The Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan (Food Reference List)
Beverages Mentioned in The Joy Luck Club
tea
instant hot chocolate with miniature marshmallows
orange juice cans
Food Mentioned in The Joy Luck Club
red bean soup
black sesame-seed soup
cabbage
turnips
dumplings
rice noodles
soft boiled peanuts
oranges
squash
rice
porridge
‘She is stuffing wonton, one chopstick jab of gingery meat dabbed onto a thin skin and then a single fluid turn with her hand that seals the skin into the shape of a tiny nurse’s cap.’
chow mein
chaswei: ‘sweet barbecue pork cut into coin sized pieces’
pastries filled with chopped pork, beef, shrimp and ‘unknown stuffings’
See’s Nuts & Chews
M&Ms
candy coated cashews
rice porridge
fruit
dark soup
pears
buncake
sweet cake
syaumei: dumpling
vegetables
fish
meat stuffing
mushrooms
bamboo shoots
noodles
tounau
mooncake in the shape of a rabbit (filled with red bean paste in the middle)
zong zi: sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves filled with roasted ham or sweet lotus seeds
apples
pomegranates
pears
preserved meats and vegetables
roasted gingko nuts
shrimp dipped into spicy bean-curd sauce
peach
salted plums
fried sesame balls
sweet curried chicken crescents
roasted watermelon seeds
crabs
dried cuttlefish
LifeSavers
steamed dumplings
sheet cake with whipped cream frosting
fish
spaghetti
bologna sandwiches
bacon and eggs
Good and Plentys
Necco wafers
jujubes
creamed corn
broccoli
Rice Krispies
‘The wonton soup smells wonderful with delicate sprigs of cilantro floating in top.’
peanut butter sandwich
strawberry ice cream
salad
steak
chrysanthemum tea
green tea
rice porridge flavoured with chicken broth
eggplant and shredded pork dish
shrimp and snow peas
leaves of bean plants
steamed pork and preserved vegetable dish
cornflakes
chicken noodle soup
crab dinner
sauce with ginger, scallion,s soy sauce, sesame oil
duck’s gizzards
tofu
spicy bean curd dish
thin pancakes with an egg dropped in the middle, brushed with black bean paste, then rolled up
sweet cakes
sweet meats
sweet potatoes
roasted chestnuts
ywansyau: sticky sweet dumpling that eaten for celebrations
sweetened cookies
watermelon
whiskey
fortune cookies
dried mushrooms
Heineken beer
Coke
Seven Up
Johnnie Walker Red
Bacardi rum
Smirnoff vodka
honey roasted cashews
Cadbury chocolate bars
” I have been envisioning my first real Chinese feast for many days already, a big banquet with one of those soups steaming out of a carved winter melon, chicken wrapped in clay, Peking duck, the works.”
hamburgers
french fries
apple pie a la mode
wheat flour
