Falafel Past and Present

 Dinner Tonight

Falafel that Alice made from a recipe starting with dried chickpeas.

Eating Falafel

Falafel in Dearborn, Michigan, around 20 years ago
(from an earlier blog post).

Most famous falafel in Paris on Rue des Rosiers, the famous Jewish neighborhood for at least a century.

Israeli Falafel as I enjoyed it in Abu Gosh.

Lunch including falafel in Abu Gosh (near Jerusalem), 2018.

From 2016: Falafel (from Trader Joe's), a Turkish eggplant salad, and a cabbage salad with tahini dressing

Where Did Falafel Come From?

Many cultures claim Falafel as their own, often implying a very long history for the dish. Asconsumed today, its history isn’t really very long: one plausible theory is that it was invented in the late 19th century in Egypt at the request of British officers looking for a local version of Indian fried croquettes. In Israel in the mid-20th century, Jewish refugees from Yemen found a way to make a living by selling falafel as street food; thus, Israeli version of the dish is associated with Yemen although in fact it didn’t exist there, only later with the immigrant community.

Here’s one summary of the status of the dish in Israel, where I really got to know the dish:

“Consider falafel, Israel’s most popular fast food — as culturally synonymous with the country as burgers and fries are with the United States. Just as hamburgers are not technically an American invention (origin: Hamburg, Germany), falafel, deep-fried balls of fava beans or chickpeas, can be traced to India, where frying fritters made of chana dal was a common cooking practice, thought to have been brought west by Turkish or Arab traders.

“Another theory about the origins of falafel is that it was invented by Egyptians using fava beans, a vegetarian alternative to meat for Egypt’s Christian population to eat during Lent. Food historians speculate that when the dish migrated toward the Levant, the fava beans were replaced by the more common chickpea, which lends credence to the notion that falafel made of chickpeas may have roots in Jewish Yemenite cuisine.” (source)

Does Life Follow Art? Or What?

 A Short Read

Today: news that Grok, an AI bot inside X (Twitter) has begun producing antisemitic comments to relatively ordinary questions: 

“The comments were part of a flood of offensive responses offered by Grok in recent days that shocked even users who have become accustomed to offensive speech on X.   In a statement posted on xAI’s account for Grok, company officials said they are ‘aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.’ They said they would improve Grok’s training model.” (source)

A story by Israeli author Etgar Keret, from the collection titled Autocorrect, had an incident very like this, though set in the future when all information comes from a bot named Sigmund:

“Simple queries on Sigmund, the most popular search engine of the day, received peculiar answers that occasionally bordered on trolling: a young man from Stuttgart wondered where he could buy cut-rate designer shoes and was told he’d be better off barefoot. An elderly woman from Wisconsin asked when Thanksgiving would be celebrated that year and was answered wryly: ‘Whenever you’re feeling most thankful.’ And a Chinese student from Shanghai University who wanted Sigmund to recommend the best antidepressant in the world was given the chemical formula for hydrogen cyanide.”

The very short stories in this collection make many pointed observations about life in modern times, especially in Israel, where things seem to me to be even more off-kilter than what we are living through now in the USA. 

Review © 2025 mae sander

What I’m Thinking This Week

In Our Neighborhood

Our house shook slightly when this tree was cut down Wednesday morning.
The photo was taken from my front porch.

The Ann Arbor government does take care of things in our neighborhood! An old and probably dangerous tree across the street has been cut down, ground up in the wood chipper, and taken away by city workers. In the local park a few blocks away, we have been observing a building project which resulted in an impressive solar array. It will provide power for the nearby senior center, and also provide a charging station for electric cars. 

A total of three million dollars, partly from Federal Stimulus funds, was allocated to build solar generators in several city parks and at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market. This one has a nearly 30-kilowatt capacity. The allocated cost was $120,000, plus a 20-kilowatt backup battery for $56,000 and installation work for one EV charger for $8,000. (source)

Thinking About the Eclipse of the Sun

With any luck — and weather permitting — I will be. able to watch the eclipse of the sun next Monday afternoon at a location near Indianapolis. I’ll post photos if we get any! Meanwhile, I’m sharing my thoughts on several other subjects with the participants in Deb’s weekend blog event at Readerbuzz.

