Measuring Up

“I discover a whole new world of tastes. But I am leaving my old world.”

Cici’s interest in food began with A-má, and she loves the many different tastes she has encountered in Taiwan. They are comfortable and homey, and she will find similar comfort in them once she’s in Seattle. It will be a reminder of home, one that she learns to share with her friends.

“Will the food taste the same in Seattle? I try to memorize how it all tastes here.”

Food is an anchor for Cici. Food is also how she learns more about American culture, as through potato pancakes and cheese puffs. She eventually realizes that she can bring Taiwanese food into American culture, rather than keeping the two worlds separate.

“I don’t want to tell her I was too busy staring at her fireplace and thinking about the strangeness of Americans.”

Cici’s peers may think some of her food or practices are odd, but she also encounters parts of American culture that are peculiar to her. This subverts a stereotype, where the focus is typically put on the foreignness of immigrant ways rather than those of Americans.

“Good grades, good college, good job, good life.”

Cici’s family motto puts a lot of pressure on her to do well in school. Her parents and even A-má expect her to remain focused on academics, even as cooking becomes more important to her. Cici and her father both have to accept that Cici may not want to follow the same path as he did. Eventually, he encourages her to pursue cooking, especially in seeing what it means to her. The repetition of “good” in the family motto creates emphasis.

“I thought I knew rice—but I’m wrong.”

Rice recurs throughout the novel, symbolizing Cici’s connection to her Taiwanese heritage. In the first round of the cooking competition, Cici doubts her knowledge of rice, something that she makes frequently. She experiences a moment of doubt in which she doesn’t think Taiwanese cooking will be accepted. However, this moment also foreshadows how she herself will make rice in the final round and embrace her Taiwanese culture.

“If a smell could be a warm blanket on a cold, rainy day, this is it.”

Working with Miranda shows Cici that she has a lot of talent in the kitchen. At the same time, Cici is also able to expand her understanding of food, which prepares her to work on her own. Food itself carries an emotional meaning for Cici. 

The above line uses a metaphor, where something is compared to something else without using “like” or “as.” In this case, the smell of cooking is compared with “a warm blanket on a cold, rainy day.”

“I wish they didn’t assume that I’m cooking American.”

Even though Cici’s friends are well-intentioned in calling her food “American,” doing so erases Cici’s Taiwanese heritage. Cici wants to be loved because she is both Taiwanese and now, American. She has not forgotten where she came from.

“My dad always says hope is—a dull blade.”

Cici is surprised at how quickly she makes friends. However, after being teased for her lunch, she’s aware that some won’t accept her Taiwanese heritage because it might seem too “foreign.” For much of the novel, she keeps two major parts of her life separate.

“I never bring my friends home. They won’t understand the way we live.”

Cici is surprised at how quickly she makes friends. However, after being teased for her lunch, she’s aware that some won’t accept her Taiwanese heritage because it might seem too “foreign.” For much of the novel, she keeps two major parts of her life separate.

“I thought we were the only ones who need green cards. I learned something new.”

When Amy reveals that she is not an American citizen and doesn’t have a green card, Cici sees the parallels between Miranda’s relationship with Amy and her own with A-má. This foreshadows how Miranda will have to say goodbye to Amy, which will echo Cici’s difficulty in saying goodbye to her grandmother.

“But you don’t have to get good grades to get into a good college to get a good job. You’ve got it made.”

Cici is surprised to find that others have different hopes for their futures than she does. The pressure that she struggles with is different than what Miranda contends with. Part of her journey is recognizing that others will have their own measures of success. Miranda doesn’t feel that she has “it made,” even if she is free from the struggles that Cici herself is wrestling with.

“I know I shouldn’t be so happy that she approves. I am the supertaster, after all. But it still feels good.”

Cici learns much from Miranda as a cooking partner. She discovers more about what her strengths are, including her ability to parse out flavors and pair them with others, which proves invaluable in making her final dish for the cooking competition.

“But the only way to learn how to flip things is to flip them.”

Cici’s parents have taught her to be afraid of failure and to avoid it at all costs. However, Julia Child provides comfort by showing a willingness to try again in the face of failure. This provides a huge confidence boost for Cici as she learns to cook and compete on her own.

“She’s like my American A-má. She even speaks English with a strange accent.”

Julia Child becomes an unexpectedly important figure for Cici. An established and famed chef, she taught a generation of people how to make what became American food, and Cici (and later her mother) follow in her footsteps. Her cooking becomes a symbol for Cici of her own growing identity as an American, an identity that compliments her identity as Taiwanese.

“What did I just do? I’ve always kept my Taiwanese home separate from my American life.”

Cici sees the two halves of her life as distinct from one another. However, she ultimately brings them together by entering the cooking competition. Everyone in her life—from her Taiwanese parents to her American friends—comes together to cheer her on, proving that these two parts of her can work together.

“What if for the first time, they really realize how Taiwanese I am? What if they stop seeing me as being like them?”

Cici is unashamed of her Taiwanese identity, but she knows that she is different from her American friends Emily and Julia. She fears that they will see her as less American and therefore as less similar, and that their differences will create distance between them. However, Emily and Julia surprise her by relaying their own customs and traditions.

“I thought that I was so different from my friends but…we’re more alike.”

Cici initially puts a barrier between herself and her friends, living an “American life” with a “Taiwanese home.” However, when she gives her friends a chance to see who she really is, she is surprised to find how alike they are and how they also have their own family traditions and customs.

“Cici, they are American. They don’t have to try as hard. When people see us, no matter how American we become, they always see someone who’s not like them. We always have to prove ourselves first.”

Cici knows that her father is right. She eventually becomes content that her true friends see her for who she is, even though she also believes her father when he says that others will always look at her differently and will evaluate her by different standards. Cici’s father believes that she needs to succeed in one specific way—academically. Cici wants to chart her own path, one that her father ultimately accepts.

“I love A-má.”

Cici’s family does not use the word “love” very often. Cici’s statement about A-má is therefore full of meaning, and convinces her father to let her compete in the last round of the cooking contest. Their emotional reconciliation is symbolized by hearts illustrated on their shirts, demonstrating how they come to be in sync.

“I didn’t think they would come because…I still hadn’t believed in them.”

Cici spends much of the novel worried that her friends won’t accept her fully if they see her as Taiwanese; she forgets to give them credit and trust them to love her no matter what. When she sees them at the cooking competition, she feels closer to them. She recognizes that even though some people will approach her differently because she is Taiwanese, Jenna and Emily will not.

“I belong here—cooking rice for dinner so when Mom and Dad get home, the rice is done. Cooking for my friends and showing them a taste of Taiwan.”

These lines emphasize the dual role of rice for Cici. Rice connects Cici to her Taiwanese heritage. It is also something that she sees as a bridge between Taiwan and America. Cooking rice for her Taiwanese family and American friends emphasizes that Cici is both Taiwanese and American.

“I am made of A-má…and Julia.”

Cici struggles to balance her Taiwanese identity with her arrival in America, and tries to figure out how she can let them come together. When she adds lavender extract to her iû-png, she feels like she is being influenced by both her Taiwanese heritage and Julia Child.

“My dish is who I am…both Taiwanese and American.”

Cici realizes that she can be both Taiwanese and American as she cooks her final dish for the contest. This quote emphasizes how much she sees her identity as being tied up in the food that she cooks. While she spends much of the novel cooking traditionally American or European food, this is the first time she cooks Taiwanese food. She also adds her own spin on it, making it uniquely her own.