In The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by
Jennifer 8. Lee, she talks about how one piece of information—lottery wins
across our country linked to fortune cookie fortunes—inspired her to
investigate her personal Chinese-American heritage. Her in-depth look at her personal Chinese
American heritage, as well as investigation on many aspects of this culture
drive her book.
FIRST
TEXT ANALYSIS RESPONSE
Pick one
line (sentence) from Chapter 5, or from your assigned blurb, that really stands out to you and
makes you think about ONE of the following topics: Culture, Identity, or Family.
In a blog
response, do the following:
1) Enter in the
title of the post, : Culture, Identity, or Family– depending on which topic you
have chosen.
2) Within the
actual post, respond to the topic by re-stating your quoted line, and giving a
detailed explanation of how you understand this line represents the general
topic.
In this
response, you must also spend only one brief paragraph summarizing the story to
provide context for the quoted line (4 sentences), and then interpret the
line in terms of what it says about culture, identity, or family)? (This
should be another couple of paragraphs, at least 7-10 sentences. This is the
bulk of your blog post. Make connections to yourself, and share your opinions.
Always ask why you feel the way you do about the lines.)
After you are finished posting we will hear a few of your posts in class.
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ReplyDeleteNic Tucker
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Meg Reilly
9/30/13
“Ostensibly I spent my fellowship year studying at Beijing University, but in reality I
was educating myself by traveling cross-country from the deserts of Inner Mongolia to
the Lakes of Sichuan to the peaks of Tibet.” (Pg. 15) Lee learned to find her identity
through traveling and learning through her own experiences while in college.
This chapter talks about lee and her focus on finding a dish called General Tso. She
spends this whole chapter trying to figure out why no one knows where this dish came
from. Finally she finds a small restaurant that tells her their uncle knows how to make
the dish. When it’s presented to her its nothing she expected and tries to explain that
the dish is sweeter. Here we make this dish with so many veggies and sweet and sour
sauce rather then china they use bones and barley use favor at all. Just like lee I was
always interested in my culture. She seems to focus more on food and her roots. For
me I tend to focus more on the stores my elders tell. In a way I guess you could call
both of these root research. My identity is what makes up the stories of my past and
future. The movie that we started to watch I believe brings all these focuses together.
We all are trying to find what makes us up. For some its skating others its food and for
me its stories.
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ReplyDeleteMattie White
ReplyDeleteMeg Reilly
ICW
10/3/2013
“These dogs are made for pets. They look good. These dogs are raised for eating”(72). In chapter five, Jennifer Lee went to China and saw how there are so many animals being raised that Americans think of as pets, but in China they were being raised for food.
When I first saw this quote I automatically thought of Africa because in Africa there are so many wild dogs running around. Dogs in Africa were not for eating though. Cats sometimes are eaten. This also made me think of a time when I was in Africa and a dog chased me and bit my leg. My teacher told me a story about her friend visiting China. She travelled to China with her dog and stayed at a hotel. They asked her when she checked in to keep her dog downstairs and she went upstairs alone. When it was time for dinner she came down to the dining room and ordered her meal. She asked for her dog and they pointed to the plate in front of her. They had cooked her dog and served it to her for her meal. I don’t know if this is a true story or an urban legend. The quote I picked from “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles” reminded me of this story my teacher in high school told me.
It is interesting that in a book full of so much information, I was drawn to this small quote that made me think of so many images and stories from my past.
Different cultures have different customs and different tastes. Many countries other than the US are careful not to waste any part of their environment that can be used to survive.
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ReplyDeleteKatelyn Adzima
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Meg Riley
3rd October 2013
Culture
“Chinese restaurants in America tend to shy away from anything that is recognizably animal” (75). We Americans
don’t want to be reminded of something that was once living, so we take the chance of disguising it. We take the
dishes and Americanize it into our own culture, the way we think the food should taste. We don’t want to be reminded
that our beloved pets are being used for meat to eat. This is why Americans change the Chinese culture dishes into
our own.
