Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang (English) Paperback Book

Description: Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang Now a series on ABC- a brash, comic, and moving take on the first-gen immigrants journey--and a bold redefinition of American identity for the 21st century.NOW AN ORIGINAL SERIES ON ABC . "Just may be the best new comedy of the year . . . based on restaurateur Eddie Huangs memoir of the same name . . . a classic fresh-out-of-water comedy."-People"Bawdy and frequently hilarious . . . a surprisingly sophisticated memoir about race and assimilation in America . . . as much James Baldwin and Jay-Z as Amy Tan . . . rowdy and vital . . . Its a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all."-Dwight Garner, The New York TimesNATIONAL BESTSELLER . NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWSAssimilating aint easy. Eddie Huang was raised by a wild family of FOB ("fresh off the boat") immigrants-his father a cocksure restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Young Eddie tried his hand at everything mainstream America threw his way, from white Jesus to macaroni and cheese, but finally found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good- skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American kid in a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac blazing his way through Americas deviant subcultures, trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored only by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food. Funny, moving, and stylistically inventive, Fresh Off the Boat is more than a radical reimagining of the immigrant memoir-its the exhilarating story of every American outsider who finds his destiny in the margins.Praise for Fresh Off the Boat"Brash and funny . . . outrageous, courageous, moving, ironic and true."-New York Times Book Review"Mercilessly funny and provocative, Fresh Off the Boat is also a serious piece of work. Eddie Huang is hunting nothing less than Big Game here. He does everything with style."-Anthony Bourdain"Uproariously funny . . . emotionally honest."-Chicago Tribune"Huang is a fearless raconteur. His writing is at once hilarious and provocative; his incisive wit pulls through like a perfect plate of dan dan noodles."-Interview"Although writing a memoir is an audacious act for a thirty-year-old, it is not nearly as audacious as some of the things Huang did and survived even earlier. . . . Whatever he ends up doing, you can be sure it wont look or sound like anything thats come before. A single, kinetic passage from Fresh Off the Boat . . . is all you need to get that straight."-Bookforum FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Eddie Huang is the proprietor of Baohaus. He hosts "Fresh Off the Boat" for VICE TV, hosted Cheap Bites for the Cooking Channel, and co-hosted episodes of Anthony Bourdains The Layover. Hes written for Eater.com, The New York Observer, Grantland, and his own popular blog. He lives in New York City. Review "Brash and funny . . . outrageous, courageous, moving, ironic and true."—New York Times Book Review "Mercilessly funny and provocative, Fresh Off the Boat is also a serious piece of work. Eddie Huang is hunting nothing less than Big Game here. He does everything with style."—Anthony Bourdain "Bawdy and frequently hilarious . . . a surprisingly sophisticated memoir about race and assimilation in America . . . as much James Baldwin and Jay-Z as Amy Tan . . . rowdy [and] vital . . . Its a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all."—Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Uproariously funny . . . emotionally honest."—Chicago Tribune "Huang is a fearless raconteur. [His] writing is at once hilarious and provocative; his incisive wit pulls through like a perfect plate of dan dan noodles."—Interview "Although writing a memoir is an audacious act for a thirty-year-old, it is not nearly as audacious as some of the things Huang did and survived even earlier. . . . Whatever he ends up doing, you can be sure it wont look or sound like anything thats come before. A single, kinetic passage from Fresh Off the Boat . . . is all you need to get that straight."