Popular Culture Review Vol. 18, No. 1, Winter 2007 | Page 92

88 Popular Culture Review In decorating the room the inevitable gay Chinese lanterns must be abundantly in evidence. The walls may be covered with Chinese scrolls; the paper ones are ridiculously cheap, bright and decorative. Swinging gongs and glass wind bells m ay be hung from the ceiling. These last will rattle musically at the slightest motion. If the odor of incense is desired to lend to the occasion a real Chinese flavor the ordinary punk sticks will do. These are cheap—five cents a bundle—and odorous. Any dark, polished wood tables will do, though, of course, Chinese bamboo tables would be suitable for the occasion. (113) These decorating tips recall earlier ones for Japanese tea parties and luncheons, given in every American community that aspired to be cosmopolitan. One of many articles on the subject, published in an 1892 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, recommended the placement of chrysanthemums, when in season, “in conjunction with anything Japanese that you may have—vases, screens or fans” (Battles 3). Bosse and Eaton hoped that China, too, had finally reached the point of becoming fashionable. Although Birchall calls the decorating advice in Bosse’s articles “hokum” (109), her grandmother clearly took it seriously. Surprisingly, the subject of decorating with Asian objects does not appear in the cookbook; Eaton is content to romanticize the dishes by recommending an artistic presentation. Chinese artichokes could be made to resemble water lilies by filling the centers with hard-boiled egg yolks whipped with olive oil, and the noodles of tori shim (Japanese chicken soup) cut in the shape of chrysanthemums. Beautiful Moon Tarts should be decorated with tiny moons cut from candied orange peel or drawn with fruit coloring. And Chinese flower custards, made in flower-shaped molds, should be decorated with actual “leaves suitable to the flower represented” (61). She further envelopes the foods in Onoto-Watanna-style romance by confiding that the Chinese recipes were “handed down” from Vo Lin, head cook of the highest mandarin of Shanghai, and that certain of the Japanese dishes are served regularly to the Emperor (5). Chinese-Japanese Cook Book demonstrates Eaton’s hope, despite mounting evidence of increasing prejudice against Asians, that Americans could yet be persuaded to experience and admire both Chinese and Japanese cultures. Although her participation in the “Japanese fad” has been interpreted as a betrayal of her Chinese heritage, her attempt her to extend American enthusiasm for Japan to China demonstrates her belief that the phenomenon provided a means of opposing racist attitudes. Unlike another of her sisters, Sui Sin Far, whose stories depict the suffering of Chinese people in America, she had concluded that average Americans would be charmed into giving up their prejudices long before they would respond to lectures. University of Nevada, Reno Ellen Dupree