The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

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The Fortune Cookie Chronicles - Wikipedia

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The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food is a 2008 non-fiction book by Jennifer 8. Lee, published by Hachette/Twelve. It discusses the significance of Chinese American cuisine.

Publishers Weekly described the book as a "travellike narrative".^[1] The work discusses the sheer prevalence of American Chinese restaurants,^[2] and the genesis of said cuisine. Lee also describes how the cuisine is fundamental in American culture.^[3]

Background

Lee traveled to East Asia to do research. She, in a 16 day period, went to Mainland China and Hong Kong as well as Taiwan. Between the three areas she traveled to 16 different cities.^[4]

The chapter "Open-Source Chinese Restaurants" compares the cuisine to open source software as restaurants shared recipes.^[3]

The book discusses origins of particular Chinese food items, and it also discusses human trafficking involved in the restaurant trade.^[5]

The bibliography has five pages.^[6] Mark Knoblauch of Booklist described the bibliography as "Extensive".^[7]

Reception

Leslie Cauley of USA Today described the book as a "sweet treat"; she stated sometimes there was excess "mind-numbing crush of details"^[5]

Jacqueline M. Newman, editor of Flavor and Fortune, praised the extensive research and described the work as "a fine chow down".^[6] Newman stated that she wished that the author had cited some articles in the magazine Newman edited, and that Lee "did not always delve deeply enough."^[6]

Kirkus Reviews described the book, metaphorically, as "Tasty morsels delivered quickly and reliably."^[2]

Martha Cornog of the Library Journal "[h]ighly recommended" the work, describing it as a "detailed and fascinating documentary".^[8]

Tim Kindseth of the Far Eastern Economic Review criticized the book for having an overall lack of focus and for, at times, focusing too much on the author; he stated that the contents "only faintly resemble those of more serious academic studies" although he stated the content was "ravenously researched".^[9] Kindseth stated that the content about the abuse of restaurant workers is the "most compelling", and a chapter about woes facing a Chinese immigrant family running a restaurant is "The most wrenching".^[9]

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review and stated that the work is "a winner".^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food". Publishers Weekly. 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ ^a ^b "THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES". Kirkus Reviews. 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ ^a ^b Stern, Jane; Stern, Michael (2008-03-09). "Wok On". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ Express (2008-03-17). "Promises, Promises: Jennifer 8. Lee on Chinese Food". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ ^a ^b Cauley, Leslie (2008-03-19). "Smart 'Cookie' scoops up story of Chinese cuisine". USA Today. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c Newman, Jacqueline M. (2008). "Review: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, by Jennifer 8. Lee". Gastronomica. 8 (3): 123. doi:10.1525/gfc.2008.8.3.123.1.
^ Knoblauch, Mark (2008). "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food". Booklist. 104 (11): 13. - Accessed from Gale Academic OneFile
^ Cornog, Martha (2008). "Lee, Jennifer. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles". Library Journal. 133 (3): 127 – via EBSCOHost. - Accessed from the Wikipedia Library
^ ^a ^b Kindseth, Tim (2008). "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food". Far Eastern Economic Review. 171 (4): 74. ProQuest 208260178 – via ProQuest.

External links

Fortune Cookie Chronicles official website
Lee, Jennifer 8. (23 March 2009). The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Grand Central. ISBN 978-0-446-69897-9. OCLC 225870250 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Book excerpt: Lee, Jennifer 8. (2008-03-09). "'The Fortune Cookie Chronicles'". The New York Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Alternate copy: "Excerpt from 'The Fortune Cookie Chronicles'". USA Today.
"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food". The Library of Congress. 2008-03-17. - Video showing Lee speaking about her book - MP4 link

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Background

Contents

Reception

References

Further reading

External links