Angela Hui is an award-winning journalist, editor and author of Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter. Her work has been published in gal-dem, Guardian, Financial Times, HuffPost, Independent, Lonely Planet, Refinery29, Vice, among others. She was the former editor at REKKI and food and drink editor at Time Out. Currently, she's freelance. Love letter to Hospitality businesses? Teenage diary? Recipe book? In part 1 of this podcast, Angela talks to Sam Bleazard about the writing of Takeaway and what it was like growing up in rural Wales as a Chinese girl. Photography courtesy of Kenneth Lam.
INTRO
1mins30s - Paperback coming out, being shortlisted for Awards...and writing as the solitary profession.
2mins30s - Delighted by the response 'from such a wide demographic'
4mins - what was the original idea for the book? Multi dimensional approach...from extensive notes and memories taken during the Covid lockdown.
6mins30s - ...feeling very torn on identity growing up in rural South Wales, but also proud of being Welsh.
7mins30s - Helping out in the Takeaway as a teenager, reflecting on childhood and testing recipes with Mum...'an incredibly obsessive cook'.
11mins - 'Wanting to celebrate Hospitality businesses'...memories of a Scottish childhood from Sam.
13mins - Angela's Parents' reactions to her book? "Incredibly proud...but they'll never say the 'P' word."
14mins - Book launch in Hackney Community Centre, why it meant so much to host it there.
16mins - Extract one from the book: quotes from readers, and steamed seabass with ginger and spring onion.
18mins45s - How the book helped Angela understand her own identity with the passing of time.
19mins30s - Regrets over the language barrier, and wishing to know her parents at a deeper level.
22mins - Speaking to her brothers many years on, about how she felt, their responsibilities, and the challenges of working in the takeaway as a young, vulnerable girl...
26mins - Growing Shark Fin Melons...Angela's Mum and her make-shift garden in Wales - why it was so poignant.
28mins54s - 'she grew up in the cultural revolution...she didn't have an education...'
30mins - The health benefits of Chinese soups - 'this soup will cure your asthma!'
32mins - How Chinese families 'soldiered on...not really kicking up a fuss...' - and the cultural dynamic of not wanting to draw attention to themselves.