final blog: FCC

Final Blog: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

In The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Jennifer 8. Lee goes on a phenomenal adventure that takes everyone on an informative journey throughout Chinese Food and it’s culture. Lee keeps a very informative tone throughout the book as well as adventurous and analytical. 

Throughout the chapters, we learn of Lee’s exploration through not only China (like the hometown to General Tso), but the states, too. In Chapter 8, Lee shows her adventurous and informative tone and in Chapter 14 as well. For instance, in Chapter 8, Lee states, “For the past two decades, the vast majority of Chinese restaurant workers in the U.S. have come from a Delaware-sized region in southeast China...” This is an informative quote about the immigrants and their stories.

The numerous tones that flow in this book, definitely keep the reader somewhat on their toes. Whether it’s an adventure or something we are

Endia Brown-Bey
Meg Reilly
College Writing
27 November 2013
 
                                                        The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

                 Jennifer 8. Lee takes the readers on a journey to discovering the traditions of the Chinese culture and finding the best Chinese restaurants in America. Lee is able to draw in her readers with her informal, informational, comedic tone,writing and structure throughout her novel.  In each chapter she gives the readers a history lesson on the Chinese culture and food. Jennifer starts by researching the history behind the restaurants she visits. In each discovery she figures out the reasons to why certain Chinese foods have a specific name like General Tso's chicken.
           You can sense the the informal tone, and see the informational and comedic structure in her novel as she talks about The Golden Venture in chapter 8.  The statement "and if you add children in, the number , that number is also tricky" shows her comedic and informal side (111).  She gives a lot of historical information on how the Golden Venture came about. On page (110) she states "The Golden Venture immigrants had fanned out from New York city along the cost and into the heart land". "Most of those people who washed onto the shore that day worked as cooks, delivery boys and waiters". (110)
     Jennifer 8. Lee's style of writing really helped develop her novel and make it interesting to the reader. I honestly would get bored reading her novel if she wrote in a more formal manner and continued to discuss the history of the Chinese culture. Giving us a brief story about her personal experience with food, the culture adds flavor to each chapter. Her humor, informal way of writing and imagery like "The lightly sweetened crispiness of General Tso's chicken nestled in a bed of flashed, cooked broccoli"(12) also helped as well.

Final BLog

In this novel The Fortune cookie chronicle Jennifer is exploring the huge culture of Chinese food. It all started when she was in investigating how all winners kept receiving identical numbers. From there, she enters into other interesting events in Chinese food history, such as the international soy sauce trade dispute and the question of who really invented chop suey. In her adventure She interviewed everyone from a Taipei chef who invented the original General Tso’s chicken, to an executive with the company that makes those trapezoidal Chinese take-out boxes. The book is loaded with interesting trivia for example (page 208-212) Chinese food is served on all seven continents and there are more Chinese food restaurants in the United States than McDonalds, Wendys and Burger Kings combined. I feel she is representing her thoughts this way because this how she likes to express herself which is digging deep to find out things about the different cultures. She seems to have a drive to want to learn more and more once she starts relearning for example when she was learning about the chicken, she began to start comparing all to others like the mcdonalds nuggets or the different sauces like the Chinese sauces were a Chinese version of the American sauces such as BBQ sauce, honey mustard, or even sweet and sour .shes been comparing and contrasting a lot through out the story.