Thinking About American Freedom

Forces in our society oppose many freedoms that we once believed were secure. President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined four freedoms in a famous speech in 1941, which I’ve talked about in several earlier blog posts. I think that all four of them are endangered:

• Freedom of speech is endangered because instead of peaceful protests, many activists have begun disrupting and threatening those who disagree with them. This is especially notable in the behavior of those who oppose Israel and support Hamas. It’s particularly shocking on college campuses. See this article: “The Appalling Tactics of the ‘Free Palestine’ Movement” by Bret Stephens.
• Freedom of worship is endangered by widely increasing coercion in public schools in many states to include Christian beliefs and prayers. Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and fear and hatred of non-believers also pressure Americans who do not satisfy some people’s wish for national religious conformity. “We must make America pray again,” former president Donald Trump said recently.
• Freedom from want, another important Roosevelt guarantee, is being undermined by discontinuation  of many important financial benefits that were helping people to afford food and shelter. Increasingly many Americans are living in poverty.
• Freedom from fear is denied to transgender and other non-conforming individuals by new discriminatory policies in schools and other public venues. Freedom from fear is also denied to many women whose reproductive choices are being narrowed by the anti-abortion and anti-family-planning forces. These tendencies are reinforced by the Supreme Court’s series of appalling decisions.

This rejection of historic American values takes many forms, and I’ve barely summarized how bad things are getting.

Thinking About the War in Ukraine

 

“Ukraine’s army of about one million soldiers is fighting the largest war in Europe since World War II, waged in muddy trenches or the ruins of cities in urban combat. Casualty rates are high” (source) 

The people of Ukraine are suffering just as much now as they were a few months ago — maybe more. However, other world events have distracted attention from this unjust war. I feel distracted. I don’t follow this news as much as before. But the independence of this determined country is just as important as ever.

Thinking About the War In Israel 

As the war goes on, I am becoming sadder and sadder at the brutality and inhumanity. The attack by Israeli forces that killed seven aid workers trying to feed the starving people of Gaza horrified me, because I have generally been in favor of Israel’s need to defend itself from perpetual attacks by Hamas and other forces.

These words from José Andrés, the famous chef and the founder and head of World Central Kitchen, whose workers were killed while attempting to deliver food to starving people in the war zone, impressed me with their wisdom and generosity:

”We know Israelis. Israelis, in their heart of hearts, know that food is not a weapon of war.

“Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.

“It is not a sign of weakness to feed strangers; it is a sign of strength. The people of Israel need to remember, at this darkest hour, what strength truly looks like” — José Andrés: Let People Eat, New York Times, April 3, 2024.

An article by Fred Kaplan writing in Slate summarizes the situation:

“Israel’s attack on three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen—which has fed thousands of war victims and refugees in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, and other areas in crisis—was unpardonable, whatever the findings of an official investigation into how it took place. In any case, it has prompted WCK and other aid groups to suspend operations in Gaza—where, even with the relief efforts, hunger and sanitary conditions are nearing catastrophic levels. …

 

“Israel is not the only obstacle to aid getting through to Gazans. There have been reports that Hamas gunmen have intercepted food deliveries meant for Gazan civilians. Early on in the war, one Hamas leader said the terrorist organization, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has no obligation to protect civilians in Gaza—that’s a matter, he said, for the U.N.”

Events in the last 24 hours have been rapid and possibly game-changing. Biden has made demands, and it’s a matter of time to see the response. I hope a real chance of peace and justice emerges, and that some progress can occur on hostage negotiations, so far refused by Hamas.

Blog post and original photos © 2024 mae sander

Shared with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.

 

A New Year is coming: let it be better than this one.

