Faculty of ArtAbout the film
This documentary short brings you into the kitchen of an East Vancouver grocery with an unexpected menu item: roasted pig. Discover the secretive cooking methods and Chinatown’s historical struggles with this iconic dish against municipal, provincial, and federal legislation. The ten-year long battle culminated in an extravagant Chinese roasted meats banquet hosted by Chinatown activists for high profile politicians at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The impressive dinner led to policy changes across the country that ensured this traditional dish could survive. Featuring rare soundbites from the “Pender Guy Radio Show,” the first English-language Chinese Canadian grassroots radio program from the 1970s.
About the filmmakers
Christy Fong is an IT specialist at the University of British Columbia, with interests in community histories via storytelling, art, and new technologies. Her thesis research focused on the 1968–1979 Barbecue Meats Protests in Vancouver’s Chinatown, specifically on the intersection of racialized legislation, community activism, and oral histories.
Denise Fong is a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program at the University of British Columbia, with research interests in the integration of new media and community engagement pedagogy in public and museum education. She is the Research Director for UBC Initiative for Student Research and Teaching in Chinese Canadian Studies.
