Angela Hui

  An eye-opening memoir revealing the stories behind living in and running a Chinese takeaway.
Growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales, Angela Hui was made aware at a very young age of just how different she and her family were seen by her local community. From attacks on the shopfront (in other words, their home), to verbal abuse from customers, and confrontations that ended with her dad wielding the meat cleaver; life growing up in a takeaway was far from peaceful.
But alongside the strife, there was also beauty and joy in the rhythm of life in the takeaway and in being surrounded by the food of her home culture. Family dinners before service, research trips to Hong Kong, preparing for the weekend rush with her brothers – the takeaway is a hive of activity before a customer even places their order of ‘egg-friend rice and chop suey’.
Bringing readers along on the journey from Angela’s earliest memories in the takeaway to her family closing the shop after 30 years in business, this is a brilliantly warm and immersive memoir from someone on the other side of the counter.

Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter

Cassandra Tang

There’s a tension created by overlapping spaces; the takeaway counter space is both a place of connection and isolation, home and work, playground and business. 

Prepare to sacrifice a few ugly ones because practice makes perfect. 

Food has a basic meaning, but there's also an underlying message: eating well and eating properly are two very important things in Chinese culture.

Whenever I visit Hong Kong, I imagine a mobile phone top-up card where you have to top up your balance when you're running low on credit. I go back to top up my Chineseness; if I don't return, I am effectively making the decision to renounce everything that my parents have worked so hard for. 

Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter quotes

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