Editor's Note

Cover Story

Taste Buds

Jhanjay Vegetarian

Chopstick Lessons
 

Events Calendar

February 2008

by A.V. Crofts

© Copyright ColorsNW Magazine

Chopstick Lessons

Girl Scouts' Culture Through Cuisine

When I think of Girl Scouts, I first think of cookies. For the Girl Scouts in attendance at the last “Culture Through Cuisine” night event sponsored by the World Affairs Council, the cookies on offer were of the fortune cookie variety, provided by our host Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant, Joy Palace.

“Culture Through Cuisine,” a program that exposes participants to the diverse culinary and cultural communities in the Puget Sound, is the brainchild of Elaine Chang, the strategic advisor of World Affairs Council, a Seattle nonprofit that promotes greater understanding of global affairs. It was her invitation that I accepted on this particular evening to act as the event’s culinary tour guide. The featured food was Chinese, and given my history with the Middle Kingdom -- I first lived in China as a high-school student and returned to live there for three subsequent stints -- Chang knew that I would be eager to participate. Asian supermarket treasure hunts with a Chinese banquet as our reward? No arm-twisting necessary!

Our “Culture Through Cuisine” evening began across the parking lot from Joy Palace at the bustling Viet Wah Super Foods grocery, with a friendly welcome from the store manager, Tony Ramsey. Standing near the entrance with pallets behind him stacked high with 50-pound bags of rice, Ramsey gave a quick introduction to the largest Asian grocery store in the Rainier Valley neighborhood.

Ramsey’s welcome was followed by my narrated tour through Viet Wah of Chinese food ingredients that would appear in the meal at Joy Palace, with dishes that were representative of China’s north, south, east and central Sichuan cooking styles. In attendance were members of the Seattle troop Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, a program of Girls Scouts of America launched in 1992 to support girls whose mothers are incarcerated. “Through Girl Scouting, we make extra efforts to reach at-risk girls,” said Jackie Barnes in 2003, while she was interim chief executive of Girl Scouts of the USA. “We do not believe that residing in a detention center or having a mother who is incarcerated should stand in the way of these girls becoming all they can be. Our goal is to help all involved develop a strong sense of self-esteem and a positive outlook for the future.”

Accompanying the Girls Scouts Beyond Bars troop were adult troop leaders with the program. “Our girls are very excited about the Culture Through Cuisine education and dinner experience,” said program manager Alexia Everett. To tap into some of that excitement I posed the girls a question at the start of the tour: When they heard the words “Chinese food,” what dishes came to mind? Cries of “egg rolls!” and “fried rice!” sprung out immediately from the crowd, and I confirmed that for consumers of Chinese food in the United States, these were two very common dishes they would encounter in a typical Chinese restaurant.

But “Culture Through Cuisine” is not about the typical, just as these young women are not your typical Girl Scouts. We marched up and down aisle after aisle, smelling fresh ginger root, examining marinated tofu, giggling at chicken feet, and marveling at the shelf of dried noodle varieties that ran the length of the store.

Once the tour moved on to our dining destination, Joy Palace, the Girl Scouts had worked up an appetite. After a crash course on chopsticks from Chang, of World Affairs Council, dinner was served. Joy Palace’s feast included an array of cold appetizers, potstickers, platters of salt/pepper squid, mountains of pea vines wok-fried with garlic, Kung Pao Chicken and deliciously warm and restorative congee as a final course. Congee, a silky rice porridge, is classic Chinese comfort food.

Throughout the meal, I visited my new friends over at the Girl Scouts’ table to get their impressions of the meal. The adventurous J.J. Barksdale was the only Girl Scout to try the cold jellyfish appetizer.  “I’m a spicy type of person so I liked the Kung Pao Chicken the best,” said Donyea Jones between sips of tea.  “It’s very different than what we eat regularly,” said Kayosha Walton thoughtfully, as she reached for another helping of salt and pepper squid.