—Bookforum Review Quote Praise for Fresh Off the Boat Excerpt from Book 1. Meet the Parents "The soup dumplings are off today!" Grandpa said. "Should we tell the waiter? We should send these back." "No, no, no, no, no, dont lose face over soup dumplings. Just eat them." My mom always wanted to send food back. Everything on the side, some things hot, some things cold, no MSG, less oil, more chilis, oh, and some vinegar please. Black vinegar with green chilis if you have it, if not, red vinegar with ginger, and if you dont have that, then just white vinegar by itself and a can of Coke, not diet because diet causes cancer. Microwaves cause cancer, too, so she buys a Foreman grill and wears a SARS mask because "oil fumes can ruin lungs," says the woman who smokes Capri cigarettes and drives an SUV wearing a visor. Thats my mom. I couldnt eat with my mom; she drove me crazy. But she never bothered my grandfather. He was always above the trees. Like 3 Stacks said, "Whats cooler than cool? Ice cold." That was Grandpa: a six-foot-tall, long faced, droopy-eyed Chinaman who subsisted on a cocktail of KFC, boiled peanuts, and cigarettes. Thinking back on it, my grandfather created the ultimate recipe for pancreatic cancer. At the time we had that lunch, hed been battling it for a while, but we tried not to talk about it. That day, we just ate soup dumplings. "Its the meat, did they not put enough ginger? Mei you xiang wei dao." "Eh, theres ginger, its just heavy-handed. Who cares, just eat them! The rest of the food is on the way." Xiang wei is the character a good dish has when its robust, flavorful, and balanced but still maintains a certain light quality. That flavor comes, lingers on your tongue, stays long enough to make you crave it, but just when you think you have it figured out, its gone. Timing is everything. Soup dumplings, sitcoms, one-night stands--good ones leave you wanting more. The perfect soup dumpling has nineteen folds. Taipeis Din Tai Fung restaurant figured this out in the mid-eighties. While Americans had Pyrex visions, Taiwan was focused on soup dumplings. My grandparents on my fathers side lived right on Yong Kang Jie, where Din Tai Fung was founded. To this day, it is the single most famous restaurant in Taipei, the crown jewel of the pound-for-pound greatest eating island in the world. Din Tai Fung started off as an oil retailer, but business took a dive in the early eighties and they did what any Taiwanese-Chinese person does when they need to get buckets. You break out the family recipe and go hammer. Din Tai Fung was like the Genco Olive Oil of Taipei. Undefeated. The dough is where Din Tai Fung stays the hood champ. Its just strong enough to hold the soup once the gelatin melts, but if you pick it up by the knob and look closely at the skin, its almost translucent. They create a light, airy texture for the skin that no one else has been able to duplicate. I remember going back to Din Tai Fung when I was twenty-seven and saying to myself, Theyre off! Its just not as satisfying as I remember it to be! But two hours later, walking around Taipei, all I could think about was their fucking soup dumplings. Across the street from Din Tai Fung was another restaurant that served soup dumplings and made a business of catching the spillover when people didnt want to wait an hour for a table. They were really close to the real deal. Like the first year Reebok had AI and you thought that maybe, just maybe, the Questions with the honeycomb would outsell Jordans. A false alarm. Grandpa Huang put on for Yong Kang Jie and never cheated on the original. On the other hand, Grandpa Chiao, my mothers father, had money on his mind and really didnt have time for things like soup dumplings. He was the type of guy who would go across the street without thinking twice. He would be fully aware Din Tai Fung was better, but he was a businessman. He had things to do and never lost sight of them. Everything was calculated with my grandfather. On his desk, there was always this gold-plated abacus. Whenever something needed to be calculated, the other employees would use calculators, but Grandpa beat them to the punch every time. With his fingers on the abacus, he looked as slick as a three-card monte hustler. I loved hearing the sound: tat, tat, tat, rap, tat, tat, tat. After tapping the beads, hed always reset them all with one downward stroke, whap, and out came the answer. Hed much rather save an hour, eat some perfectly fine soup dumplings, and go on his way. Mom had other plans. She was my grandpas youngest and loudest child. Mom claims she was his favorite, and I cant say I dont believe her. Grandpa loved her because she was entertaining and full of energy. As a kid, she took the Taiwanese national academic exam and got into all the best schools in Taipei. After she came to America as a seventeen-year-old, she managed to graduate as the salutatorian of her high school, even though she barely spoke English. On top of that, shes still the best cook in the family. My cousins love talking about things they dont know about and everyone claims their parents are the best, but even the aunts admit my mom goes hard in the paint. That day, my uncle Joe from my dads side was with us at Yi Ping Xiao Guan. I think he actually discovered the spot, because it was in Maryland, where he lived. Earlier that day, Grandpa had asked me where I wanted to go for my sixth birthday. He figured Id say Chuck E. Cheese or