Professor Yong Chen , a charming, compact Chinese man with an easy laugh, is unabashedly, rapturously in love with food. He likes to cook it, eat it, share it, discuss it, study it, write about it, savor its flavors and its beauty. Food is used as a way of communicating in families. It is one of the last and most important elements of ethnic identity. After there is a loss of language, a loss of memories of history, a loss of connection to parents and ancestors, only food remains.
Food often becomes the only common language children have with grandparents.
It is one of the most lasting aspects of ethnic heritage. Chen studies cultural identity in bagel shops, pizzerias, Chinese restaurants. He examines the nature of social change in the United States by studying the distribution of ethnic eateries in the 20th century. He scours immigrants' diaries and memoirs, phone books and city directories to learn about food practices and patterns. Changes in food mirror changes in the culture.