The journalist Ann Hui, of the Globe and Mail, discusses her new book Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants

Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Café and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui (Douglas & McIntyre, 2019). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Chop Suey Nation

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca. The Globe and Mail’s Ann Hui joins me now. She has just published a beautiful book Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Café and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants. In the book, Ms. Hui chronicles a cross-country road trip to various Chinese restaurants that seem to be in every small town, from Victoria, BC to Fogo Island, Newfoundland. The book is also a memoir about Ann’s dad and mom, and how they too owned a Chinese restaurant. We meet some fascinating people along the way, not just Chinese, who run these small restaurants, adding to the country’s story, not to mention our conceptions of cuisine, be it what’s authentic Chinese food, as well as the fare that’s inspired by whatever is found in the various parts of the country, like pierogis or chow mein that uses shredded cabbage instead of noodles. Since 2015, Ann Hui has been the Globe and Mail’s National Food Reporter. She has written for the Walrus, National Post, Toronto Star, and Victoria Times Colonist. She is a two-time National Newspaper Award nominee, and though she grew up around Vancouver, she joins me from Toronto, where she lives today. This new book is published by Douglas & McIntyre. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Ann Hui; Ms Hui, good morning.

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