FCC -- Alix Bloom

In The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Jennifer 8. Lee explores the unique cultural phenomenon of Chinese food, and explores other interesting aspects of Chinese food history, creating an episodic novel of exploring Chinese history, and culture. In Chapter 14, Lee expands her journey to find "The Greatest Chinese Restaurant in the World", outside of China.
Throughout the chapter, Jennifer 8. Lee's quest to find the greatest Chinese restaurant in the world took her across the globe for one whole year. At first, she thought she wouldn't be able to complete this task her editor gave her, "Chinese food s arguably the most persuasive cuisine on the planet… In order to understand Chinese food in America, you have to understand Chinese food around the world."(pg.209)  She traveled to 15 countries starting in Los Angeles, and finishing in New York, but traveled far, and wide in-between to Lima, Paris, London, Japan, Australia, Vancouver, and so on. When Lee completed her traveling she  "…landed home with lots of notes, dozens of interviews to transcribe, many ponderous food related thoughts, and a well-tended stomach."(pg.247) Now she just had to decide, which is the greatest Chinese restaurant?
In the end, Jennifer 8. Lee put all her notes, and information together to give us the final result, "The world's greatest Chinese restaurant outside Greater China as of the early twenty-first century is: Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine outside Vancouver…". (pg.249) Reading this, it was a shock to me, but you have to give it to them for their half-priced special of an eight-course gourmet meal with squab and half a lobster. A true "bang for your buck" is what always makes you wanna come back, but for Jennifer, it's what made the Greatest Chinese Restaurant in the World.

FCC 8- Simmone Johnson

In Chapter Eight of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by Jennifer 8. Lee has a very analytical nonetheless informational tone that leads you through a journey of brightly used words to make her statements about “The Golden Venture: Restaurant Workers to Go.” This analytical tone is shown throughout the whole chapter. Jennifer focuses on how the Golden Venture immigrants made their way over to the United States. She talks about how they all were involved in the same things. This section gets very informational because she mentions “about 90 percent of the Golden Venture survivors were involved in the Chinese -restaurant business…a lucky few owned their own restaurants.”(110) this gives the reader more insight on how most of the Chinese culture are only involved with certain businesses.
 
As the chapter continues about the Golden venture immigrants and how they lend thousands of dollars to friends, family, neighbors, etc.  Their system of lending is different “…The word for “lend,” jie, is the same as the word borrow…a person who borrows one day may lend on another.”(121) this helps me to understand that the Chinese are very helpful and that if someone “borrows” money from you it’s not a huge deal for them to pay you back.

These immigrants are still being fully analyzed by Jennifer, as she is giving the background story of the trip they had to take. There was an interesting section about the Golden Venture “…food, water, light, and space were all scarce…men started relieving themselves off the deck of the boat.” (129) I couldn’t believe that these immigrants would go through so much just to get to the United States.

This informative yet analytical tone strengthens this chapter because it’s giving information about the Chinese culture of traveling to America to start their own businesses. This is the most direct way to present your thoughts to the reader with information that you can prove, and still keep your main focus without losing it.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles Final Blog post - Due Posted by Wednesday

Looking at one main element of the writing, (structure, style, tone, texture, theme) create a blog post. This post should highlight one writerly technique, and make a statement about the function it has in the novel.

You should incorporate three quotes from FCC to back up your ideas about this writerly technique. Use the quotes as proof for your argument, and remember to analyze extensively. How does this element in the book strengthen it? Why do you think Jennifer 8. Lee presents her thoughts in this way?

Also, in you blog post's thesis identify one meaningful discovery you have made while reading the book, or identify one meaning realization that Jennifer 8. Lee has in the novel.

Example of thesis:

In the novel, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Jennifer 8. Lee uses an informative, yet comedic tone to introduce her readers to the hidden traits of, and unknown facts regarding, Chinese American culture. 

MCA Art

During the self-guided MCA tour, there were many pieces of art that really spoke to me. However, the one I finally finalized on was Tacita Dean’s Death of a Priest from her “The Russian Ending” collection. Each piece from this collection were copies from old postcards the artist found in flea markets around Europe.

With Death of a Priest, I believe this one in particular had caught my attention at first because of the written notes (which each piece of the collection has). This one, though,  just held a certain something, as in a feeling of it showing the end and a new beginning at the same time. I think this photo connects to people on different levels, whether their excited about life, or down about death. It had me feeling both the excitement and the sadness. It had me thinking about decisions I've made and resentments. This piece it really is just a thoughtful work, something that makes you stop and think about life and then even death.