When her loved ones faced challenges in the community, Anna Chan set out to build bridges through food
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Although she grew up above the Chinese takeaway in which her parents worked, Anna Chan, now 34, felt a disconnect to her heritage. “Our kitchen in Morecambe was a business one, so I didn’t go in or learn how to make our family food. Later, I felt a gap in my cultural knowledge.”
Anna, who now lives in London, says after the pandemic, her parents worked tirelessly to reopen their takeaway in challenging circumstances.
“I was scared for my parents because there was a lot of Asian hate. We’d long experienced racism, but the pandemic exacerbated things. I posted on social media, asking the community to support small local businesses, including my parents.”
Almost immediately, people online began to respond. Anna connected with others from the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) community and realised the fear and helplessness she felt was widespread.
“People were scared of going out, wearing scarves pulled up to their eyes and baseball caps to hide their features. But for the first time, I shared what our community goes through.”
Then, a cooking TV show contestant talked of refining “dirty” Asian food. “It made me angry to see food from my community talked about that way on TV.
“I wondered why we were letting someone who wasn’t of our heritage, didn’t know the food or its history, dictate our story nationwide.” Anna created a new hashtag to combat the view that ESEA food was dirty, or the calibre needed to be improved.
“I wanted to dispel the myths and othering going on. I shared homemade dishes like steamed Dover sole with ginger, spring onion and soy sauce, and glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves to my Instagram stories using #ESEAEATS. I asked others to do the same.”
Within a week, 200 people of East and Southeast Asian heritage – as well as allies – used it to share food and personal stories. Chef and mum-of-two Huong Black, 42, was one of the first.
Anna says, “I admired how Huong cooked with such dedication for her family.”
Huong told Anna she was doing it to make memories for her family, and that hit home for Anna. “It was clear Huong was expressing love with her food. I realised love in my family was expressed most through food.
“My parents didn’t say ‘I love you’, but Mum showed her love multiple times a
