There is a lot of food culture that goes on in the home and in the community in non-traditional ways. Food is a lot more than restaurants.

I don't want to get burned when I'm cooking. To avoid getting hit when pan-frying, I stand far away and use chopsticks that are almost two feet long. I learned it from my mom, who does the same thing.

I have more to say as a writer than from behind a wok.

People talk about perfect timing, but I think everything is perfect in its moment; you just want to capture that.

I choose to be American, I choose to live in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I choose to have Puerto Rican/Jewish neighbors, and I choose to maintain my Chinese identity.

I don't think people in America understand race, and how deep the hooks of whiteness there are in our consciousness.