McDonalds, but Momma didnt raise no fool. Chuck E. Cheese was for mouth breathers and kids with shoes. "I want to go where they have the best soup dumplings!" "Wheres that?" "Even Uncle Joe knows! Yi Ping Xiao Guan." I really liked Uncle Joe. He built three of the major bridges in D.C. and wore these big, thick black-rimmed glasses. I was into glasses, especially goggles, because Kareem wore them and he had the ill sky hook. After we ate, I was kinda pissed with the shitty soup dumplings. It was my birthday! Yi Ping Xiao Guan, you cant come harder than this for the kid? Chuck E. Cheese can serve shitty food cause you get to smash moles and play Skee-Ball after lunch. But all you have are soup dumplings! How could you fuck this up? Yi Ping Xiao Guan was like Adam Morrison: your job is to slap Kobes ass when the Lakers call time out. If you cant do that, shoot yourself. As I sat there, pissed off, I saw a waiter pouring off-brand soy sauce into the Wanjashan Soy Sauce bottles. Corner cutting, bootleg, off-brand-soy-pouring Chinamen! "Mom! Mom!" "Eddie, stop it, Im talking to Grandpa. Talk to Uncle Joe!" If someone was talking to Grandpa, you couldnt interrupt, but apples dont fall far from the tree. My mom was the youngest and never followed rules in the family. She enforced them on everyone else, but she never followed them herself. "MOOOMMM! Listen!" "Huang Xiao Wen!" That was the signal. Black people use the government name when shit hits the fan, and my family would bust out the Chinese. It hurt my ears to hear the Chinese name. Not only did it seem louder and extra crunchy, but it usually meant you were about to get smacked the fuck up. Luckily, Uncle Joe was a nice guy who actually thought it was possible that a child might have something important to say. "Uncle Joe, I know why the soup dumplings are bad." "Really? Tell me!" "Look over there: the waiter is putting the cheap soy sauce in the bottles. They must be using it in the dumplings, too." "Genius! Genius! Aya, Rei Hua, Rei Hua, zhu ge Xiao Wen tai cong ming le!" Rei Hua was my mothers Chinese name, so Uncle Joe got her attention when he used it. "Eddie figured it out. Theyre using that cheap heavy soy sauce now. Look over there, hes putting it in all the bottles!" "Oh my God! Too smart, too smart, I told you, this one is so smart!" "Whatever, Mom, you never listen!" "Shhh, shhh, shhh, dont ruin it for yourself. You did a good thing, just eat your food now." I think my mom is manic, but Chinese people dont believe in psychologists. We just drink more tea when things go bad. Sometimes I agree; I think were all overdiagnosed. Maybe thats just how we are, and people should leave us alone. My mom was entertaining! If you met my family, youd prescribe Xanax for all of them, but then what? Wed be boring. At any moment, I was around my younger brother, Emery, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, or my parents. We ate together, went shopping together, and worked together. Sometimes five of them, sometimes twelve of them; on weekends, it was anyones guess. Wed pick an aunts house and youd see a line of Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Toyotas form down the street. Our family counted all the aunts and uncles from both sides as one team, so even if you were the oldest in your family, you might be second or third in the larger bracket. Got it? Good. So, #1 Aunt lived in Pittsburgh, where that side of the family had a furniture store. She would come down every once in a while with her kids and they were always friendly. We loved that side of the family because we saw them only three or four times a year. #2 Aunt was my mothers oldest sister and she made the best ti-pang: red cooked pork shoulder. Her husband, Gong Gong, was a really funny guy. He didnt speak English, so hed always test my Chinese, check my biceps, shoulders, triceps, and then ask to arm wrestle. Gong Gong was a funny dude, bent over all his nephews, examining them like they were entries in a d Details ISBN0812983351 Author Eddie Huang Short Title FRESH OFF THE BOAT Language English ISBN-10 0812983351 ISBN-13 9780812983357 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2013 Imprint Spiegel & Grau Subtitle A Memoir Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States UK Release Date 2013-11-12 Publication Date 2013-11-12 AU Release Date 2013-11-12 NZ Release Date 2013-11-12 US Release Date 2013-11-12 Narrator Susan McInearny Edited by Stanley Wells Birth 1974 Affiliation Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Bipolar Clinic and Reseach Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Position Associate Professor of Psychiatry Qualifications RDN Pages 288 Publisher Random House USA Inc DEWEY 641.5092 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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