In the chapter, Lee is searching for a famous dish called General Tso’s Chicken. She wants to know where it came
from and the story behind the dish itself. Supposedly in the American culture it uses a sweet, and tangy sauce with
meats, and veggies. When in reality, that’s not what General Tso’s chicken is in the Chinese culture. Lee finds out
they use dog meat, and for taste/texture they use bones and barley. It was completely unexpected compared to what
Lee was used too back in America.
That one sentence really opened up my eyes because Americans change cultures that are not our own into what we
consider civilized American culture. For using dog meats for a ‘famous Chinese dish’ we’re disgusted by the thought
of that. That is why we use chicken, pig, or cow meat products only. I think another reason why we change culture
into an American way is because we don’t care about the culture behind the foods. We take what we can and make it
into our own without caring about the factual truth. This whole book is a huge eye opener because I can now see the
major differences of what is and is not true with Chinese culture, foods, and etc. Americans revolutionize a lot of
things to make it our own or say it IS a ‘sacred’ dish, when in reality it isn’t at all.
My biggest question is why do we change cultures to make American culture seem diverse? Why can’t America just
have traditional plates from China, Africa, Italy, and so on? If Americans don’t recognize a certain food or situation we
automatically change it to our liking, it seems like we can never try anything new! I bet in China they’re really insulted
the way we eat some of their dishes here in America. A lot of the dishes, foods they eat in China are sacred and
traditional, so for us Americans to change those is an insult towards them. I would feel the same way too, now that I
sit down and actually think about I would feel just the same as the Chinese. That one quote just really got to me
because there is a way bigger picture then just how that sentence is presented, their's more of a story.
Austin Herrera
ReplyDeleteMeg Reilly
ICW
10/13
“Succulent, crispy fried chicken is drenched in a tanging, spicy sauce and sautéed with garlic, ginger, and chili peppers until it burst with flavors.” (67).
Family
They described all the delicious detailed ingredients in how to create General Tso’s famous dish.
“Succulent, crispy fried chicken is drenched in a tanging, spicy sauce and sautéed with garlic, ginger, and chili peppers until it burst with flavors.” In this sentence it is describing General Tso’s chicken. They’re stating the ingredients to how to make the famous chicken. But behind every delicious ingredients there’s a chef that, obviously loves to cook, and is surrounded by family that loves to cook also.
Just in how the writer was describing the dish, my mouth started to water and I automatically thought of my Abuelita’s (Mexican grandma) cooking. They went really into detail describing the chicken and all those delicious ingredients and tastes made me think of her dishes of food. Everything was made from scratch and by hand of my Abuelita. Every time I would go over to her house, she would be in the kitchen preparing food for my cousins and my Dad. There is nothing like a good taco, quesadilla, rice and beans at a restaurant but no restaurant food could compete with my Abuelita’s homemade food. She was famous for her homemade tortillas, guacamole, refried beans and rice, ceviche, and tameles. My Abuelita was like General Tso for cooking in my family.
Food is a big part in everyone’s life, obviously, but we all enjoy good food. Taste that just explode in your mouth and that leaves an impact on your taste buds is what we all prefer. Also food can bring people, friends, and families together. It's something that everyone enjoys.
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ReplyDeleteRebecca Brunner
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Meg Riley
3rd October 2013
Identity - Rebecca Brunner
“What I discover: in America, General Tso, like colonel sanders, is known for chicken, not war. In china, he is known for war, not chicken.” (67) In this quote, Jennifer 8. Lee is telling us how back in China General Tso is known for his heroic war traits. However, here in America one may think of him as the “chicken guy”. This is not something that only happens in China, this happens all over the world. I find that in this quote in Chapter five, we see that although his name is known all over the world, his identity is different. However, it is not practically his true identity that changes, but more so others’ perception of him.
In Chapter five, we see Jennifer 8 Lee describing how General Tso is known differently here in America than his home land China. She describes the differences between China and Amercia’s thoughts on certain people and events that have happened. Not only does she show us the change in identity, we see the change in perspectives among different issues. This Chapter merely shows us way of perceptions and identity for General Tso from China to America.
