This is our last episode airing during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so today we bring you a conversation from our friends at the podcast “Worst Quality Crab.” 

Their show is a conversational version of an Asian American cookbook. It’s hosted by Freesia and Samson Lee, and they talk to guests about food that is meaningful to them, family history, and the people that make their shared meals so memorable. 

Last week, they hosted a live taping of their podcast at KALW’s event space in downtown San Francisco. And they invited Bonnie Tsui, the bestselling author of “American Chinatown,” which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. 

Bonnie had a lot to say about growing up with fortune cookies, but we want to start this excerpt from their conversation with her childhood memories of the different Chinatowns that became the inspiration for her book.