By exploring the other side of what is prescriptively understood as proper Asian gastronomy, Robert Ji-Song Ku suggests that Asian cultural expressions occurring in places such as Los Angeles, Honolulu, New York, and even Baton Rouge are no less critical to understanding the meaning of Asian food - and, by extension, Asian people - than culinary expressions that took place in Tokyo and Shanghai.

Robert Ji-Song Ku is associate professor of Asian and Asian American studies at Binghamton University of the State University of New York.