Not only do identities and perceptions change for General Tso when he is in different areas, they change for me as well. When I am in class, it is different than when I am performing on stage or with my family hanging out. Through each event in my life, I as well as others have a different perception of myself as General Tso had. When I am performing on stage, I am finding my identity in my performance. However, when I am in class or with family I have a different persona about me than if I was performing on stage.
Also, another example of Identity is the time we spent in the art gallery. Looking through each picture, there was a different identity and story behind each picture. General Tso, the galleries and my perspective and identity changes between different places and environments.
As one can see through different areas of life my identity or the perception of my
identity changes just as General Tso’s does. This quote in Chapter five speaks to us about identity.
Nicholas Gaurige
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Meg Riley
October 3rd, 2013
-Identity-
“I never really understood what ‘real Chinese food’ meant until I went to China. Years of study in Chinese Saturday school, daily classes in college, and a semester in Taiwan had opened up the world of the dense opaque characters of my mother’s books. China was a foreign country to me, but one where I happened to speak the language. Ostensibly I spent my fellowship year studying at Beijing University, but in reality I was educating myself by traveling cross-country from the deserts of Inner Mongolia to the lakes of Sichuan to the peaks of Tibet.” (15)
Lee never knew anything about her own authentic culture so she decided to spend time in China teaching herself and studying about her own authentic culture. She found her own identity through traveling going over seas and gained her cultural experiences during her college years. Lee focuses on Chinese dishes and tried to find what kind of ingredients are in the authentic Chinese dishes. She then, in chapter five, compares the ingredients with the Chinese dishes in America.
The reason why I chose this quote because it is similar to my experiences. I never knew anything in-depth about the deaf culture and history until I went to Gallaudet University. I also took two or three deaf culture and history classes at Rochester Institute of Technology. I learned a lot from my deaf professors at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and gained new experiences by networking with a lot of deaf people. I also shared experiences and worked with deaf organizations in New York.
Tenyia Anderson
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Meg Reilly
Oct. 3, 2013
CULTURE
“There are some forty thousand Chinese restaurants in the United States—more than the number of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and KFC’s combined.” (pg.9)
In the beginning she’s introducing the story by how many Chinese restaurants there are to grab the reader’s attention. It talks about how Chinese restaurants have taken over most U.S than fast-food.This line focuses more on her culture of owning their own businesses by replacing empty storefronts. Also recognizing how many Chinese restaurants in all areas of the U.S because there are so many franchises in fast food, we wouldn’t of noticed how there could be so many Chinese places.
For myself I can believe this statement to be true because mostly everywhere my family, friends, and/or I go there’s multiple different Chinese from close to far distance. Around where I live in Pennsylvania, there are many family owned Chinese businesses. Other than food restaurants they also own nail salons and convenient stores too. I think because their culture maybe brought them up to be entrepreneurs instead of working under someone else or a tradition. That’s personally how they make their living by family businesses. It’s a little similar to the film, Beautiful Losers, because they had their own way of culture in art by creating their own gallery.
Imani Allen
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Meg Riley
October 3,2013
-Culture-
"My siblings and I are know as the ABCs, American Born Chinese. We're also known as bananas (yellow on the outside but white on the inside) and Twinkies (which has more of a pop culture but processed ring to it)". pg.11
I chose this phrase from the book, because I can very much so relate. In the book Jennifer say that her race gives names for those who aren't born in China. In my race, it is the same way. If you are not what people except you to be for a "typical black person" then they slap a label on you as well.
In my culture people expect you to be improper, have sagging pants, eat fried chicken, and have grape cool aid and watermelon with it (LOL). What people don't understand is you don't have to live up to the stereo types of other people. All my life I've been going to school with mostly white people. I grew up in lily white suburbia so that was what I knew. So when I moved back to Chicago and I went to a all black school, I did not fit in at all. I was constantly teased, and my nick name was Oreo (black on the outside but white on the inside). They also told me that I talk like a white girl, and I don't do what black people do.
It bothered me at first, but then I realized that I rather have those labels than talk like I "don't have any sense" as my mom would say. I think that culture is what you want it to be, everyone has their own way of life. Whether you want to dress like a hipster that loves rap or a girlie girl who loves metal. It doesn't matter as long as you know who you are, and what you stand for. So labels don't matter!