Black & Asian Friends Talk About Stuff

In this season finale episode, we reflect on how our discussions on Star Trek's Spock, gong Xi gong Xi (恭喜恭喜), and bean pie influenced our interpersonal relations and identity journeys. We also talk about our struggles recording our podcast and our favorite podcast moments. Essentially, it's time to get a bit of behind the scenes of our thoughts of our own episodes this season! Soooo is it the end of an era... Or maybe, just the end of this season?? If you have any suggestions on how we should continue moving forward, contact us! We're also on the lookout for editors! Hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com, Twitter @Hotsaucethepod or on Instagram @BlackAsianFriendstalk Suggested food pairing: Friendch Fries with Vegemate This episode was produced by Q and edited by Lonnie --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

This week we're discussing our perception of beauty and self-love. We touch on our journeys with body dysphoria, our hair care, and struggling to find our self-beauty. Ultimately, we want to know: What does it mean to “be yourself” in beauty? Do our values truly align with our beauty standards? In particular, when accepting or defying societal beauty standards, how much are we truly able to separate and evolve our personal views of our beauty from family, culture, and society as a whole? Contact us at hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com, @HotSaucethePod on Twitter, or @BlackAsianFriends on Instagram Suggested food pairing: Heart of Palm This episode was produced by Q and edited by Onion --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

Fun fact: we're all vegetarian! But what does that even mean? Our real experiences of not eating meat depend on our backgrounds, beliefs, and personal preferences. Framed by Onion's crazy travel story, we discuss what being vegetarian means to us and the difficulties that arise from eating with people from different cultures. Let's take a deep dive into cultural appropriation, Islamophobia, and what to do when there is pork literally hanging from the ceiling. Suggested food pairing: the vegan Hi-Chew that must surely exist in another universe.

We reminisce about El Camino de Santiago, a backpacking walking pilgrimage in Spain, and our first time abroad together as friends. We also discuss how our environment can affect our understanding of nature and how different individual's philosophical approaches affects environmentalism: should we “control” nature in order to improve it or allow nature to “move” us to action? The documentary Teddy mentions in this episode is Biggest Little Farm. This is the second part of our guest episode with Teddy. Suggested food pairing: Green Beans This episode as produced and edited by Lonnie. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

When talking about Black people gardening and doing outdoors activities in America, we must consider how Black people have engaged with the outdoors throughout American history, and in particular how the trauma from slavery has affected their relationship with nature over time. Lonnie, Onion, and Q - along with their friend and guest Teddy - reflect on our experiences doing outdoors activities and how Black people in our lives engage with the outdoors. In that, we find our own loves and hesitations with the outdoors, and Teddy suggests how to begin overcoming any mental barriers that may keep us (and Black people more broadly) from gardening, hiking, and other things outside among nature. This is part 1 of a two-part episode with Teddy. If you have any comments, questions, replies, etc, email us at hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com This episode was produced and edited by Lonnie --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

In this episode, we will discuss first impressions and stereotypes. Like when you need to leave the store and someone insists on knowing where your parents and grandparents are really from, learning what a beat drop is as a junior in college, and being asked, “Why are your legs so hairy?”. We often neglect the impact our own assumptions may have when we meet people for the first time. For better or worse, these interactions is what often shapes - or confirms- our understanding of individuals and groups. Lonnie, Onion, and Q reflect on conversations where people have expressed incorrect views or stereotypes about us and how they've affect us. And should we fight these stereotypes or embrace them? Recommended food pairing: All American Apple Pie Follow us on Twitter @Hotsaucethepod and email us at hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com This episode was produced and edited by Onion. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

Feeling isolated or shamed because of a part of your identity can be hard. For co-host Q, it took her a long time to fully actualize being comfortable expressing Islam in the public and even around her friends. In this episode we veer off into a new aspect of identity as Q opens up about how she navigated judgement and misunderstandings of Islam (especially of the Nation of Islam) and touches on how she grew to embrace fully her full religious and spiritual identity. Give us your thoughts/feedback on Twitter @Hotsaucethepod or email us at hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com This episode was produced by Lonnie & edited by Lonnie and Onion. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

It's Throwback Tuesday! (Is that a thing? Was it ever a thing?) Hosts Lonnie, Q, and Onion usually talk about Black-Asian relations, but we also talk about weird culture shocks, why we travel, and why German is actually a beautiful language (the good, the irrelevant, and the silly)! Join us in listening to never released conversations from previous episodes, that give more insight to who we are and our friendship. Let's celebrate (almost) 10 episodes together! If you have any comments, questions, etc., leave a message on Twitter at @Hotsaucethepod or email hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com This episode was produced by Q and edited by Onion --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

