Good Food’s got an excellent segment on new movers and shakers in the San Gabriel Valley culinary world and the shifting contours of the SGV food scene.
There’s so much to love in the piece. The story was not just about the regional diversity and sheer enormity of the food scene, and the segment producer Erica Mu wasn’t talking to (with all due respect to Jonathan Gold, who Mu namechecks) outsider reviewers who are anointing this or that restaurant the best place for this or that “authentic” Chinese dish. The story is focused on Chinese people who are themselves exploring notions of authenticity and who see Chinese cuisine as a tether to home, as a reflection of themselves, as an expression of their cultural identity.
There are great scenes in it, and fun quotes too. My favorite: “Yelp is not credible regarding Chinese food,” says a Chinese food blogger who blogs exclusively in Chinese.
Big ups to KCRW for this one.