Wok & Roll by Peter Kwong, (Frederic) Inter-County Leader
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It’s finally here!
Believe it or not, it is finally done! What a relief, after six or more years of grinding and regrinding, it is finally in print. I’m talking about the book that I’ve been wanting to write for all these years, “Have You Eaten?”
Growing up in Hong Kong in the 1950s, it was a crazy and terrible time.
First, after three years and eight months of the Japanese occupation, Hong Kong was stripped of everything. Thank goodness I was born years after their surrender, but the scars they left behind would take years to heal. Maybe more than that.
But, no apologies, no regrets and no restitution for all they have done? I’ll never understand that. It’s like just another day. So what? The Nanjing Massacre … never happened. The Comfort Women — there’s no proof. Using humans for testing chemical warfare, no records ever been shown. Just what are you talking about? All the pictures showing the soldiers beheading innocent villagers and putting babies on the bayonets were just “fake news?”
And even today, in their textbooks for schools, they never explain the invasion of China and Southeast Asia. It never happened, they say. We’re a peaceful country, they say.
After the Japanese left Hong Kong, the Communists took over in China. The Communists believe the peasants should rule the world and all capitalists should perish. So, if you’re a landlord, a business owner, or even an educated person, you have no room in this new world.
“Bam,” and off you go. A bullet in your head with no questions asked. Or you would be tortured if you stayed behind, kneeling on broken glass pieces till you admitted that you were sinning in being a capitalist.
Needless to say, hundreds and thousands of the old Chinese would flee China to escape persecution. I was told that in a month, 10,000 folks fled to Hong Kong, the nearest island in the south, to escape being persecuted.
Overnight, Hong Kong, which housed 20,000 or more villagers, would be overwhelmed with 2 million or more refugees, all looking for the same necessities — food, clothing, jobs, shelter and medical needs. And that’s the time when I was born.
In these days, we greet each other with, “Good morning. How are you? What a beautiful day indeed, have a great, wonderful day.” However, in the old days, we would greet each other with “Have you eaten?” Yes, did you have a chance to put food in your stomach? And if your answer was “Yes, I’ve just eaten,” then, bless you, bless you, indeed. You’re so very lucky. Bless you and have a great, wonderful day.
My wife and I went back to Hong Kong for a brief visit 10 years ago. It must have been 40-some years since I left for the United States. Even though I was ecstatic seeing my old friends that I grew up with and the families I left behind, deep down inside, there was a hint of sadness.
I didn’t know what it was, but it finally dawned on me that I was taken by surprise that the Hong Kong that I grew up with was not the same anymore. The typhoon shelter below our building was replaced by a four-lane freeway. All the sampans and fishing junks were gone! The red rickshaws that carried folks from one side of town to the other were gone! The food hawkers by the roadside were gone! It was like my past was gone, whoosh, just like that.
It was then that I decided to write a memoir of what it was like when I was growing up — the marketplace with the stench of the poop from chickens and ducks; and the fish swimming in the bamboo barrels, with the dissected pieces on display, the air bladder still inflating and the gills still moving. Oh, how I miss them good old days.
My wife kept bugging me to write a memoir of how I grew up in the good old days; and so were my students. They all wanted to read more about how I developed my recipes and the story behind each one. So, one day, I just decided that it was time to put all that together. With the success of “Wok & Roll,” my first book, I gathered enough courage to start putting odds and ends and pieces together. So, this “Have You Eaten?” is a recollection of my growing up around food in Hong Kong. Well, not just about food, but different traditions and stories behind different entrees.
It was a long journey, but I am glad that it is over. I stopped proofreading, as each time I did, I found a little flaw here and there. Should that be a comma instead of a period? And should that title be in block letters or not? Well, after the 10th time, I told myself, who cares? No one will notice if you don’t say anything.
So, get ready to read the book and share my past and to share a lot of recipes that I’ve taught at recent classes.
Life is too short, let’s have some fun.
If you want to contact me, email phkwong1668@gmail.com, or check out my website, phkwong.com.
