"Proud To Be Very Asian": A Journey to Represent and Share Taiwanese Culture
By Blair Khanal
Scallion (Green Onion) Pancakes. Boba tea. A warm vegetable soup in a braised sauce. A refreshing papaya fruit blended with milk. Simple ingredients make delectable dishes in Taiwanese culture.
For author Nancy Jeng and illustrator Felicia Liang, sharing dishes unique to Taiwan in their latest book “A Very Asian Guide to Taiwanese Food” is something they are proud of. It’s the culmination of a journey that has allowed them to explore their Taiwanese roots and culture.
“You should feel proud to be very Asian. You should be proud to be very Taiwanese,” Liang said. “(Growing up) I wasn’t embarrassed about being Taiwanese or Asian privately, but I was publicly. I’m hoping we can instill that pride at a younger age, especially through a kid’s book.”
According to a survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 324,000 Taiwanese people live in the United States, about 1.2% of the overall U.S. Asian population.
Taiwanese culture is on the rise, thanks in part to the success of the country’s food. Several dishes have become iconic of Taiwanese culture and cuisine, such as boba tea, star fruit, and snow ice.
“Before, it lived in the shadow of Chinese culture. Now there’s more recognition of Taiwanese culture as its own thing,” Jeng said. “You’re seeing that more with foods, public figures, and (Taiwan) becoming a tourist destination. It’s definitely starting to have its moment in a really good way.”
For Jeng, her journey into better understanding her Taiwanese-American background has always involved food.
“Food is probably almost too big of a role in my life,” Jeng said. “It’s a big part of social life and family and it’s the closest way I connect to my heritage.”
A San Jose native, Jeng previously released a cookbook called Noms From Mom, which featured 50 Jeng family recipes from her mom. Growing up, Jeng said that even though she had been exposed to Taiwanese food at a younger age, it wasn’t until much later in life that she appreciated the uniqueness that it brought to the dinner table.
“I don’t think I craved it or recognized how special it was to have had my mom’s cooking until I didn’t have it,” Jeng recalled. “I went to school in Texas and there was one dim sum place in all of Austin. And then I was like, ‘oh, that really was special!’”
This sentiment was echoed by Liang. Also born in the United States, she always identified as Taiwanese-American. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that she embarked on her journey of self-discovery. Through reading about Taiwan’s history and speaking with her parents, Liang began to truly express her identity.
“The seeds were always there,” Liang said. “But I think my appreciation and love for it, and how I actively seek it, has only strengthened over time.”
For Liang, her Taiwanese roots manifested in her art. She joined the project as the illustrator after meeting Jeng at a craft fair in San Francisco.
Liang said it was a fun challenge to incorporate as many details as she could in her artwork for the book, especially since she happened to travel to Taiwan while illustrating.
“It was great to be there,” Liang recalled. “I was just trying to pull from childhood memories, recent memories walking around the city, walking around the night markets, remembering all the meals I had. Taking what I can, through osmosis, what I was around in Taiwan and incorporating as many little details into the book.”
Liang’s illustrations are full of vibrant colors and bubbly illustrations. Her designs feature scenes of farmers harvesting pineapples in green grassy fields to a scene with people traveling over hills, between towers of boba tea and toppings.
Jeng praised Liang’s work for representing food in different ways, both socially and historically.
“It wasn’t just food on a plate,” Jeng said. “It’s how people enjoy it in a night market or around a temple, or even some easter eggs around art exhibits and things like that are big Taiwanese icons.”
Their work was not without challenge. Both contributors spoke of feeling imposter syndrome about representing and expressing Taiwanese culture.
While writing the book, Jeng often asked herself, “Who am I?”
“I’m not necessarily an expert about Taiwanese culture,” Jeng explained. “But I want to do my part in shining a light on it. And I think that is a role I can play.”
Liang said that she finds it interesting being considered a Taiwanese artist because that is not something she sought out as a title or moniker for herself.
“I am proud to be an ambassador in my own way,” she said. “I know I’m just one voice.”
Jeng and Liang recommend newcomers interested in trying out Taiwanese food to simply head to a local night market and grab a variety of foods to sample, whatever they can find. But they each shared their personal favorites:
“I still love a scallion pancake just because of the nostalgia behind it,” Jeng said. Her grandmother (nai nai) used to cook the dish. “It’s also such a beautiful canvas for other things that you can mix with it and turn it into a fusion dish. It’s so portable and quick.”
Liang recalled growing up eating mi fen, which her mom prepared one of two ways. One way was as a stir fry with lots of vegetables and a bean curd or minced meat mixed in. The other way was in a thick soup with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and some pork meatballs.
She says it’s hard to narrow down what makes Taiwanese food stand out due to its unique flavor profile.
“I think that’s why I draw it, because it’s hard to explain in words,” Liang said. “The simplicity of the meals is always what kind of strikes me about Taiwanese food.”
A Very Asian Guide to Taiwanese Food is a cookbook for young readers (age 3+) that shares recipies from and fun facts about Taiwan. It is the latest entry published through Gloo Books as part of its ongoing series of “A Very Asian Guide.”
While the book was created with a children’s audience in mind, both Jeng and Liang said they hoped people of all ages would pick up their book and be inspired to learn more about Taiwan.
“Geographically, (Taiwan) is not very big but it’s really special in that it does have kind of an outsized cultural impact,” Jeng said. “Hopefully our book can shine a light on that.”
A Very Asian Guide to Taiwanese Food can be ordered online through Gloo Books publishing.
