Welcome to Season 6, Episode 37! Our guest today is Cassandra Lam, the Founder of Mama Lam's, the first American business to produce, package, and distribute a Malaysian curry paste. Raised in New York City, Cassandra launched the company to create a taste of their homeland in their new home in America.

We were inspired to learn about how their self-funded, self-produced venture could take the various sauces and authentic flavors that Mama Lam made at home to create a unique taste that honors their Malaysian heritage for anyone to try. Since launching their Malaysian Traditional Medium Curry Paste in 2016, they've also added a peanut satay paste, a sambar belecan (aka hot sauce), chili oil, and pandan kaya. They even have several vegan variations too!

You can order directly from their website or find them through their store locator. They're sold through about 137 locations across the U.S. Once you get some of their high quality sauces, then you can visit their Recipes page to see how others are using them.

In our conversation we talk about how they got their start, expansion of products, some of the challenges of scaling to sell consumer packaged goods, difficulties with creating vegan versions, plans for focusing on different cities, and so much more. To learn more about Mama Lam's authentic Malaysian sauces, you can visit their website mamalams.com, follow them on instagram @mamalams, purchase some of their sauces, and even just get inspired by their recipe section. Enjoy the conversation.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 36! Our guest today is children's book author, Jasmine Fang who's here to talk about her debut picture book Beneath the Same Round Moon, published by Beaming Books and released on September 1st. Jasmine writes stories rooted in heart and wonder.

Beneath the Same Round Moon is a touching story that focuses on a family celebrating the autumn moon festival, AKA the Mooncake Festival. Pearl is eager to welcome loved ones to her house for the traditional Mooncake Festival dinner. But her family is spread far and wide, and this year they won't be able to travel to reunite over the special dinner. Her big sister is away at college, her dad is working as an airline pilot, and her grandfather, Yéye, has passed away. Pearl wonders if it will still be a special day if it's only herself, her mother, and her grandma.

The book is also beautifully illustrated by Rồng Phạm & Vinh Nguyễn. Jasmine includes some a discussion guide as well as instructions for making mooncake and paper lanterns. Other than Beneath the Same Round Moon, she also has the forthcoming book Our Chinatown Market (set to release Spring 2028).

In our conversation Jasmine shares her journey to publishing, the inspiration for the story, what she hopes people get from the book, and much more. To learn more about jasmine, you can visit jasmineifang.com, follow her on instagram @jasmineifang, and purchase Beneath the Same Round Moon.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 35! Our guest today is the critically acclaimed UK #1 Sunday Times bestselling writer June CL Tan, author of the Darker By Four Duology, including her latest novel Brighter Than Nine.

A Singaporean who now resides in New York City, June obtained degrees in communications, education, and film before she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a published author. She's known for creating fantastical worlds that lean in to her love of drawing upon the traditional and modern worlds to create something entirely new.

In her latest novel, Brother Than Nine, June continues the story with the colorful and moving characters of Rui, Zizi, Yiran, and others… as well settings and groups that include traditional exorcists, Hell, and more. Building on the previous book, Darker By Four, readers continue to get a glimpse of a modern world where Chinese mythology, the underworld, and the familiar are all merged.

In our conversation, June discusses how her upbringing has influenced her writing, how the Darker by Four duology came to her, how she decides when to explain some of the Chinese mythology to her audience, humanity, and so much more. To learn more about June, you can visit her website junecltan.com, follow her on instagram @junescribbles, and purchase Brighter Than Nine.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 34! This might be the world's easiest trivia question, but what multibillion dollar sport began as a fun pastime in Hawaii? If you guessed surfing, you'd be right, and that's our main story this episode.

Long before surf shops, professional competitions, or the Beach Boys songs Surfin' USA and Surfer Girl, people across Polynesia had been riding waves for generations. And Hawaiʻi became the cultural center of surfing. Hawaiians developed surfing, preserved it, and ultimately helped teach much of the rest of the world how to do it.

In this episode we talk about the early history of surfing, how it developed over the years, some of the important people who spread enthusiasm about surfing, and more. In our recurring we discuss what we've been watching and talk about Hadestown in theaters and Beef on Netflix.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Introduction
• 05:08 The Early History of Surfing, From Heʻe Nalu to the World
• 24:13 What Are We Watching? Hadestown and Beef

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 33! Our guest this episode is the award-winning broadcast journalist Carol Lin. Her career has placed her at the center of some of the most consequential moments in modern American history. Other than being a broadcast journalist Carol is also an author and educator, and her work has spanned more than two decades at the local, regional, and national levels of TV News.

A Los Angeles native and UCLA graduate, Carol began her career covering politics in Washington, D.C., before reporting and anchoring in Los Angeles and eventually joining the national ranks at ABC News and CNN. Throughout her career, Carol reported on many of the defining stories of the 1990s and early 2000s, covering everything from presidential politics and natural disasters to international conflicts and breaking news that shaped the nation.

Her memoir, When News Breaks: A Memoir of Love and War, offers an intimate look at the person behind the headlines, exploring not only the excitement of a remarkable journalism career but also the deeply personal experiences that shaped her life away from the camera. It's an honest and beautifully written memoir and it gives insight into how she overcame both personal and professional challenges to become one of the most recognized faces on TV.

Along the way, her work earned some of journalism's highest honors, including a National Emmy Award, a George Foster Peabody Award, and the prestigious Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award. She has also been recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club and became the first recipient of the Organization of Chinese Americans' National IMAGE Award for her contributions to journalism and the Asian American community.

