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A review by daumari
Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang
3.0
On my parents' trip to see my grandfather last month, my mother wanted something to read for the car ride and saw this in my library book pile. She said she couldn't finish/didn't like it because of the swear words and sex (though tbh I can think of maybe 1 chapter where the second is a thing). Even though they're both 2nd gen, Eddie Huang is a Gen Xer and a rotten banana to boot, so I can kinda get the cultural disconnect.
I wasn't familiar with Huang but I did recognize the name Baohaus and the cover/title were intriguing, which is why I checked it out. It reminds me very much of [b:Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|33313|Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|Anthony Bourdain|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348988611s/33313.jpg|4219] in terms of I-Don't-Give-A-Fuck tone and writing style. Also because they're both autobiographies with the occasional food bits thrown in. I'm inclined to agree with Huang's assessment that celebrity chefs getting famous marketing 'ethnic' cuisine is nothing short of culinary imperialism, and now I'm really hungry for some bao (even if I am one of those ABCs checking off every Model Minority stereotype I've stumbled into).
I wasn't familiar with Huang but I did recognize the name Baohaus and the cover/title were intriguing, which is why I checked it out. It reminds me very much of [b:Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|33313|Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|Anthony Bourdain|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348988611s/33313.jpg|4219] in terms of I-Don't-Give-A-Fuck tone and writing style. Also because they're both autobiographies with the occasional food bits thrown in. I'm inclined to agree with Huang's assessment that celebrity chefs getting famous marketing 'ethnic' cuisine is nothing short of culinary imperialism, and now I'm really hungry for some bao (even if I am one of those ABCs checking off every Model Minority stereotype I've stumbled into).