beXnlog

Have You Eaten Yet?

Alert: MoCA's awesome exhibit on Chinese restaurants, "Have You Eaten Yet?," is closing on June 30th! I took my sister to see it today and she really enjoyed it. Even though this was my second time i still found it fascinating - tons of crazy old menus (mostly from Harley Spiller's* collection), a binder of personal stories, weird games with plastic chopsticks and information on the history of the Chinese restaurant in the U.S. We also caught most of Cheuk Kwan's "Chinese Restaurants" documentary episode on the Chinese community and restaurants on the islands of Mauritius, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba.

Today i also found this free e-book of Shiu Wong Chan's "The Chinese Cook Book," originally published in 1917 by Frederick A. Stokes Company in New York. I was on RK Chin's site A Journey Through Chinatown and got to it somehow. I haven't studied the recipes yet but it's really interesting seeing something from that time.

AND while on the topic of RK Chin, here's an awesome New York City Chocolate Guide he created! This will come in handy on our NYC Choco Tour ... one day.

So be sure to visit MoCA before the end of the month and check out this exhibit. After that, be sure to have the pan fried noodles with mushrooms and fake ham at Vegetarian Dim Sum House!

*Harley Spiller has a collection of over 10,000 Chinese restaurant menus from over 80 countries, dating back to the late 1800s. Check this article for a review of the MoCA exhibit and scroll down for more info on Harley's menu collection.

posted by beXn @ 3:18 AM