Why Chinese restaurants are sites of innovation and resilience around the world

Cheuk Kwan, author of Have You Eaten Yet?

By Ann Hui, The Globe and Mail

In 1976, Cheuk Kwan had dinner at the Cin Lokantasi, or “China Restaurant,” in Istanbul. There was no pork on the menu – a staple of most Chinese cuisine. The owner, he later learned, was a Muslim-Chinese man who had fled Mao Zedong’s China, travelling through Pakistan and Iraq, before eventually settling in Turkey.

This experience led Kwan to the realization that, no matter where you are in the world, there’s a Chinese restaurant. That was the thesis behind his 2005 documentary series Chinese Restaurants, which follows the filmmaker from Israel to Kenya, and Argentina to Brazil, visiting Chinese restaurants across 13 countries. Read more…