In our conversation, we talk about the differences between being a correspondent and an anchor, some of the difficulties that Asian American women faced in broadcast journalism, the challenges with breaking news like 9/11 when you're sometimes learning just before reporting, the beauty of living in Hawaii, and so much more. To learn more about Carol, you can visit her website carollinnow.com, follow her on instagram @carollinnow, buy her memoir When News Breaks, or follow her substack to read about stories of 9/11 whennewsbreaks.substack.com.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 32! It's food time again!In this episode, we're talking about a dish that may not be as widely known… Yakamein. It's one of those dishes that feels inseparable from New Orleans, but it does show up throughout the U.S. South as well as the Eastern seaboard. In New Orleans, where it may be best known, it shows up at second line parades, food festivals, neighborhood corner stores, and pop-ups.

We love it's nickname… "Old Sober"… which it gets from its reputation as a hangover cure. But more than that, it's a dependable comfort food that may be Chinese in origin, but it's been adapted and influenced by the area both in and outside of New Orleans.

We'll talk about where Yakamein or variations of it show up across the South and Eastern U.S. as well as some of the different chefs who are known for making versions of it… including NOLA's Miss Linda.

In our recurring segment, we talk about the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization that documents, studies and explores the food culture in the American South. They have some great articles on how Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans have impacted food in the South. To learn more, you can visit southernfoodways.org, follow them on Instagram @southfoodways, and donate at southernfoodways.org/donate.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Introduction
• 02:47 The History of Old Sober… The Chinese, Black, and Creole Origins of Yakamein
• 18:53 Organizations to Know: Southern Foodways Alliance

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 31! Today's guest came from an artistic family, but also was literally discovered on the streets of Tokyo which gave a huge boost to his career. Actor, writer, and producer Gabriel Prevost-Takahashi was born in Tokyo, spent time in Canada while growing up, and has worked on stage and screen for film and television.

Gabriel has appeared in projects ranging from the survival thriller Something in the Water to one of the most acclaimed television series of recent years, FX's Shōgun, where he played a Gray Guard and had the opportunity to work on a production celebrated for putting Japanese language, actors, and culture at the center of its storytelling.

More recently, Gabriel can be seen on Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender in the recurring role of Lieutenant Khettry, a soldier serving on the front lines of Ba Sing Se.

Gabriel is also interested in creating stories himself. As a writer and producer, he has been developing projects including Go For Broke, a limited series exploring the experiences of Japanese American soldiers during World War II, as well as other film and television projects that give him opportunities both in front of and behind the camera.

In our conversation we take time to talk about his background, the impact of getting noticed on the streets by legendary photographer Leslie Kee, what it was like for him to join a project like Shōgun, the responsible of being part of a global phenomena like Avatar: The Last Airbender, his hopes with Go For Broke, and much more. To learn more about Gabriel, you can watch any of his projects and you can follow him on Instagram @gabriel__prevost.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 30! We're here to share the history of Filipino Hip Hop… Part 2. In this episode we're talking about the music from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, a time that's often called "The Modern Age" of Filipino Hip Hop.

Waaaaaayyyyy back in Season 3, Episode 45 we talked about the beginning of Filipino Hip Hop, AKA "The Golden Age". The Golden Age had some moments of social awareness and commentary, but the music was definitely a lot more lighthearted than The Modern Age. This era of music marked a turning point in both Filipino and Filipino American hip hop that was defined by deeper lyrical complexity, sharper political commentary, and the democratization of the art form through independent labels and platforms like YouTube.

In this episode we discuss some of the artists in both the Philippines and the U.S. who were important to The Modern Age. Artists like Gloc-9, Aklas, Bambu, MC Geologic of Blue Scholars, and Rocky Rivera. We also share some of the big themes that were topics of songs.

For our recurring segment, we share what we've been reading… Feelings Unsent by Oliver Drishila and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Intro
• 02:32 The History of Filipino Hip Hop Part 2, The Modern Age
• 15:28 What are We Reading? Feelings Unsent and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 29! We have an incredible returning guest who's back with us for the third time! Karen Yin is the author of several books including The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers (published by Little, Brown Spark). She has also written several stories for children, including Whole Whale (published by Barefoot Books), So Not Ghoul (published by Page Street Kids), Doug the Pug and the Kindness Crew (published by Scholastic), and her latest book Nice to Eat You (published by Scholastic, and released on July 7, 2026)

Illustrated by Carolina Coroa, Nice to Eat You is a fun picture book that's full of dark humor and clever word play… a hallmark of much of Karen's work. We think kids and adults will love this Hansel & Gretel-inspired Halloween story about a friendly but sneaky witch who lures a group of children to her house. The story keeps you guessing as to whether the kids are in for a pleasant visit . . . or in danger of becoming the meal.

In our conversation, Karen shares her journey to publishing Nice to Eat You, how she helps support the illustration process, why wordplay appeals to her, and a lot more! To follow more of Karen's work you can visit her website karenyin.com, follow her on instagram @karensoffice, and purchase your own copy of Nice to Eat You or any of Karen's other work.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 28! Sometimes our topical episodes are focused on the obscure history of Asian Pacific Islanders. Sometimes our topical episodes are focused on the weird history of Asian Pacific Islanders. For this episode, it's Asian Pacific history that is both obscure and weird. When it comes to the magicians Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo, this is a history that might be the first instance of yellow face in popular entertainment.

Born Zhu Liankui in China during the Qing Dynasty around 1854, the entertainer Ching Ling Foo was relatively successful stage magician who toured America, Europe, and much of the world. Chung Ling Soo pretended to be the same. In the nineteenth century, it wasn't unusual for European nations to not really have much experience with people of Asian Pacific descent. This is a story full of magic, identity theft, and challenges. To learn the rest of the history, you'll have to listen to the episode.

If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Intro: Memories of Magic
• 02:40 The Magical History of Ching Ling Foo vs Chung Ling Soo