The relationship between remixing, originality, and identity is that they need to co-exist for each word to hold meaning. Identity itself is a remix, creating originality. Our identities allow us to experience different perspectives and our own unique way of seeing and navigating the world, letting us create with our own ideas and intentions. This is originality. In this project, I am highlighting my identity as an American with Chinese and Taiwanese roots to explore all the desserts I grew up eating. I noticed how some of my favorite desserts are more mainstream than others in America and intentionally remixed my experiences to create original products. The goals and aims of my project are to connect American food to Chinese and Taiwanese food, specifically in terms of desserts.
Sinophobia is a large part of American history and persists in different forms today starting from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 after the first Chinese immigrants came to America in 1800, to the rise of Asian hate crimes during the pandemic in recent years. Through this time however, Americanized Chinese food became a staple in American dining, especially in terms of takeout (150 Years of Chinese Food in America). The popularization of this remix in itself is a story of resilience and immigration. One of the most popular dishes is General Tso’s chicken made by Chef Peng Chang-Kuei who introduced the dish to New York City in the early 1970s which combined preferences from American diners and the style of traditional Hunanese cuisine. The dish has a sweeter taste and a crispy texture unlike in traditional Hunanese cooking (Stilwell). Another popular food that has recently exploded in popularity is boba tea which originated from Taiwan but now has reached America in the form of 6,635 Bubble Tea Shops as of 2024 which is a 19.4% increase per year (on average) over the last five years (Inc).
With the inspiration of assimilation through food, my project aims to replicate this phenomenon of showcasing my identity as a Chinese American through the remix of the two vastly different cultures together. However, it is important to acknowledge the battle of sharing cultural foods in America. With the increase in popularity, not everyone who enjoys the food honors the roots of this culture. People deliberately ignore the roots to create appropriations of the food with the most viral example being on CBC’s show, “Dragons’ Den.” One episode showcased White entrepreneurs who started the company “Bobba” intending to sell a healthy version of boba. This is a remix that is not original due to the product copying cultures from identities the creators do not hold and taking ownership of other’s creations. Their company strips the drink from its Asian origins using scare tactics commonly used to denounce Asian food. They claim consumers of boba are “never quite sure about its contents,” making a commonly eaten plant-derived ingredient in Asia sounds like a toxic chemical, similar to the scare tactic used on the ingredient MSG (Is MSG Unhealthy?). In addition, they also did not pay homage or even acknowledge the origin of boba in their marketing or the presentation of the product (Rosenbloom). The result is a drink separated from its original creator’s intention but not the style so White entrepreneurs can profit off an Asian drink. Another impact to point out about American Chinese food is that the popular Chinese-style foods are also very standardized in America due to the preferences of non-Asian Americans. This pressures Chinese or Taiwanese restaurants to conform to the same foods when there are so many flavors, dishes, and different cultures within China and Taiwan (Cheung). This lack of diversity is evident as many people only know of the Asian dessert drink, boba.
Through my new creations, I want to create an original remix that provides a shock value to non-Chinese Americans that forces people to notice how different the desserts are from what they are used to. I want the uniqueness to stand out to show that there is so much more to Chinese and Taiwanese desserts than just boba and fortune cookies. I am remixing to critique people’s complacency with appropriation and challenging views on Chinese and Taiwanese culture whilst providing the comfort of America. Ultimately, America is a remix of many different cultures, and through this project. I hope to show that our differences can not only exist in harmony but are a strength in America where our identities intersect and can be celebrated together such as through food.
Dissecting the remixes of each item:
The first item on the menu I created is twelve grape tanghulu. Tanghulu is traditionally made with hawthorn berries which are stuck together on a stick and dipped in boiling sugar to create a hard outer coat. The number of berries on the stick is always even as the two berries are supposed to create the shade of a calabash gourd, a symbol of good luck and fortune. This dessert is particularly enjoyed during Chinese New Year (Cao). I combined this dessert with the tradition of American New Year’s which is for good luck, especially with romance which is eating twelve grapes under the table (Campbell). This dessert highlights the two cultures surrounding the consumption of fruit and the idea of luck and their similarity.
The second item is Oolong cheesecake. Tea culture is very important in China where there are very specific pottery, rules, methods, and cultural norms for drinking tea. The six main types of tea in China are White, Yellow, Oolong, Red, Green, and Pu erh. In America, the two tea flavors that are common in desserts are green and black tea. The rest of the types of tea differ in the plant it is from and how the tea leaves are processed, undergoing different degrees of oxidation (The 6 Different Types of Chinese Tea). One side of my family is near Guangdong province in China which is known for its diverse tea culture, with oolong and black teas being prominent (Chinese Tea: Guangdong Province). Whenever I go visit my family, lots of hot oolong tea is enjoyed. Oolong tea leaves are special as they have vast degrees of oxidation which depends on the processing technique. This is why the tea can have a taste ranging from “light to full-bodied, floral to grassy, and sweet to toasty”(What Is Oolong Tea?). This also causes the color of the tea to vary from green to golden to brown. With this unique property, my oolong cheesecake would be customizable to the degree of oxidation so the flavor can be adjusted to the customer’s preference. In China, tea is enjoyed traditionally by itself or paired with a dessert. Now, boba milk tea is also on the rise in China. In America, people often drink tea with milk and sugar added. It is also common to drink milk with dessert rather than tea. In this creation, I combined the idea of tea and dairy together to create a combination of a very sweet ingredient with a more bitter ingredient to create a balance of flavors that is not too sweet. I wanted to highlight the difference between the cultures and introduce the versatility of oolong.