Birding allows me to enjoy the beauty of the natural world.
Yet anyone who appreciates the natural world has a lot to worry about.
This bird, the kingfisher, has long been a symbol of calm weather, peace, and love.

The Planet is in Trouble!

What is important to me this year? Global human and natural welfare are fragile. The future looks uncertain. My focus leans towards the US because that’s where I live, and I see many causes for concern, serious concern. Many of the issues that I worry about are closely linked to one another. And there are so many of them!

• Climate change as an existential threat to humanity: arriving rapidly and causing a number of types of deprivation, desperation, natural disasters, and dysfunction in societies, especially causing food scarcity and famine or near-famine in the global south.
• The war in Israel and the dreadful consequences if Hamas is not defeated.
• Antisemitism in American life and on US university campuses — brought out by the war in Israel, but obviously evoked, not caused by the war.
• Increasing inequality (both socio-economic and racial) throughout the US with a variety of bad consequences, combined with right wing repression of women’s rights and minority rights.
• The war in Ukraine and the looming dominance of Russia as a consequence of a bad end to the war. 
• Food shortages in many third world countries (much of it due to climate change) forcing large numbers of people to crowd into already overburdened cities and often to attempt migration to the global north.
• Political success by the extreme right wing in many places. The large numbers of desperate people wanting to enter North American and European countries is one factor in growing right-wing strength in the global north.
• Degradation of educational institutions in the US: a complex and multi-faceted issue.
• The threat to world peace implicit in almost every one of the above issues.
• In the US, we are also threatened with the end of democracy and the completion of a right-wing takeover of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Federal government.

Notice that I don’t have any mention of AI or of any type of rampant and out-of-human-control technology on the list. I’m not very worked up about AI — maybe that will prove to be all wrong. And although I’m very interested in how our food choices and consumer choices collectively impact human life, my concerns for the future are expressed in a more general way. Similarly, fears that treasured creatures such as some species of birds, bats, frogs, polar bears, rhinos, fish, monarch butterflies, and many more may go extinct (or lose their natural habitat and exist only in captivity) is intrinsic in the concern about climate change. As the New Year approaches, all these thoughts perplex me.

Sunrise on one of the shortest days of the year. We hope things will start to look better.

I've also reread a mystical novel based on Jewish traditions and folklore:
The World to Come by Dara Horn. Reading good books: another cosolation.

Blog post © 2023 mae sander

Shared with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz 

and with Eileen's Saturday Critters 

A Sad Time for a Holiday

The first candle to light tonight — in my home. Israeli menorah with doves of peace!

Hanukah starts tonight. We have various plans for celebrating the holiday, but it's a sad time. Here is a summary from Reuters of the situation for the holiday in Israel (source):

"Two months into a war with Hamas, the faces of Israelis taken hostage to Gaza still appear on individual posters plastered across Jerusalem bus stops and flashed across buildings. The sombre mood was all-consuming on Thursday at the start of Hanukkah, the first Jewish festival since 7 October … It was a solemn moment for all of Israel and not only for families of the 138 Israelis still held hostage."

 

At a rally in Tel Aviv last month

Writing in the New York Times, Qanta A. Ahmed, a senior fellow at The Independent Women’s Forum, presented her thoughts in an op-ed titled “Two months later, Hamas’s Oct. 7 horror cannot be allowed to fade.” She says:

“Barely eight weeks have passed, but this needs saying: Hamas committed crimes against humanity in Israel on Oct. 7. That much should be obvious from the terrorists’ own mass-murder video recordings, but it is indisputable for anyone who has visited, as I have, the ravaged sites of their attack. … As a Muslim woman, a physician and a journalist, I have devoted much of my work to battling radical Islam. …Islamism is a monster I know too well. And I know its hatred of Israel, hatred of Jews is especially poisonous.”

Antisemitism At Home 

As this holiday begins, we should be celebrating the end of a war in Israel when Jewish life was threatened — of course I mean the victory of the Maccabees over 2000 years ago. But celebrating this ancient victory is hard when forces around the world and direct violence in Israel once again are threatening to destroy Israel! 

