
4

"I grew up in ’90s Phoenix suburbia eating at the corner booth of our local Peking Palace multiple times a week; the staff felt like an extension of our mixed-race family of six and the soy-sauced food served as a compromise between comfort and culinary exploration for my parents of different backgrounds. Looking back, I can see how that restaurant’s presentation often trafficked in performative exoticism designed to please suburban diners, even as it shaped an integral part of my identity around Chinese American food." - Meleyna Nomura