Name: Food and the Chinese Diaspora
Start: 2025-09-16T18:30:00-07:00
End: 2025-09-16T20:00:00-07:00
Location: Vancouver Public Library

Authors Cheuk Kwan (Have you Eaten Yet?) and Linda Lau Anusasananan (The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World) both interviewed members of the Chinese diaspora for their books. They asked these Chinese transplants about what drove them to their new homes and what do they like to eat and cook? What did these writers learn? Kwan and Lau Anusasananan will be in conversation with Kevin Chong, author of The Double Life of Benson Yu and Associate Professor of University of British Okanagan. Judy Lam Maxwell, culinary-heritage tourism entrepreneur, will lead with introductory remarks.
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Cheuk Kwan grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. He co-founded in 1978 The Asianadian, a magazine dedicated to promoting Asian Canadian arts, culture and politics. Kwan’s fifteen-part Chinese Restaurants (2005) documentary braids his personal experiences with his love of travel and appreciation for Chinese culture worldwide. His personal memoir, Have You Eaten Yet? (2002), draws out a global narrative of the Chinese diaspora by linking together personal stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, laborers and dreamers who populate Chinese kitchens world-wide.
Kevin Chong is the author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, which was a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize and named a Best Book of Canadian Fiction by the CBC. His creative nonfiction and journalism have recently appeared in Time Magazine, Literary Hub, Montecristo, and theGlobe and Mail. An associate professor at theUniversity of British Okanagan, he lives in Vancouver with his family.
Linda Lau Anusasananan wrote The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World (University of California Press, 2012). The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards named it "Best Chinese Cuisine Cookbook of the World 2012.” The book weaves together history, personal stories, and recipes of the Hakka, China's "guest people.” For 34 years, she served as a recipe editor and food writer at Sunset Magazine. She also presents Chinese cooking videos and recipes on the subscription site Grokker.com.
Judy Lam Maxwell is a culinary-heritage tourism entrepreneur based in Vancouver. She is the owner of Historical Chinatown Tours which offers guided walking tours and traditional dumpling classes. Ms. Lam Maxwell, who is of mixed Chinese European heritage and has a UBC Master’s degree in History, also specializes in Chinatowns around the world. She is currently on the City of Vancouver Chinatown Advisory Committee and is a City Heritage Commissioner.
In partnership with Asian Canadian Writers Workshop.
*Books will be available for purchase from our friends at Nooroongji Books.
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VPL is committed to making our programs accessible for all. If you have an access need that we have not addressed here, please email us at [email protected].
This event takes place in the Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level
*Elevator access to the Alice MacKay Room is available in the Concourse near the bank machine.
*The Alice MacKay Room has wheelchair accessible spaces available.

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