Food and Imagination: An Interview with Monique Truong

The interview, which took place at the writer’s apartment in Brooklyn last August 17th, focuses on Truong's “obsession” (PEN American 2014) with food. In all her writings––The Book of Salt (2003), a national bestseller and recipient of many literary awards, the acclaimed Bitter in the Mouth (2010), numerous essays and contributions to journals and magazines (the New York Times’ T Magazine, Real Simple, Town & Country, Condé Nast Traveler, Allure, Saveur, Food & Wine, Gourmet, etc.)––Monique Truong uses food, culinary practices and imagery as agents to explore and reconcile past and present, domesticity and domestication, linguistic confinement and creativity in a savvy attempt to investigate racial erasure and racial formation for Asian Americans.