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Chinatown Home Cooking

Local Home Chefs as San Francisco Chinatown's Everyday Culture Keepers

CCDC

San Francisco, CA

Chinatown Home Cooking 華埠家鄉味 was an exhibit and campaign by Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) at 41 Ross Alley gallery, that explored how four local immigrant home chefs provide everyday nourishment and create a sense of belonging through their Chinese culinary traditions. The exhibit featured Kerry Chan-Laddaran’s short film Sunday Dinner, produced by Bummer Lamb Pictures, along with stories and photographs of local chefs by Emma Marie Chiang. The films and photos captured the local chefs’ journeys shopping at San Francisco’s Chinatown’s many grocery, meat, fish, and dried food stores and then preparing dishes that offer a taste of home for their families. The project also spotlighted local grocery and prepared food stores frequented by these every day culture keepers. While the spread of large Asian supermarkets around the San Francisco Bay Area speaks to the impact of Chinese cuisine on broader American society, the exhibit highlights how the oldest Chinatown in the United States still remains a destination for home chefs who visit daily, weekly, or monthly, many having done so for decades.