“It became really focused on culturally appropriate groceries, or culturally appropriate food. And I feel like that’s even just a word, or a term, that’s only just recently become a thing. In the past couple of years, this idea of ‘culturally appropriate’ anything. You know, like culturally appropriate food options, culturally appropriate blah blah blah. It kind of makes you think, what does that mean? And then you’re like, Oh yeah, it’s the stuff that you grow up with, the stuff that you know, the stuff that makes you feel comfortable and affirms that identity for you.”
This interview with Mark Lee explores how the events of 2020 have impacted people’s relationships with food, community, and identity. Mark is a mixed-race, Chinese and British settler from the Vancouver area, with family ties to Chinatown. He currently works as an interpreter and translator for English to Chinese and Chinese to English.
Mark is interviewed by Sasha Gaylie.