The Fortune Cookie Chronicles


  • #26 on the New York Times Best Seller List
    and featured on Colbert Report, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR stations coast to coast.

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    Pics from The Colbert Report

    Thursday, August 28th, 2008

    Here (finally) are some pictures from The Colbert Report when I appeared on March 4, 2008. (thanks to Alexis Ohanian for taking them and for backing them up because I lost the memory card on which they were stored, so I’m actually putting them on the blog so I wont lose them.) And yes, the [...]

    Good Morning America Weekend: Fortune Cookies Aren’t Chinese

    Monday, August 25th, 2008

    Here is the Good Morning America Weekend piece that ran during the Olympics. Produced by Imtiyaz Delawala (who was on my school paper!) and correspondented by Juju Chang. Also involves Wonton Food.
    This piece that actually was initially discussed during the March release of my book. But they decided to peg it to the Olympics. It [...]

    ABC: The mystery of the fortune cookie’s history

    Sunday, August 17th, 2008

    Television loves fortune cookies as a result of the Beijing Olympics. I did a segment with ABC on the history of the fortune cookie with Juju Chang.
    I swear, fortune cookies and “man date” are going to be part of my obituary, or at the very least the college reunion report.
    ABC, fortune cookies, juju chang, Media [...]

    A Fortune Cookie Chronicles book club at the Fortune Cookie Chronicles Powerball Restaurant

    Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

    This is very adorable. I got a great email leading me to the photo above. “I’m the organizer for my neighborhood’s book club. We read your book last month and then ate at King Buffet, which is one of the fortune cookie winning restaurants here in Lawrence, Kansas.” The photo is of them holding [...]

    Radio: Radiowest, a one-hour interview with SLC’s NPR affiliate

    Monday, June 23rd, 2008

    This is my hour-long interview with Doug Fabrizio on KUER, an NPR affiliate out of Salt Lake City, for Radiowest. It’s very, very rare that someone will give you a whole hour — so I deeply appreciated the time.
    The audio file will be up for roughly three months the producer told me.
    Audio, Doug Fabrizio, KUER, [...]

    WAMU: Kojo Nnamdi Show, and musings on radio interviews

    Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

    I finally got my chance to appear on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU in Washington, which means that except for Chicago, I’ve been on all the major NPR markets: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia (WHYY’s building is soooo nice) + assorted markets in New Hampshire, Colorado.
    I have to say [...]

    Library of Congress Cybercast is finally up

    Thursday, May 29th, 2008

    A bit delayed, but my first talk from my book tour is finally up. It was actually, looking back, a fantastic event to kick off my book tour. About 150 people in the middle of the day (almost all of whom I didn’t know). That and the Politics and Prose event, also ~150 people, [...]

    Charlie Rose Tomorrow is different from Tomorrow’s Charlie Rose

    Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

    I did a segment for Charlie Rose Tomorrow, which is an online-only interview done by Charlotte Morgan of younger-ish people. But a lot of people have e-mailed/IMed me congratulating me for being on tomorrow’s Charlie Rose. And I realized that they think the sement is previewing what is showing tomorrow on the television show. But [...]

    Eric’s book party toast — a lesson in humor

    Friday, May 23rd, 2008

    Dave Lu of Fanpop finally put up the toast that my friend Eric, who hosted my book party gave. I swear. Like 20 people independently have come up to me and said his toast was fantastic or funny or memorable. It was actually an amazing toast. Part of it was extempted.
    book party, public speaking, [...]

    Fortune Cookie Chronicles in Accra, Ghana

    Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

    Yay. Fortune Cookie Chronicles hits sub-Saharan Africa before I do (I have only been to Mauritius). Sent to me by a fan. This is the independence monument with Kwame Nkrumah, pan-Africanist.

    africa, Book Musings, ghana, photo

    A Chinese Restaurant in Venice (with a boat docked out front)

    Sunday, May 4th, 2008

    My friend Kathleen took a photo of this Chinese restaurant in Venice for me (love the boat out front).

    Chinese restaurants, Italy, photo, venice

    My Asia Society Conversation Now Partially in Podcast Form

    Friday, May 2nd, 2008

    I’m in a recent Podcast episode from my conversation at the Asia Society.
    4/22/08: India Goes Hungry; Secrets of Chinese Takeout
    The world food crisis and Asia, with analysis by Asia Society Fellow Mira Kamdar… Food author Jennifer 8. Lee solves a Chinese takeout mystery… and upcoming Asia Society programs in Mumbai and Hong Kong.
    To the [...]

