XO Soused Special - British Chinese cuisine - Wong family dynamics in the 1970s-80s

Introducing a special three-episode mini series of XO Soused.

One episode per generation, and one episode each day from Monday to Wednesday this week.

Andrew’s family have been involved in the Chinese catering trade in Britain for three generations.

Every generation of Andrew’s family had an ambition for their business. During the years that his grandfather owned these businesses, these ambitions were shaped by this powerful patriarch and his network in the midlands, and by the realities of baby boomer Britain and its effect on the Chinese cuisine on its shores.

And along came Andrew’s father with ambitions to start up in London, setting a course for Andrew’s family that still defines their lives today.

One from Andrew’s family photo album. Andrew’s father receiving the traditional lion dance to ensure his new venture - a break from his father’s culinary empire - is a success. Source: Andrew Wong

In this first special episode of this miniseries, Andrew and Mukta delve into these personal histories - into these sagas of competition and cooperation, of succession and discontinuity - of the 1970s and 1980s.

Tomorrow: British Chinese cuisine - Wong family dynamics in the 1990s-2000s

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Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

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