"For Here or To Go?" - A Conversation with Curtis Chin on his memoir "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant"
Curtis Chin
28 June, 2025         
​9:30 am - 11:00 am, PT
AN ONLINE PRESENTATION
Join First Saturday PDX on our LAST Saturday this month and this season as we speak with documentary film writer, director, producer, activist, and author Curtis Chin about his memoir  “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant."  This story centers around Chung's, Chin's working-class family’s restaurant, a magical place opened in 1940 by his immigrant great-grandfather.  It celebrates the cuisine and community of Chin's youth, exploring his coming of age in the Michigan Asian American experience of the 1980's. ​
​​Curtis Chin is the author of the award-winning memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant." A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write comedy for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His essay in Bon Appetit was selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and his short doc, "Dear Corky" premiered on American Masters (PBS). His latest documentary film on artist Warren King for PBS will be out soon, and he is currently working on a second book "Leftovers" as well as a new docuseries on the history of Chinese restaurants in America. 
More info here: 
"For Here or To Go?"  A Conversation with Curtis Chin on his memoir 
"Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" video
Listen to PROOF Podcast with Curtis Chin
"How Almond Boneless Chicken Took Over Detroit"

​This presentation is offered via Zoom Webinar:
  • Join with computer, tablet, or smartphone. 
  • Register Here to receive the links to join the webinar and Tea House in the same registration confirmation email
  • See our Zoom page for information on how to connect to our online events.  
Our Stop Asian Hate Resources information is available here
Our program series is supported by Reed College,  the Northwest China Council, Lan Su Chinese Garden and the Portland Chinatown Museum. Our programs are free and open to the public.