Ep.58: Touring and Cooking in NYC’s Chinatown w/ Culinary Historian, Cookbook Author and Award-winning Campaigner, Grace Young

 

NYC Chinatown Street Signs, Credit to The NYTimes

Chinatown, New York City, August, 1979, Frances M. Ginter/Getty Images

New York City’s Chinatown is located on the lower East Side of Manhattan. Since the 1870s it has been an area of the city where individuals and families from all over the world, particularly from South East Asia have emigrated to, where they have called home, and established multigenerational businesses. Hugely impacted by COVID-19, the rise in anti-Asian racism and ongoing gentrification, today, it fights to continue preserving its vital history and heritage.

Mee Sum Cafe Courtesy of Eat to Blog

One of the starting points of the tour, Mee Sum Cafe is a Chinatown landmark established in 1967 and a go to place for casual a dining experience serving delicious food. While getting to know the area, Chrystal and Grace pass by Malaysian Kuih bakery, Korean and Thai restaurants, the Golden Fung Wong Bakery, fruit and veg produce markets, hairdressers and specialty stores, as they explore key spots in the city’s Chinatown.

Grace Young by Michael Wertz

Grace Young is an award-winning cookbook author, culinary historian of Chinese food, and a self-confessed accidental activist for the protection and preservation of NYC’s Chinatown. Named the James Beard 2022 Humanitarian of the Year, and recipient of the 2022 Julia Child Award, Grace documents and shares Cantonese and Chinese cuisine and stories through her writing.

Hailing from San Francisco, Grace had an appreciation for food from an early age, having grown up watching Julia Childs cooking on telly, and exploring her home city's Chinatown food scene since childhood, which eventually developed into a career in food writing. Grace’s cookbooks include The Breath of a Wok which introduces us to the technique known as wok hei, the distinct flavor created with the correct wok technique, which she has translated into the term "the breath of the wok." Her other cookbook, Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge explores the many varieties of stir-fries from the Chinese diaspora including in Jamaica, and Burma, leading to dishes such as Jamaican Jerk Chicken Fried Rice, and Chinese Burmese Chilli Chicken. 

The Breath of a Wok by Grace Young

Stir Fry to the Sky’s Edge by Grace Young

 
Chrystal Genesis