    YouTube Celebrates Asian American-ness (and you can win an iPod Nano)

    Friday, May 2nd, 2008

    YouTube and The Asia Society collaborated for a video series on Asian Americanness for Asian American Heritage Month. And I got to be included in it (very flattering). It’s a pretty fneat group — including a senator, Hollywood actors and a Silicon Valley start-up folk. The main video is a montage of interviews from a [...]

    Food Network: Online interview with the Amateur Gourment

    Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

    Here is an episode of FN Dish, the Food Network’s edgier online cousin, hosted by Adam Roberts of the Amateur Gourmet.

    Adam and I went to New York City’s Chinatown and eat my favorite buffet place on Grand Street between Chrystie and Bowery: $4 for five items! He tried pigs heart (his Jewish grandmother [...]

    WNYC Brian Lehrer Show

    Friday, April 18th, 2008

    I did a lovely interview on Brian Lehrer (scroll down for mp3…no permalink?) on Wednesday, right before the Asia Society talk with the Fuchsia Dunlop of Chinese cookery fine.
    Audio, brian lehrer, Media & Interviews, wnyc

    Fortune Cookie Chronicles on CNN with Lola Ogunnaike (and a Jack-o-Melon).

    Saturday, April 12th, 2008

    CNN ran a segment on Chinese food in America by my former colleague Lola Ogunnaike. Produced by the lovely Ethel Bass. We actually filmed at an Empire Szechuan, a descendent of the original restaurant that sparked the delivery revolution. I asked Lola what was different from print and television, and one of the things [...]

    Genghis Cohen…this tops Shalom Hunan even.

    Monday, March 31st, 2008

    Oh my god. When I saw this, I made Josh turn the car around so I could take a picture of Genghis Cohen (which opened in 1983 as a Chinese restaurant, but also now serves as an acoustic lounge). The Jewish-Chinese connection marches on.

    genghis cohen, Jews and Chinese food, josh yguado., los angeles, photo

    Time.com: Explaining General Tso (convergence)

    Friday, March 28th, 2008

    Time Magazine has a video with me talking about American Chinese food at Chinatown Brasserie. I’m interviewed by Gibert Cruz who himself is a print journalist by training. But we are all learning video. It’s all about convergence, I’m discovering.
    Media & Interviews, time magazine, Video

    The Library of Congress Flyer

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    I know, if I had my act together, I would have posted this before the event at the Library of Congress. But notice the iconic use of fortune cookies (which are more recognized in America than anywhere else)

    Appearances, flyer, fortune cookies, Library of Congress, photo

    NYTBR: Wok On and podcast!

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    The New York Times Book Review runs its review of my book this Sunday by Jan and Michael Stern. It’s already online now and it actually closed 10 days ago, on a Wednesday. (The Book Review, like the Magazine, has a incredible close-to-distribution lag, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me but may involve [...]

    Wisconsin Public Radio on the origin of the fortune cookie

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    Here is the mp3 of an interview I did on the origin of the fortune cookie on Wisconsin Public Radio a week ago, along with Eric Hagiwara, for their Friday food program. (I know. Delay. Book craziness. Why else am I catching up on blogging on a Saturday morning at 6 a.m.?!).
    They liked me well [...]

    Preparing for The Colbert Report

    Saturday, March 8th, 2008

    Here is my explanation of what it’s like to prepare for The Colbert Report on The Huffington Post:
    Don’t try to be funny.
    That was the piece of advice that was repeatedly given to me when my friends first heard I was booked on The Colbert Report to talk about my book on Chinese food in America, [...]

    Introducing fortune cookies to China

    Thursday, March 6th, 2008

    During my trip to China, I took along boxes of Wonton Food’s fortune cookies and gave them out to Chinese people along the way. This is a compilation of their reactions. (The people here are from Houyu, Kaifeng, Shenzhen and Changsha).

    fortune cookies, quirky, Video

    Video: Watch fortune cookies being handmade in Japan

    Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

    Here, on the New York Times site, is the  video of fortune cookies being made in Japan that went with my article. I’m not sure why they only put some videos on YouTube (about 150 at last count). Sadly, they don’t give you the ability to embed it either in the blog.
    fortune cookies, Video

    More Jews and Chinese food: Christmas at Shalom Hunan, a proposed documentary

    Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

    The Jews and Chinese food is a topic that never stops (that is why there is a whole chapter of it in my book!). Here is an 8-minute Youtube video, Christmas at Shalom Hunan. (Shalom Hunan, real place, in Brookline)

    The description: “What do Jews do on Christmas? In many parts of the U.S., eat Chinese [...]