The Fung Bros VI: Chiu Chow Food & Identity Talk

It’s all about knowing who you are. Once you get older you begin to ask your family:

“Where do we come from?” or “Why do we look the way we do?”

Those questions can propose many answers that one may not be able to understand. Some will take that information given and do a little deeper digging for the overall answer on their roots. It’s all about knowing where to look and who ask for the right information. Everybody has an origin story that can brighten the horizon for you to know who you are as an individual. It’s seemly interesting when you get closer and closer to knowing who you are. Like validation with yourself and the people that are native to that specific culture, ethnicity, or nationality.

Chiu Chow (Teochow, Chaozhou) is a culture that is seen not as popular as the mainstream cultures of than any other in the Asian community.

The Fung Brothers have touched based on this although it may have been discussed earlier, but probably not in the forum, Andrew and David have presented. The Fung Bros are notorious for discussing the Asian cultures from many sides but mostly have been the mainstream generalized sectors of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese culture. The culture of chiu chow is definitely something that hasn’t been brought to light so often.

For example: The Fung’s B-cameraman Johnson says in the video he was raised by Vietnamese parents who grandparents emigrated from to Vietnam to China.

Before the very studious part of the chiu chow culture, the Fung Bros sat down with some friends of Chaozhou decent, Olivia Thai, IE Tran, & Kane Lieu to have a little—BIG—bite of some Chaozhou food.

Nevertheless, with their perspectives on the food side of chiu chow, there’s still a little bit of the culture that hasn’t been discussed although the ‘Prince of Chiu Chow‘ Kane Lieu has given a mindful amount of information. Now we head over to the main course so to speak, the broth and noodles of what chiu chow as a culture in itself. The identity of chiu chow is actually an interesting one when you hear from those who are actually of chiu chow decent.

Chaozhou is a region of China, but in the last few hundreds of years, the people have migrated from China to Vietnam. Kane’s grandparents are born in China, migrated to Vietnam where he was born, and moved to the United States when he was six. IE’s parents and grandparents were born in Vietnam for generations but are Chinese. Olivia grew up thinking she was Chinese as she spoke Chinese, but the last name she has is spelt T.H.A.I. that actually has no connections to the Thai of Thailand but is a Vietnamese take that’s pronounced Chua in chiu chow.

Now that you have a little insight on chiu chow take a look at the video from The Fung Bros themselves:

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