Here at home in the US, we Jews are facing the most extreme antisemitism of our entire lives. The Anti-Defamation League reported on the incidence of antisemitism in October after the Hamas orgy of murder, rape, and kidnapping in Israel: “Preliminary data from ADL Center on Extremism indicates that reported incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault increased by 388 percent over the same period last year.” (source)

Over three-quarters of Jewish college students have recently encountered antisemitic verbal or physical attacks since the war began. (source) At congressional hearings this week, several prestigious college presidents embarrassingly refused to take a stand on whether a call for the genocide of Jews was against their free-speech policies. This is a complicated issue, but the safety of Jews on campuses is clearly not being taken seriously by the administrators.

In an article titled "There Is No Right to Bully and Harass," writer David Frum in the Atlantic describes this horror show:

"Rhetoric drawn from the Jefferson-Mill tradition is now being used to defend behavior that is meant to intimidate or harm. Important elements of our society have shifted from their former claim that speech can be violence to a bold assertion that violence should count as speech. ... Rifle through the news accounts of the past few years and you find dozens, if not hundreds, of similar cases of vandalism, bodily interference, even outright assault as forms of anti-Israel expression. Only this week, the Biden White House and the governor of Pennsylvania issued statements condemning the mob action against a falafel restaurant in Philadelphia owned by an award-winning Israeli-born chef and entrepreneur. But such menacing behavior has become the preferred style of anti-Israel expression in the United States and Canada."

This new American antisemitism pretends to be something else — it hides itself in a variety of ways. Another article in the Atlantic explains how this is working: "How to Be Anti-Semitic and Get Away With It: Too many communities have developed ways to excuse or otherwise ignore prejudice," by Yair Rosenberg. He writes: 

“Out of 8 billion people on the planet, there are only 16 million Jews—but far, far more anti-Semites. … I have become a reluctant expert in all the ways that anti-Jewish activists obfuscate their hate. … too many communities have developed ways to excuse or otherwise ignore anti-Semitism. Today, such prejudice is growing in high and low places because powerful people around the world are running the same playbook to launder their hate into the public sphere.”

From the White House last month:

“We can’t stand by and stand silent [in the wake of Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents]. We must, without equivocation, denounce Antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia.” – President Biden (source)

Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution opposing antisemitism. However, the wording of this measure is controversial; several thoughtful representatives preferred a more effective measure. 

“Nadler, Goldman and Raskin on Monday introduced an alternative resolution that condemns antisemitism and calls on executive branch agencies and Congress to implement the Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism.” (source) 

The issue of intensified antisemitic behavior and speech may seem complicated, but the problem is pretty obvious: classic antisemitism is back, along with some new forms as well. Throughout the US, Jews are now subject to verbal and physical attacks on their organizations, their businesses, and their very existence, and old racial slurs that had become socially unacceptable are now becoming normalized. 

It’s not a pleasant time to celebrate the holiday, but we will try.

Blog post by mae sander. © 2023

November Kitchen Thoughts

Not a kitchen: beautiful skies over the Woodrow Wilson bridge to Washington, DC.
The highlight of our month of November was a week’s visit for the Thanksgiving holiday.

November in Michigan

In my kitchen in Michigan this month, there’s been much less activity than we enjoyed over Thanksgiving week in Evelyn and Tom's kitchen in Fairfax, Virginia. I’m sharing two kitchens with the bloggers who link up at Sherry’s “In My Kitchen” each month and with Deb’s Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.

At home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Watering my plants, 2 ice cubes each.

Three new fridge magnets from our visit to the National Gallery of Art:
Top: Leonardo's Ginevra (1478)
Lower left: Vermeer's A Lady Writing (1665)
Lower right: Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance (1664)

Food at home: rather simple.

Huevos rancheros with black beans, egg, and yogurt on a tortilla with a bit of chopped cabbage and a lime wedge.

Len’s treat for breakfast.

Salad with peanut dressing.

