xin lu video bus tour menu

media artist ming-yuen ma, a repeat catering client of mine, asked me to come up with a box lunch for his upcoming project in may, the "xin lu video bus tours." he's an unusual client - instead of planning a menu around an occasion like, say, a birthday or holiday, his catering requests are more concept-driven. the last job i did for him, he called me up and said, "i'm screening a documentary at los angeles contemporary exhibitions, can you come up with a menu that engages with the ideas presented in yoko ono's cut piece?" it was the first catering gig that required my consulting an artist friend to get the cliff's notes on what yoko ono's cut piece was all about.

this time around, ming calls and tells me, "i'm putting together a video bus tour in collaboration with visual communications, can you suggest some menus that explore the intersections between tourism, immigration, and displacement?"

okay, mr. ma, i'm used to you now. hmm, a bus tour, so it has to be something that is transportable and tastes good at room temperature; intersections between immigration and displacement, so maybe a food that's traveled and planted itself in different cuisines -- ah! the portable, humble, yet delicious bao, in its various iterations:

a bao sampler

eat
chinese-style bao of barbecued pork

korean-style cjeen bbang of nappa cabbage, spring onions, and pea sprouts

vietnamese-style banh bao of mushroom and quail eggs

filipino-style siopao of ginger and pork


drink
choice of young coconut juice, asian yogurt drink, or bottled water