Canadian journalist and Beijing correspondent for the Globe and Mail, Jan Wong, is an avid writer. She has written multiple autobiographies and memoirs, but was recently recognized for her latest work, Apron Strings, in September 2017.
Apron Strings: Navigating Food and Family in France, Italy, and China takes its readers on a mother-son journey from France to Italy’s ‘Slow Food’ country to Shanghai, where they spent time living and cooking with locals. The memoir describes their first-hand experiences with of food among different families and cultures in a globalized world.
Wong was in Ottawa this past week as part of the Ottawa International Writers Festival in a conversation called: à la carte: Jan Wong and Jackie Kai Ellis in conversation with Hattie Klotz, which was presented in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada.
Wong describes her relationship with food from a young age, and how it was very much influenced by her Chinese heritage.
“Food has always been a key part of my life. When I was a kid in Montreal and my mother wanted to punish me for a now long-forgotten transgression, she once — just once — deprived me of supper. I’ve been scarred for life,” Wong said in an email.
In terms of her writing career, she has had the unique opportunity to be a foreign news correspondent in China for six years while not being so ‘foreign’, since she is of Chinese heritage herself.
“The Chinese consider food a prime element of culture. When they invite anyone to their homes, it always includes a meal. When I covered the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests in 1989 as a foreign correspondent for the Globe and Mail, the students’ hunger strike moved many people to tears,” she said.
In terms of her latest book Apron Strings, Wong said it took three months of reporting with her son in France, Italy, and China and nine months of writing. According to the Montreal-based author, the hardest part of writing this memoir was navigating between three languages—especially since she did not have any prior experience with Italian.
“For this project, I committed reverse cultural appropriation. Many Western writers freely write about Chinese and other Asian cuisines, but you would be hard-pressed to find an author with my face and surname writing about French and Italian food,” Wong said.
When asked about food as an agent for revitalizing culture and reconciliation, Wong said that food is not only central as a binding agent in our globalized world, but that we should all be involving ourselves in each other’s cultures through food.
“Food is the glue that binds people together. In our globalized world, everyone is beginning to sample the other’s foods. I urge everyone to try something new today,” she said.
During the Apron Strings project, Wong said she enjoyed exploring Italian food and culture the most. She particularly emphasized her appreciation for family meal sharing, which is unfortunately becoming less prominent in China.
“I loved Italy’s food and family culture the most. In a sense, all three countries emphasize the family meal. However, in China, the rush to capitalism has weakened the ritual of dinner as parents over-program their offspring and everyone is too busy making money to cook and share a meal,” she said.
Wong said she hopes her readers take the idea of sharing food as a means of family bonding as the most prominent takeaway from her memoir.
“I hope they cook and eat with their families. And if possible, go somewhere with one of your parents, or if you’re a parent, go somewhere with your adult child, somewhere where you’re both outside your comfort zones. Your relationship will grow and deepen,” she said.
Photo provided
