Chopsticks or Fork?

Tickets

Jennifer Wong is a writer, comedian, and the presenter of Chopsticks or Fork? a six-part ABC series created with director Lin Jie Kong.

Between 2020 and 2022, Jennifer and Lin visited ten Chinese restaurants in regional Australia, spending time with them to explore their stories and heritage and their place in their communities. This, the book of the TV series, tells the stories of ten very different Chinese-Australian families who run Chinese restaurants, from Queensland's Hervey Bay to Western Australia's Dunsborough.

Chinese cooks, food and restaurants have been entwined with Australian culture since the early nineteenth century and almost every country town has had an Australian-Chinese restaurant for generations. For many Australians, their first experience of a restaurant and/or Asian cuisine was the ubiquitous Australian-Chinese restaurant around the corner.

Chopsticks or Fork? is a unique and wonderful celebration of an integral part of Australian cultural and culinary history that everyone in Australia has experienced told through the personal stories of the families behind the restaurants.

Not just a memoir, Chopsticks or Fork? features 32 Australian-Chinese recipes, sharing many of the the uniquely Australian-Chinese restaurant classics such as sizzling Mongolian lamb, sweet and sour pork, combination fried rice, sesame prawn toast and of course, deep fried ice cream.

According to the Guardian, Jennifer is "perhaps Sydney’s most polite comedian, she’s also one of its funniest.” As usual we will be cooking from the book and serving up tastes. We're very much looking forward to this, as the food will be a delicious trip down memory lane and the conversation hilarious!

Please join us on Thursday 12th September

Tickets are limited.

FAQs

I can't attend an event, can I buy/pre-order a signed copy of the book?

Yes. Copies will be available for signing and purchase on the night. If you can't attend, we can organise to post signed and personalised copies to you.

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?

If you haven't been to one of our events for a while, please note we have moved to the northern side of the Queen Victoria Market. Our new address is 115-121 Victoria Street (next to A Shed)

The 19, 20, 57 (Elizabeth St)and 55 (William & Peel St) trams go past the Queen Victoria Market and run frequently. We are in the Free Tram Zone and are a short 50m walk from the Elizabeth St Queen Victoria Market stop and the Peel St Queen Victoria Market stop. Melbourne Central and Flagstaff railway stations are two blocks away.

If driving, there is plenty of metered parking on Queen St near the corner of Victoria St. There is also limited parking on Victoria Street outside the store.