Israeli Feta Cheese from Trader Joe’s. Thinking of Israel all the time.

In Evelyn and Tom’s Kitchen

Thanksgiving action photos in addition to the many from last week.

Beyond Thankfulness: Some thoughts for November

While celebrating Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking about how fortunate we are, but also what responsibility our good fortune means to us. For example, consider this statement from the introduction to The Best American Food Writing 2023, editor Mark Bittman:

“Everyone with unlimited access to some kind of food—the majority of people in this country—takes it for granted. We live five minutes from a banana or a Slurpee or a cheeseburger and we consider that normal, even though everything it takes to bring us those things is part of a deeply flawed and destructive system.” (p. xv)

Along with feeling gratitude, we can also try to remember the social and environmental cost of what we are grateful for. A similar thought is in an article by Yvon Chouinard, founder and former owner of the outdoor goods supplier Patagonia. He offered some insight into the need to be responsible when acauiring the goods for which we feel thankful. 

“Since 1999, humans have far surpassed — by billions of metric tons — the amount of Earth’s resources that scientists estimate we can sustainably use. The culprit: our overconsumption of stuff, from shoddy tools to fast fashion that is trendy one day, trash the next.

“Obsession with the latest tech gadgets drives open pit mining for precious minerals. Demand for rubber continues to decimate rainforests. Turning these and other raw materials into final products releases one-fifth of all carbon emissions.

“The global inequality that benefits some and persists for the many, ensures that some of the poorest people and most vulnerable places bear the social and environmental costs of international trade. Research links demand for goods in Western Europe and the United States to the premature deaths of more than 100,000 people in China because of industrial air pollution.” (Source: "The High Stakes of Low Quality," New York Times, Nov. 23, 2023)

The climate crisis is a looming issue that should affect our consumer decisions. According to the Guardian: “The year 2023 will be remembered as a critical year in the escalating extinction, climate and nature emergencies – not least because it looks certain to be the hottest since records began.” 

Every day the news is full of examples of products we buy and use (or items that are integrated into products we use) that seem innocent, but threaten the environment, the workers, and the civil order of the countries where they are produced. Here’s one example from numerous possible impending disasters: the production of palm oil. An article in the Guardian titled “Deadly harvest: how demand for palm oil is fuelling corruption in Honduras” described how growing and harvesting oil palms creates jobs for desperate workers and high rewards for the rich by destroying the natural forests:

“Palm oil, especially from the oil palm’s fruit, has become an essential export business in Honduras, used in the food industry, in beauty products and as a biofuel. Its low production costs make it a cheap substitute for most oils, such as sunflower and olive, significantly lowering manufacturing costs in global markets.” 

Planting of oil palms by small agriculturalists in Honduras destroys stands of essential old-growth mangroves and other trees in areas that the government has set aside as protected national parks. A few rangers are assigned to police millions of acres of parkland, while opportunists are destroying the natural plant life to grow oil palms, and collusion between the rich entrepreneurs and the judicial establishment makes enforcement hopelessly dangerous.

How are Americans like me involved? According to the Guardian article, palm oil accounts for about 40% of global demand for vegetable oil as food, animal feed and fuel — so we are surely using it whether we are aware of it or not — I read the label of a favorite Trader Joe’s cookie, for example, and it contained palm oil! 

Globally, oil palm cultivation is endangering wildlife and forests in many other parts of the world, not merely in Honduras. Not to mention that it’s not very healthy to eat foods made with palm oil, which is used in especially large quantities in cheap, highly-processed foods. Honduras is one small example among many producers of the oil, and palm oil is only one of the many destructive products we unthinkingly buy and use.

I feel helpless.

Blog post and photos © 2023 mae sander

Here and There

 Detroit Streets

The architect Albert Kahn (1869-1942) is famous for design of commercial and industrial buildings.

Coming soon: photos of many murals that we saw in Detroit last weekend.

Around Ann Arbor

Early morning from my back door

Hudson Mills Park along the Huron River

Sushi Lunch at the bar of Slurping Turtle.

