Voting is our Yelp for Politicians

We’re already paying for the service (in taxes), so voting is like a big customer comment board. As soon as we tune out, service gets worse. Read More

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An Asian American Farm Bill

Imagine if just a quarter of our enthusiasm for food were channeled to changing the bill that affects every aspect of food production here and abroad: our impact would be felt. Read More

Rice is Nice: my profile on Marion Nestle

Originally published in Hyphen magazine.  “No rice, please.” I keep hearing this disturbing sentence from Asian American friends. Many are Read More

Romancing the Wok

As we wrote about in Hyphen Issue 20, the physics of the wok are not child’s play. A mystical marriage of meats and greens occurs when natural oils have built up on the wok’s metal surface, creating a natural nonstick coating also called “seasoning.” Read More

Sea Change

Phuong Nguyen has worked in and out of the crab industry for 30 years. He learned how to fish in Vietnam before immigrating in 1982, eventually buying his own boat and house after many years of hardscrabble work. Read More

In Praise of Asian American Grocers

Pioneering Asian American markets like Uwajimaya’s and yes, Fou Lee, have been serving fresh, affordable and culturally diverse foods to Seattleites for almost acentury. When First Lady Michelle Obama announced the Healthy Food Financing Initiative to increase food access in urban areas, she failed to mention the key role of Asian American markets. They deserve at least the same tax benefits and laudatory statements as Wal-Mart and Walgreens. Read More

In Seattle, Growing Culture is Sustainable Growth

Seattle embodies the diversity, contradictions and great talent that define our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community: wealth and poverty, hunger and abundance, access or exclusion based on citizenship and English language proficiency. Read More

Back to the Future of Farming

Farming is an unpredictable and financially nerve-wracking enterprise. The Kozukis, however, are part of a small but growing group of Asian American farmers determined to overcome the odds. Read More

When CAFOs Threaten the Past

The CAFO controversy in southern Idaho is not the only place in rural America that tensions fester over what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II, and how, or even if, that legacy should be remembered. Read More