The dishes I make myself flavor my moods, and season my experience of the news. As my birth country and my host country cast blame on one another, I eat four-cheese pizza with a side dish of blanched cauliflower seasoned with soy sauce, vinegar, and extra chili oil. The day Trump moved to halt legal immigration into the U.S., I poured osmanthus-infused syrup over a steamed Chinese yam, tingeing the edges of my rage and despair with its bright floral sweetness. When police detained volunteers who archived censored articles about coronavirus, I threw too many bird’s eye chilies into a Thai shrimp salad and then ate it in tears…..

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