From Difference to Connection
9 MINUTE READ Following on from the Belonging Across Cultures podcast with Chef Norman Musa where he talked with Author Across Cultures Yang-May Ooi about beef rendang as the iconic dish of Malaysia, Yang-May’s curiosity was piqued about the origins of this, one of her favourite dishes. How did it come to be a Malaysian... Continue Reading →
When we travel to a new country to live for a long period, maybe as a student or because of our work, most of us feel homesick at one point or another. We miss our friends and our mums - and actually, often many of us miss the comfort of familiar food from home. Is... Continue Reading →
7 MINUTE READ Author Across Cultures, Yang-May Ooi, visits Melton Mowbray, the home of the eponymous pork pies on a special pilgrimage to the original shop where this British specialty was born. Read on for some social history and culinary innovation packed into a crunchy, yummy foodie delight... Belonging and Maverick Thinking in Melton Mowbray... Continue Reading →
11 MIN READ As a companion piece to her story about the Christian tradition of preparing food for Christmas, cross-cultural author Yang-May Ooi was going to write a light piece about Jewish traditional food during Hanukkah, which is also celebrated during December. Then the Bondi Beach shooting happened, an attack on unarmed and peaceful Jewish... Continue Reading →
Bod Griffiths, founder of Vale House Kitchen, joins cross-cultural advocate and author Yang-May Ooi to talk about leaving his big city job to teach traditional ways of preparing and cooking food. Going fishing as a boy with his grandfather gave him a respect for the old ways of seeking out and tracking the food we... Continue Reading →
7 MINUTE READ Cross-cultural author, Yang-May Ooi, celebrates the things that perhaps most British people take for granted in this new occasional series on Belonging Across Cultures. When we are born into and live in a particular culture, what we see, say and do every day is unremarkable to us. But when we have come... Continue Reading →
How early should we start our Christmas preparations? In this story, we look at the British tradition of getting things ready for the festive winter season - especially making the Christmas pudding. What does all this hard work and preparation tell us about what the British value? Cross-cultural advocate and author, Yang-May Ooi, finds out. ... Continue Reading →
Friends gather for dinner at Moya, an Eastern European restaurant in Oxford, all British but from an international background. Stories flow and talk turns to favourite foods from home. Cross-cultural advocate and author, Yang-May Ooi, invites you to listen in on the conversation round that table as her friends ask her what is her favourite... Continue Reading →
Yang-May Ooi, cross-cultural advocate and author, shares another vignette from her dinner with an international mix of friends the other evening about their favourite foods from home. A menu item evokes the history of East Germany, Unification and an individual story of migration and connection to one’s roots. A Taste of East Germany -- Eight... Continue Reading →
Cross-cultural advocate and author, Yang-May Ooi, introduces her new project Belonging Across Cultures with a story of her own mistaken assumption that led her to stereotyping a friend. How can we learn more about ourselves - and about other people in a way that connects us beyond obvious and unhelpful assumptions? Join her on this... Continue Reading →