The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Critical Praise

"Chronicles is not entirely light-hearted. Lee delves into Chinese immigration, both legal and illegal, and she follows one hard-working immigrant family deep into Georgia after they've sacrificed years of hard-earned savings to buy a small-town restaurant. There cultural differences clash, and the family's children are sucked into the nearly inescapable whirlpool of the social services bureaucracy. Chronicles is a wonderful book: literate, compassionate, sophisticated—an intelligent look at the Chinese people in the US, their culture, and their cuisine—without being dry and academic."
-Internetreviewofbooks.com

"This book gives interesting insights into how those Chinese hot aromatic meals-in-a-box really are. What you learn may surprise you. My own take-away is that the final product may not be totally Chinese, but the adaptability and resourcefulness of their inventors reflect the culture pretty accurately."
-Keepingthecastle.com

"THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES is witty and thoughtful, and an interesting blend of genres: history, memoir, cultural studies, culinary interest."
-Bookreporter.com

"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is a marvelous work of journalism, history and exploration of an enduring cultural institution. It's also a pure pleasure to read. After finishing the book, you'll never take for granted the small pleasures you experience the next time your order of beef with broccoli, white rice and tea arrives steaming at your table."
-Reviewsofbooks.com

"Go get Lee's book, order in from or go to your favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant, get comfy, and get ready to feast."
-CSMonitor.com

"Her fascination with the origins of her childhood dinners turns up an assortment of intriguing characters."
-Avclub.com

"This book was a delight, something akin to Fast Food Nation meets The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy with a flavor of The Joy Luck Club. It made me hungry for Chinese food as well as appreciate the duality of Chinese American identity. I commend it highly."
-Thesuburbanchristian.blogspot.com

"In a breezy, humorous and matter-of-fact voice, she explores the mysteries of fortune cookies, soy sauce, Chinese takeout and delivery, P.F. Chang's (headquarters: Scottsdale, Ariz.), and the shortage of kosher duck in 1989, which killed a popular Washington, D.C., restaurant."
-Foode.us

"The images of ghost towns in China filled with huge homes built with the money sent home, but have no residents, streets empty of those of working age, and a school where the older children are taught just enough English to work in the restaurants, show an entire society built on food that no one in China actually recognizes. The best of this genre of book not only educate the reader, but teach the writer something about his/herself as well, and Lee succeeds on both fronts as she connects with her Chinese roots. The mystery of the origin of the cookie is solved in an unexpected way. This book is a must read!"
-Lenalibrarybookreviews.blogspot.com

"Jennifer 8. Lee's delightful The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food is a rollicking adventure."
-ChristianScienceMonitor.com

"The book is a powerful reminder of one of the tragic irony's of the Golden Venture story, and of immigrants bashing in general. The GoldenVenture passengers came here to make and deliver Chinese food. And for that many were put in jail for almost four years!"
-Immigrationdocumentary.blogspot.com

"Chinese food will have a whole new taste for readers of this thoughtful, entertaining and historical look at American's appreciation for Chinese restaurants."
-Armchairinterviews.com

"This book is an exceptional and interest read as well as humorous. You won't be disappointed. I wasn't."
-Laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com

"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is an intriguing exploration into a world of Chinese restaurants, a subculture that remains unknown to most of us. My one tiny criticism is that some chapters in the book could have used color photographs. For example, it would have been great to have a photo of omikuji senbei ("fortune crackers") - the thick Japanese cookie, with a fortune tucked in its outer folds, that researchers now believe is the original fortune cookie. But this is a minor quibble. Overall, this book is an excellent resource for anyone who is passionate about Chinese food."
-Chinesefood.about.com

"You'll be surprised how much fun you had while learning more than you thought existed to know about fortune cookies and Chinese food, along with an even more surprising amount about American culture. After all, as Ms Lee offers, now that the melting pot analogy for America seems to have fallen out of favor, "We are a stir-fry; our ingredients remain distinct, but our flavors blend together in a sauce share by all." Highly recommended!
-Myshelf.com

"Lee serves up equal portions of travelogue, history and culture with flare and dry wit in a delightful mix worth savoring."
-Monstersandcritics.com

"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles" should be required reading for any Chinese history or culture class. This well-written book provided so many insights and did so in such an entertaining way that it was very hard to put down."
-RebeccasReads.com

"This book is an incredibly fun and interesting read. You will be surprised at the things you learn, things contrary to what you thought you knew about Chinese and American food and culture. Ms. Lee beautifully and entertainingly brings together her own personal story as well as the stories of others who identify with more than one culture, along with the history of Chinese food as we know it in the United States. There are parts of this book where her beautiful prose will leave you wanting more, and with an intense craving to pick up the phone and order take-out."
-Empty-boxes.com

"Readers will take an unexpected and entertaining journey—through culinary, social and cultural history—in this delightful first book on the origins of the customary after-Chinese-dinner treat by New York Times reporter Lee."
-Publishers Weekly

"Lee has a breezy, likable literary demeanor that makes the first-person material engaging. Thanks to Lee’s journalistic chops, the text moves along energetically even in its more expository sections. Tasty morsels delivered quickly and reliably."
-Kirkus Review

"Lee traverses the U.S., China, and beyond in her quest to discover what has made Chinese food ubiquitous in America. She investigates the murky origins of chop suey, which for decades peculiarly defined Chinese cooking for many Americans despite the fact that the dish appears nowhere in its putative homeland. In recent years a classic called General Tso's Chicken has found its way onto virtually every Chinese American menu, and Lee meticulously chases this concoction back to its provincial roots. In an amusing chapter, Lee chronicles the unique bond between Chinese food and American Jewry despite Chinese cooking’s obvious conflict with kosher dietary proscriptions, both groups uniting in opposition to the dominant majoritarian culture. Documenting the less-savory aspects of America's Chinese restaurant business, Lee lays bare the trafficking of illegal immigrants into kitchen servitude. She also hops from one world capital to another in a quest for the best Chinese restaurant. Extensive bibliography."
— Mark Knoblauch, The American Library Association's Booklist

"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is full of such tidbits, as well as a lot of chirpy theories and postulations mixed in with a great deal of fascinating and well-reported material on everything from the true origins of the fortune cookie (not China, but I won't spoil it for you) to the invention of chop suey, the plight of the illegal immigrants who are the engines of the nearly forty thousand Chinese restaurants in the United States, the ways that open-source-code writing is like a loose network of Chinese restaurants, and many, many other topics related somehow to the main event. The book’s subtitle is Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, and it more than lives up to that billing. Lee is nothing if not an intrepid traveler, whether she's seeking out the Lost Jews of Kaifeng or circling the globe in search of the best Chinese restaurant outside of China on a challenge from her editor (spoiler: It's just outside Vancouver)."
— Book Forum

"Good book. Good author. Good read.”
— Josheinwechter.typepad.com