ON Dec. 8, a new documentary that explores what it means to be Asian American through food is set for release on PBS.
“Off the Menu: Asian America,” directed by Grace Lee, chronicles a journey from Texas to New York, to Wisconsin to Hawaii, where Lee delves into food traditions in Asian American cultures.
In the four areas Lee visits, she uncovers a wide spectrum of food traditions and the role food plays in people’s lives, from sushi in Texas to Langar – where food is served for free to all visitors – at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and even catching and cooking octopus in Hawaii.
“Off the Menu” came to life after the Center for American Media approached Lee, whose credits include “The Grace Lee Project” (2007) and “Makers: Women in Politics.”
In choosing which stories to feature in the film, Lee said she cast a wide net and wanted to include a segment on the midwest, as stories on Asians from the region are rare.
“[I] definitely wanted to go into the farther reaches where people might not be so familiar with Asian American cuisine or what that meant,” she said during a Q&A session following a screening of the documentary on Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Japanese American National Museum.
Another goal was to ensure wide geographic diversity and ethnic diversity. The film also explored food supplies in Asian Pacific Islander culture in Hawaii, where a father and daughter are shown going out to sea for octopus, and a separate group of youth farm and sell produce to a local restaurant.
While “Off the Menu” does not feature any Filipino stories, Lee emphasized that the film was not necessarily talking about specific ethnicities, but an Asian American experience.
“If you have any kind of connection to that, whether you’re a first generation immigrant or third generation, I think that a lot of the themes in the film connect that way. These themes of tradition, home, family, trying to make … a business, trying to succeed in business, how food can also be part of a spiritual practice, or sustainability or farming is part of the food supply. Those stories aren’t specific to those ethnicities, those just happen to be the people that we met on this journey.”
Food writer Christine Chiao was also among panelists who engaged in discussions after the screening, and touched on how she is drawn to stories that are untold. She specifically cited one story involving a Fil-Am brother duo who reached out to her in late 2014, pitching their story about their pop up called LASA.
“And I found that really fascinating because even though we have a very rich Filipino Angeleno community, we don’t see those stories come out as much in food media. And so that was my motivation to go out and meet Chad and Chase [Valencia] and hear about their narratives,” Chiao said.
Others who weighed in on the panel were chef Minh Phan of Porridge+Puffs, scholar and USC professor Karen Tongson and Youa Yang of Yang Farms; writer and sociologist Oliver Wang served as moderator.
“Asian eaters are pretty smart…. We just eat out a lot, we love eating. It doesn’t matter if it’s Asian food or Mexican food, we’re very smart eaters and we don’t mind going out of our comfort zone,” Phan said.
Sunday’s screening was hosted by non-profit organization Visual Communications.
“[The documentary] encapsulates how cultural pride as an Asian Pacific Islander can be a shared celebration here in America. I’m excited to launch [Grace’s] film in advance of her national broadcast…” Francis Cullado, executive director of Visual Communications, said in a statement.
“Off the Menu: Asian America” is a multimedia project for Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and KQED. It is suitable for general audiences and has a total run time of 56 minutes..
