Ever since I read a New York Times article on Chinese-Americans in the Mississippi Delta, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of the Chinese-American experience away from the urban coasts. Looks like I’m not the only one: Berkeley artist Indigo Som has an ongoing project called the Chinese Restaurant Project. The latest exhibition is called Mostly Mississippi: Chinese Restaurants of the South, which is being shown at the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco. Ms. Som is speaking there today at 3:00 about her project. (Too bad I can’t go.)
Also, you can contribute to her project! She is conducting a survey of Chinese restaurant experiences, and is collecting take-out menus from every Chinese restaurant in the U.S. Maybe I’ll get a few for her while I’m up in Portland next month…