What began as an exploration of Canadian cuisine became an deeply personal and moving family history
Chop Suey is a personal favourite of mine, and a few years ago, I decided to track down the origin of this quintessentially Chinese-Canadian cuisine. I found that story in Ann Hui’s book, Chop Suey Nation. I recently found myself re-reading Chop Suey Nation and immersed in the narrative Hui weaves.
Chop Suey Nation is one of those unique books where the author manages to weave in a personal story with the book’s primary focus. Ann Hui is the Globe and Mail’s National Food Reporter, and in 2016, Hui set off on a cross country road trip to answer two questions: Why are there so many Chinese restaurants in small towns across Canada? And, who owns them? Hui’s 18-day adventure begins in Victoria and stretches to Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Hui documents the origin of Chop Suey and other Canadian-Chinese cuisines such as Ginger Beef, Newfoundland Chow Mein, and Chinese Perogies. Hui interviews restaurant owners and her parents and learns, much to her surprise, her parents owned and operated a Chinese Restaurant in British Columbia named the Legion Café.
Hui highlights the everyday struggles and institutional racism that Chinese immigrants faced upon arriving in Canada. Chinese immigrants, often seeking a better life in the 20th century, came to Canada for the promise of a metaphorical and literal “Gold Mountain” and instead received a hostile welcome into a land that did not value their existence. For many, the restaurant business was all that was available to them when the Canadian government lifted Chinese exclusions to immigration. They often borrowed at significant risk to operate a restaurant and worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week so their children could have a better life. For many restaurant owners, their dream of a better life in Canada lives on in their children.
Hui’s narrative is lovely and engaging. The reader gets a taste of the restaurants she visited, and one feels as if they are going along on the adventure. Hui’s use of the story of her own father’s arrival in Canada serves as an excellent anchor and guide for the reader in what can sometimes be a blur between names and places. The narrative moves masterfully between time and location and focuses on the restaurants’ owners to explain the rise of Chinese restaurants in small-town Canada. While Chop Suey Nation includes critical historical facts about Chinese immigration to Canada, it does not read like a history book. Instead, it uses the restaurant owner’s narratives to elaborate on Chinese immigration history. Hui’s cross Canada road trip answered many of the book’s original questions while generating new questions Hui didn’t initially set out to answer.
Hui’s book takes on an important note today as we see a rising tide of racism towards East Asians and public acts of hate in Canada’s “China Towns.” Hui’s book is a reminder of the challenges Chinese immigrants faced and the destructive effect anti-Asian racism had on families and young men who moved to Canada. Historically, Canada has treated Chinese-Canadians as second class citizens while exploiting their labour, from building the railroad to serving meals in restaurants. Chop Suey Nation gives us a sense of the limitations Chinese immigrants faced due to that racism. We must learn from these past and present wrongs and forge a new way forward where Chinese-Canadians are treated equally from coast, to coast, to coast.