Maymester Students Create Chinese Cookbook

Students in Dr. Hong Li's Maymester course CHN 375: Between Cultures and Cuisines put together an original cookbook.  In this course, food is utilized as a medium to better understand the historical, political, social, and cultural aspects of Chinese immigration and community life. Through close readings of Chinese immigrant experiences, stories of Chinese restaurants and Chinese foods in America, students investigate the politics and poetics of Chinese American foodways and develop an understanding of the interplay between Chinese American food, racial politics in America, and the changes within the Chinese American population itself. 

The cookbook is the result of "My Dish Cooking Project". For this project, students researched a dish from American Chinese cuisine that was meaningful and intriguing to them, and then they cooked it and reflected on the experience. By engaging students in the process of cooking, researching, and writing, the project aimed for students to gain in-depth knowledge about the dish and its broader significance.