1. A Mycophagist in Montana, New York Mycological Society Newsletter (Summer 2020)
In 2017, I took a trip to Montana to do a 9-day wilderness backpacking trip. My hiking buddies and I decided to do our annual trek in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in southwest Montana. It is about an hour drive from Billings, Montana, which is where we flew in. The Beartooth Mountains are not on the usual circuit of more popular parks around the region such as Yellowstone and Glacier National Park, so it’s a bit off-the-beaten track. Our trip lasted 9-days, 8-nights as we hiked and camped through ridges of granite mountains, valleys, alpine forests, and subalpine terrain with an average elevation of 9,000 feet. Click here to read more.....
2. Conversation with me about Urban Farming, Deep Rooted (Summer 2017)
* I didn't write this piece but was interviewed by my friend, Maggie who writes an urban health & wellness blog. It's a nice interview so I'm posting here to share.
Maggie: Could you talk a little bit about how you got involved in farming?
I got involved with farming when I was in college back in 1993, when I was 18 years old, so this was a very long time ago. It was my first time eating outside of my home and I grew up in a household where my mother cooked fresh food every day, processed food wasn’t a big part of our diet. My family is from Taiwan so most of the food we ate was Chinese and there was this deep appreciation for fresh food. When I went to college I quickly realized not everyone ate the same way. What was shocking to me was that food was not taken as seriously outside of my home as I thought it would be. Click here to read more.....
3. The Senior Citizen Lunch Box, Flavor and Fortune (Summer 2016)
My parents, who are both over the age of 60, buy senior citizen lunchboxes at the Chinese senior center near our home in suburbs of Washington D.C.. Twice a week, either my mom or dad, or both, would go to the center, participate in one of the activities the center hosts - mah jong, line dancing, or calligraphy just to name a few - and buy one or two lunchboxes cooked by aparticipating local Chinese restaurant for $2/box. Yes, that right - two dollars per box! That’s less than a value meal at McDonalds, a sandwich at Subway, or a burrito at Chipotle. Click here to read more.....
4. Black, White and Green - Farmers Markets, Race and the Green Economy, Book Review in Gastronomica (Spring 2016)
Black, White, and Green, a book written by Alison Hope Alkon, provides an ethnographic examination of a tale of two cities, or rather two farmers markets that are racially distinct--black and white--but both inspired by the ideologies of the green economy. The markets are located in the bay area of San Francisco. The first, situated in north Berkeley, is managed by The Ecology Center and caters towards an affluent, white clientele. Not too far away from the North Berkeley farmers market is the second site of study in the area of west Oakland. Unlike the former, the latter is a market that is primarily composed of people of color, specifically black Americans, and caters towards people with lower income status. Click here to read more...
5. What Are You Eating??, Gastronomica (Winter 2015)
What are you eating?? Let me ask again in a more pointed manner: What exactly are you really eating? Before you take that next bite, pause and take a good, hard look. Look at it from different angles and notice its shape, its colors, its composition, its form. What do you call it? How many memories do you hold about this food you are about to eat? Think of the sum of all the experiences you’ve had tasting and swallowing this thing. I’m assuming this is not the first time you are eating this? And how is this bite connected to all the other foods you are about to eat? Moment by moment, your mind and body make incremental decisions about your gastronomy - a bite, a food, a dish, a meal. And these moments are probably repeated over the course of days, weeks, months or years. How did you come to eat like this? What is the relationship between that next bite and the conditions that led you to this very moment? Click here to read more....
6. Urban Agriculture is a White People Thing, Food Politic (Note: This online publication no longer exists. This piece was originally published in Summer 2015)
Urban agriculture in the US is a white people thing.
But I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing.
As an Asian guy who has been involved in the urban agriculture movement in the US for over a decade, it is interesting to observe race dynamics between the proponents and beneficiaries of urban agriculture. The common theme that is the face of the movement is that urban agriculture (managed and controlled by white people) can help people (of color) in underserved and disenfranchised environments. Click here to read more....