Why, for British-Chinese author exploring Chinese food and identity, community is No 1

In An A to Z of Chinese Food (Recipes Not Included), London writer Jenny Lau picks apart food clichés to explore what it means to be Chinese

Reading Time:5 minutes

Jenny Lau of Celestial Peach at the launch of her book An A-Z of Chinese Food, in London. The British-Chinese writer hopes it inspires East and Southeast Asians around the world. Photo: Ming Tang-Evans

Published: 6:15pm, 22 Jan 2025

For Jenny Lau, a London-based musician, writer and creator of Celestial Peach – a platform dedicated to stories about Chinese identity, food and culture – community is the driving force behind her literary debut.

“I’ve never subscribed to a very traditional lifestyle and that’s when I realised how much community has fallen by the wayside in modern society,” she says.

“We have our friends, partners, family and colleagues, but true community is rare. When I started volunteering at the East and South East Asian Community Centre [formerly Hackney Chinese Community Centre, in East London] six years ago, I had no idea how important it would become.”

In An A to Z of Chinese Food (Recipes Not Included) Lau picks apart assumptions, clichés and our relationship to Chinese food.

The launch event for Lau’s first book fittingly featured an A to Z of canapés created by members of London’s food community. Photo: Ming Tang-Evans

From colonisation, to cultural appropriation and racism, to otherness in food, the book features 26 essays – each with a theme beginning with a different letter of the alphabet – that explore Chinese diaspora identity, language and culture.

In each chapter Lau plays deftly with prose, style and format as effortlessly as she moves between the piano and violin.