September 2012
Imagine living in a state with no chow mein, no egg
rolls, no sushi, no pad Thai, no curries or any other food from the Asia
Pacific Rim. That was the State of
Minnesota until 1875.
The land of sky blue waters was home to the Sioux and
Ojibwa in the 1700s when settlers began to move in from France, England,
Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The first immigrants from the Asia Pacific Rim
began to arrive in the mid-1870s and were from China. They brought with them a whole new cuisine
based on food many Minnesotan’s had never tasted and it was immediately labeled
“foreign food” by the more than 150,000 already living here. Even today, some
people still refer to Asian food as “foreign.”
When the first Chinese restaurant opened in 1883 the
tastes of Minnesota began to change. Twenty-one year old Woo Yee Sing and his
younger brother Woo Du Sing opened their Canton Restaurant on Marquette Avenue
in Minneapolis. Featuring the food of their homeland, the restaurant became
very popular and in 1903 the brothers moved the restaurant to 6th
Street off Nicollet Avenue across from the Dyckman Hotel and changed the name
to John’s Place. It successfully
operated there until 1967 when it lost its lease.
By the time Walter James opened his Canton Grill in
the basement of the Dyckman Hotel in 1918 there were more than1.2 million
people in the state with fewer than 100 Chinese. A year later he moved the restaurant to
Seventh Street next to the Radisson Hotel and called it the Nankin Café.
The food of the Philippine Islands, Japan, Thailand,
Vietnam, Korea, India and other Asia Pacific Rim countries soon followed and by
2009 there were 1100 Asian restaurants in the state. Reiko Weston, Supenn Harrison, David Fong,
Thom Pham, Wing Ying Huie, and Leeann Chin are among the familiar names of
people who helped make Asian food popular in Minnesota. But there are hundreds more including
farmers, home cooks, food producers and cooking teachers who help expand the
popularity of Asia Pacific Rim cooking throughout their communities and the
state.
After 20 years as food editor of Asian Pages I had accumulated a file of more than 500 articles I
had written about Asian food in Minnesota, the nation and the world. It is from this treasure of information I
selected stories and recipes for the book Asian
Flavors and went in search of a few more.
Mumbai native Raghavan Iyer joined me as the book’s collaborator, Wendy
Jedlicka was the book’s designer and Tom Nelson took dozens of food and on-site
photos to make this a most colorful, interesting book. It is filled with personal stories,
historical facts, 160 recipes and a wealth of information about the food of the
Asia Pacific Rim. Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press Asian Flavors will be in bookstores in
October. We are looking forward to
sharing it with all of you! For ordering
information go to www.asianculinaryarts.com.
TeaSource
Wins National Awards
Bill Waddington’s TeaSource received two awards from
the recent North American Tea Championships held in Las Vegas. TeaSource was awarded first place in the 2012
Spring Blended White Tea Category for its Jasmine Silver Needle and won third
place in the 2011 Spring Hot Tea Class for its 1999 Green Puerh Cake.
The North American Tea Championship (NATC) is produced by World
Tea Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc. NATC is an independent event, judged by
professional cuppers, that evaluates premium teas from around the world that
are sold in North America. More than 200
teas were entered in the competition.
Opened in 1996 TeaSource carries more than 225 teas in its
Highland, St. Anthony and Eden Prairie stores and through the TeaSource
catalog. For more information visit www.teasource.com.
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