enjoyable and meaningful book.”
— Martin Yan, chef and host of Yan Can Cook on public television
Quotes
-
“Food is only the entry point…Kwan’s book reveals the ways in which diasporic Chinese restaurants are like test kitchens experimenting in opportunities for a better life.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“This delicious and delightful tour of Chinese food around the world blends sharp journalism and tender memoir.”
— People -
“Many of the subjects’ stories are astonishing, and each is unique…It is these stories that bring Have You Eaten Yet? to life.”
— Washington Post -
“A charming book that weaves its profiles together into an extended meditation on identity, belonging, and a sense of home.”
— The Economist (London) -
“Covers the global phenomenon of the Chinese restaurant and the long journeys endured by many of the people who start them.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“Marvelous insights into how Chinese people have amalgamated so firmly into so many diverse societies.”
— Booklist -
“Flavorful descriptions of foods mix with adventuresome travel mishaps. The stories of women in particular are resounding.”
— Foreword Reviews -
“Narrator Brian Nishii’s…Chinese pronunciation and congenial tone bring out the rich fusion of cultures and the fierce bond that the Chinese who have settled outside of China maintain with their heritage and their new homes.”
— AudioFile -
“A solid introduction to the forces that shape expatriate Chinese cultures and identities alike.”
— Quill & Quire -
“His rich descriptions, humorous tone, and extensive research make for a pleasurable reading experience.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
-
An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
-
An AudioFile Editors’ Pick of the Month
-
A People Magazine Best New Books Pick
-
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
Have You Eaten Yet? Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Cheuk Kwan
Cheuk Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. He has also lived in the US, Saudi Arabia, and Canada, and speaks English, Japanese, French, and several Chinese dialects. He is the cofounder of The Asianadian, a magazine dedicated to promoting Asian Canadian arts, culture, and politics, and a film production company, Tissa Films. His cinematic works—Song of the Exile, Latin Passions, and Beyond Frontiers—braid his personal experiences with his love of travel and appreciation for Chinese culture worldwide.
About Brian Nishii
Brian Nishii is a voice talent and award-winning audiobook narrator.