The third item I created on the menu is Red Rice brownies. This dessert is a combination of the American well-loved brownies and the Chinese year cake which is made from rice flour and “red sugar.” The english translation of the chinese term “red sugar” is brown sugar due to the similarity in their taste, however the two sugars are different. Red sugar is less sweet and is more flavorful. This is because instead of white sugar which is heavily processed sugar cane or brown sugar which is white sugar with added molasses, Chinese red sugar is unrefined cane sugar where its natural molasses and minerals are kept (such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron) which is what gives the sugar the reddish-brown coloring and distinctive flavor profile. Red sugar is not just a cooking ingredient but is also historically important as it was part of Chinese medicine (Leung, et al). In America, it was also thought that pure chocolate could also make you healthy (Dark Chocolate Health Benefits? The Good and the Bad to This Sweet Treat). Brownies have a similar look to the Chinese year cake and many people online created the Japanese fusion of mochi brownies. Mochi is similar to the year cake but is missing the special sugar, so I offer a Chinese twist of adding a new flavor profile, red sugar to the rice flour brownies. These brownies are also special in that they unintentionally create a more inclusive dessert due to being gluten-free and not too sweet.
The last dessert I designed is taro and sweet potato ball parfait. This is a spin on the American parfait, stealing the layered look and completely changing the combinations of sweets (cake, cream, and fruit or yogurt, fruit, and granola) into the ingredients of taro ball soup. Taro and sweet potato ball soup is my personal favorite popular dessert in China and Taiwan. However, I could not find any stores selling this dessert in at least the East Coast of America. The idea came to me when I noticed how there were a lot of ingredients (which also stand alone are wonderful by itself) that were added to this soup dessert, including soy pudding, herbal jelly, boba, boiled peanuts, taro and sweet potato balls, red beans, mango, ice, etc. The soup has either a cold and sweet coconut milk base or sugar water. To create a more palatable and familiar version of this soup for the American public, I thought of the parfait form. In this design, I put the firm herbal jelly as the bottom layer and soy pudding as the top layer. The boba, taro balls, and sweet potato balls are placed between the layers. Boiled peanuts are also placed on the top and coconut milk is added to fill the gaps. This creates a healthy dessert that is not too sweet and contains a diverse amount of plant-derived components.
Works Cited:
Campbell, Annie. “Why Do People Eat 12 Grapes at Midnight on New Year’s Eve?” Allrecipes,
https://www.allrecipes.com/12-grapes-nye-tradition-8759605. Accessed 3 May 2025.
Cao, Steffi. How Tanghulu Went From a Chinese Street Snack to a Colorful Controversy | Bon
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/tanghulu-chinese-street-snack. Accessed 3 May 2025.
Cheung, Jesse. Americanization of Chinese Cuisine in the Chinese-American Identity: Jesse
Cheung – CHN/ITAL370W Noodle Narratives- Summer 2019. 9 Aug. 2019, https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/noodlenarratives/2019/08/09/americanization-of-chinese-cuisine-in-the-chinese-american-identity-jesse-cheung/.
“Chinese Tea: Guangdong Province.” Dominion Tea, 8 Oct. 2015,
“Dark Chocolate Health Benefits? The Good and the Bad to This Sweet Treat.” Good-Food,
https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/good-food/dark-chocolate-health-benefits-the-good-and-the-bad-to-this-sweet-treat/2023/02. Accessed 3 May 2025.
Leung, Bill, et al. “Chinese Red Sugar (红糖).” The Woks of Life, 2 Apr. 2025,
Inc, IBISWorld. Bubble Tea Shops in the US in the US | IBISWorld.
https://www.ibisworld.com/default.aspx. Accessed 3 May 2025.
Is MSG Unhealthy? | Right as Rain by UW Medicine. 9 May 2022,
150 Years of Chinese Food in America. http://conniewenchang.bol.ucla.edu/menus/index.html.
Accessed 3 May 2025.
Rosenbloom, Alli. “Canadian Drink Company Tastes Controversy after Simu Liu Raises Cultural
Appropriation Questions.” CNN, 14 Oct. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/13/entertainment/simu-liu-dragons-den-bubble-tea.
Stilwell, Blake. “The History Behind the Real General Tso and His Famous Chicken Dish.”
Military.Com, 5 Jan. 2023, https://www.military.com/history/history-behind-real-general-tso-and-his-famous-chicken-dish.html.
The 6 Different Types of Chinese Tea | Teasenz.
https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/types-of-chinese-tea.html. Accessed 3 May 2025.
What Is Oolong Tea? https://www.teatulia.com/tea-varieties/what-is-oolong-tea.htm. Accessed 3
May 2025.
Red Rice Brownies (made from scratch)
Sweet potato balls I made from scratch (boiled sweet potato + tapioca flour dough)
