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California Matters with Mark Bittman

California Matters with Mark Bittman - Episode 2

Mark takes a tour through the history of Chinese-American cuisine with UC Irvine's Yong Chen, author of "Chop Suey USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America." They stroll through Los Angeles' storied Chinatown and discuss the former significance of these urban "food towns" to Chinese immigrants at the turn of the last century. Now the culinary zeitgeist has moved to suburban enclaves that have cropped up in dense residential areas east of L.A., such as the San Gabriel Valley and points further south in Irvine. Yong and Mark chat about this current wave of Chinese cuisine -- and its future -- over boba tea and stinky tofu at a colorful Taiwanese cafe.

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