From Tiger Woods to life in NYC, Leek, our first guest, touches on what it means to formulate one's identity. He shares how his own identity was formed growing up half-Black, half-Asian in the 1970s United States. In this interview-style episode, Leek shares whether he thinks identity is something that is external (how people perceive us) or internal (what we form within ourselves). Or, perhaps, is it a mix of both? After hearing Leek's reflections, let us know your identity journey and thoughts on how identity is formed by leaving us a voice message on Anchor.fm/hot-sauce2 or emailing us at hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com. This episode was produced by Lonnie and Q, and edited by Onion. Follow us on twitter @Hotsaucethepod --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

How important are our names? Do our names truly embody our identity? We reflect on these questions as we discuss what our own names mean to us, how they've shaped our lives, and our experience of how names have been understood and treated in the context of Black Muslim culture in America, of Asian American culture, and within a multicultural family. After this episode, we want to hear your thoughts on the significance of names and your journey with your name! Let us know @Hotsaucethepod on Twitter or hotsaucethepodcast@gmail.com This episode was produced by Q and edited by Onion --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

Meet Onion, who is mixed with European, Asian, and Black ancestry, and one of our three hosts. And just like ogres have layers, so does Onion- I mean, Onion has layers like an onion. Uh…. you know what? Let's forget the movie reference… Anyway, she will be peeling back her layers and sharing her experience being “tri-racial”, and how her unique identity has shaped her outlook of herself and society. Together with Lonnie and Q, we also discuss perceptions of Blackness (namely: is there such thing as not being “Black enough” culturally or racially?), and the ways she connects to Chinese/Chinese American culture. This episode was produced and edited by Lonnie --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

Let's talk media representation. Orrrr rather, let's talk about which characters in the media we feel portray how we think, how we act, and how we view life. Each of us pick two characters that resonate with us. In this way, we consider what it means to shift our ideas of what representation truly is and debate if, and how, race plays a role to us in representation. There may be mild spoilers in this episode, so listeners, beware! Shows/Movies/Books mentioned: Naruto, Moana, Speaker for the Dead, The Half of It, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Star Trek, and Steven Universe This episode was produced and edited by Onion --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

This episode begins with Onion and Lonnie discussing their initial thoughts on on how the killings in Asian-owned spas in Atlanta on March 16, 2021 has been framed in the media and online. And then, all three of us begin to wrangle with the implications of how the coverage of this violent incident affects making change in America and ending Asian hate and violence. Stay tuned for part 2 of this important discussion in a forthcoming episode. Oranges in Chinese cultures are given as traditional offerings for the dead. This is our offering in honor of the victims, and our retaliation to its bitter origins. This episode was produced by Q and edited by Onion --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

How much do you know about American history? We discuss how history is approached from our own life experiences, particularly in relation to Asian American and Black American contributions. We also reflect on our knowledge of Asian American and Black American history and see how much it has (or hasn't) shaped our lives. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

We explore (lightheartedly) the fusion of Chinese music and Hip-Hop through Chinese-language rap (C-Rap). Lonnie and Q react to C-Rap songs that aren't necessarily the most widely known or popular in China, that our resident C-Rap Fan, Onion, presents to us. From these songs, we discuss the meaning and execution of cultural fusion through Jazz and Hip Hop in Chinese music. Listen along with us! 1st song: Gongxi gongxi by Yao Lee and Yao Min: https://youtu.be/qXAWaKiXe0M 2nd Song: Dajie by 7LING: https://youtu.be/8D4fFaQzWzg 3rd Song: Turn up by NICKTHEREAL: https://4th youtu.be/bAbXgsEtYYw 4th Song: Yu (Jade) by Lay: https://youtu.be/MYKQWeGod8I Other less “memeable” honorable mentions: In the name of the father (以父之名）by Jay Chou: https://youtu.be/9q7JOQfcJQM Insomnia (失眠) by MC 耀宗 and Damon 孟緯: https://youtu.be/K60qWLCy5l0 Why you gonna lie by OSN 高薾宣： https://youtu.be/nEpF6ISYdM0 Coconut tree by CHING G SQUAD: https://youtu.be/GcGrqV6e5jI My new swag (我的新衣）by VAVA: https://youtu.be/aknkofx2bHg Nancy by Ak Benjamin ft. Marz 23: https://youtu.be/agIvGYMA7Cw CHANGE by E.SO: https://youtu.be/HTRQ0n4yjfs 心如正水 by IcePaper: https://youtu.be/T0motoUoUnw --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hot-sauce2/message

Let us take a moment to introduce ourselves through the gateway to the soul: food. (Oh? You thought it was the eyes, huh?