Antisemitism at work: a poster about the kidnapped Israeli hostages has been destroyed.
The anti-Jewish sentiments on campuses all over the country are terrifying.
The building in the photo on the University of Michigan campus was also designed by Albert Kahn.

Example of a “Kidnapped” poster of the type that’s being attacked. 
See this article: “How Posters of Kidnapped Israelis Ignited a Firestorm on American Sidewalks"

Photos © 2023 mae sander

A Slow Week at Home and Thoughts of War

This week, we are recovering from our long trip to various places in Virginia, Washington D.C, Maryland, and New Jersey, which I covered in several blog posts while traveling. I finished my endless read of Palo Alto and wrote a review of how much I didn’t like it. A few other things I did:

I read the EXCELLENT novel Yelllowface by R.F.Kuang.
How did she make such an unlovely narrator so interesting?

We started watching the seven-episode new season of Lupin.

We continue watching the Great British Baking Show as episodes are released.
Chocolate week was especially delicious looking.

I have been cooking very simple meals, such as this tuna salad made mainly from pantry items,
and an apple-dried cherry salad dressed with lemon juice.

And then there’s the war

Obviously, on my mind all week, and in my repeated checking of the news, is awareness of the war in Israel and its meaning for Jews throughout the world. I am thinking of the barbaric murders of unarmed families on October 7, the hostages held by Hamas, and the continuing situation in Israel and Gaza. At the moment, I feel as if we are holding our breath and waiting for the actual war to begin. 

Since the Hamas atrocities of October 7, the reaction of many people in our country, especially leftists, has been depressing and revealing: verbal attacks on Israel, enthusiasm for the killings of Israeli civilians and even of babies, and wishing an evil fate to all Jews. From the New York Times:

"Progressive Jews who have spent years supporting racial equity, gay and transgender rights, abortion rights and other causes on the American left — including opposing Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank — are suddenly feeling abandoned by those who they long thought of as allies. This wartime shift represents a fundamental break within a liberal coalition that has long powered the Democratic Party." (source)

The support for Israel of President Biden is gratifying — I have always been enthusiastic about our President and his leadership. I quote his speech:

"The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure unadulterated evil in the world, but sadly, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others."

Leftist enthusiasm for antisemitic violence comes as a shock, as does international violence like the firebombing of a synagogue in Berlin (source), bomb threats to French museums and monuments (source), and a reported 1200% increase in online threats to Jews worldwide (source).

My fears are shared. For example, an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz by writer Anshel Pfeffer stated:

"The past two weeks have brought home the realization, for anyone who still hadn’t got it, that there is no safe place for Jews. This is a chilling but absolutely crucial matter for us to understand. From the devastated communities living in southern Israel to Sydney, Australia – where hundreds of Hamas supporters chanted 'Gas the Jews!' – that is our reality.

"It is not only the Israeli government and military that has so woefully failed in safeguarding the lives of Israeli citizens. We are seeing right now multiple governments, local authorities, religious and academic institutions around the world failing to keep their Jewish citizens safe." (source)

 

Tel Aviv, Israel. (From the Guardian.)

I Stand With Israel

What I think of when I think of Israel: a beautiful country with peaceful vistas, lovely cities, and wonderful wildlife. A country that’s accomplished so much in its short and threatened existence. A country that was to provide a safe haven after centuries of pogroms and after the Holocaust destroyed the long-established Jewish communities of Europe.

Israel is a country whose population and whose very existence is now threatened again, threatened with unthinkable massacres done by men with automatic weapons aimed at unarmed civilians. On the weekend, the massacres began with cold-blooded killing of young people at a concert, indiscriminate murder of families in their homes, with numerous other attacks on unarmed men, women, and even babies, and with rockets meant to kill even more. The Hamas charter called for killing them all. I believe that that’s their goal. It’s horrifying. The Israelis have no choice but to fight for their existence, fight to protect all their citizens.

