Don't throw shade on my ngau lam

Hosted by

Last summer, Ruth Tam wrote a powerful essay for the Washington Post in which she revealed how a high school classmate made fun of her home because it "smelled of Chinese grossness." Her love for her family's food was overpowered by her desire to fit in, she writes, "so I minimized Chinese food's role in my life and learned to make pasta instead. Little did I know that Americans would come to embrace the dishes and cooking styles that once mortified me." Tam, a writer and public radio producer from Chicago who now lives in Washington, DC, joins us to discuss food shaming and the reaction she's gotten to her piece since it was published.

Music: "All You Gotta Do Is Fall In Love" and "Grigopela"