S5 Ep8: Food Memoir with Rebecca May Johnson and Angela Hui

Writing food memoirs requires navigating the tension between personal vulnerability and the broader political implications of domestic and professional labor. Angela Hui, author of *Takeaway*, and Rebecca May Johnson, author of *Small Fires*, reframe food as a vital site for exploring migration, racism, and gendered expectations rather than merely a culinary subject. Both authors emphasize that memoir writing is an inherently exposing process, often forcing a confrontation with past trauma and the sanitized narratives typically associated with food writing. By documenting the repetitive, often invisible labor of the kitchen—whether in a family-run Chinese takeaway or a domestic setting—these works challenge the capitalist focus on novelty. Ultimately, these memoirs serve as interventions into how society values labor, proving that the kitchen is a complex space where identity, power, and personal history intersect.