Publication Details
First published by ABC–CLIO in 2015, the book is now available through Bloomsbury Publishing, featured as part of their Asian studies collection.
Since the late 18th century, Asian immigrants to the United States have brought their influences to bear on American culture, yielding a rich, varied, and nuanced culinary landscape. The past 50 years have seen these contributions significantly amplified, with the rise of globalization considerably blurring the boundaries between East and West, giving rise to fusion foods and transnational ingredients and cooking techniques.
This work focuses on the historical trajectory that led to this remarkable point, charting the rise of Asian food culture in the United States. It focuses in particular on the five largest immigrant groups from East and Southeast Asia—those of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese descent.
The book's first chapter (click here to read an excerpt) provides a brief synopsis of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese food cultures and traces the wars, conquests, and famines that led to mass migration from Asia to the United States. Divided into five main sections, each devoted to one country of origin and its immigrants, this chapter likewise charts the rise of Asian American food culture in the United States, beginning with the nation’s first Chinese “chow chows” and storefronts that sold imported delicacies and ending with the successful campaign of Indochina war refugees to overturn the Texas legislation that banned the cultivation of water spinach—a staple vegetable in their traditional diet.