What I think of when I think of Israel: such peaceful scenes. Here are a few photos from our most recent trip there in March, 2018.

An ibex in the Negev desert.

Waiting for birds at at sunset, Eilat, Israel.

The Tel Aviv skyline seen from Jaffa.

Photos © 2018 mae sander

Chinese Restaurants Everywhere

 

Chinese restaurants serve more or less adapted meals to people in amazing places throughout the world. In a recently published book titled Have You Eaten Yet? Cheuk Kwan, an author and TV presenter, described quite a few of them. Kwan’s memoir describes his journey to many out-of-the-way places in the course of making a documentary series on Chinese food for Canadian television. I’ve found that the original TV shows are available on Youtube; I will watch some soon, I hope. 

Although the travel and research for the TV series that forms the basis for the book took place 20 years ago, this memoir was written in 2021 and just published in Canada in 2022 and in the US in 2023. I really don’t understand why it took around two decades for the author to write a book based on such old information: it seems to have no recent observations or experiences in it, which makes it a bit disappointing and frustrating to read. So much must have happened since then!

Where are the Chinese Restaurants?

Havana, Cuba; Tamatave, Madagascar; Istanbul, Turkey; Darjeeling, India; São Paulo and Manaus, Brazil, inside the Arctic circle in Tromsø, Norway; Haifa, Israel; and a number of other locations — each place Kwan visited had distinctive Chinese restaurants whose owners shared their fascinating personal and family histories, sometimes for several generations. 

“Have you eaten yet” is the way Chinese people often say “How are you?” — perhaps reflecting a past where food wasn’t abundant, and perhaps just reflecting the shared value of a well-prepared meal. Despite the enormous and varied population of China and the unimaginable extent and long history of the Chinese diaspora, Kwan makes us see how many characteristics remain in common throughout this very large part of the human race. He also makes clear that although his focus is on restaurant people, there are many many other Chinese professionals throughout the world as well.

The book is full of fascinating details about the restaurant owners and workers, and about the many ways they have invented Chinese food to please customers wherever their restaurants may be. While the adaptations are fascinating, I was also interested in the numerous times that the author says the food is fully authentic and equal in quality to that in the most renowned restaurants in Hong Kong. Although the author clearly knows that there are many cuisines practiced by the billion people in China, and many adaptations and inventions of Chinese food in restaurants worldwide, he does a good job of showing its unity in the many restaurants he visited and the many people he interviewed. 

So much to learn! I was fascinated by the many places (on several continents and islands) where Chinese chefs specialized in fish from the local waters, creating traditional Chinese fish dishes with local spices. I had no idea that a Chinese community had lived in Cuba since 1857. I learned that China had a very long cultural influence on the east coast of Africa, with trade routes for Chinese ships established around the first century BCE, and a visit from a fleet in around 1418. I was interested to hear about fusion dishes combining Chinese and Indian food, Chinese and Peruvian food, and a few others. But as I say, I wish there had been some updates for the last 20 years, especially about the major changes that have occurred recently in Hong Kong, the author’s reference city for the best of Chinese cuisine.

And Here at Home —

Of course reading this book made me want Chinese food from our currently-favorite local restaurant, Bao Space, which opened earlier this year. Bao, a type of delicious filled and steamed buns, are the star of their menu. The owners, Jessie Zhu, the main chef, and her husband, Raphael Zhu, came to Ann Arbor from Shanghai. Their roots are in Northern China, where they say bao originally came from. 

I’ve posted about Bao Space a few times, but here’s a bit more…

 This is the Bao Space kitchen, which is visible from the window where orders are placed.

Dough for the bao buns is freshly made with flour, yeast, and milk.

Our order: bao buns, sesame-noodle-cucumber salad, and two cups of lemonade.
The menu is simple: just bao, dumplings, a few soups & noodle bowls, and soft drinks.

One bao filled with pork. Other fillings include chicken, beef, and several vegetarian options.

Review and photos © 2023 mae sander

Shared with The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.