Podcast appearances and mentions of irene li

In the season 1 finale, Mofei and Calvin chat with Chef Irene Li from Mei Mei Dumplings in Boston. They explore her surprising journey to success and how she is reshaping the idea of success to benefit her community. Don't miss this engaging conversation before we shift gears for the summer!

Kate, Kristin and Molly speak with agent Lori Galvin about her long career in the food media space. She shares what spurred her decision to move on from editorial work and how agenting required on the job learning and an entrepreneurial approach. She talks about learning to trust in her own taste, why she enjoys working with both fiction and non-fiction titles and the changes she is seeing in the cookbook sphere. After touching on proposals, comp titles and platform building, Lori gives some advice to authors looking for their own agents and what she in particular looks for in an book. Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea NguyenEditor: Abby Cerquitella Mentions Lori Galvin at Aevitas AgencyQuery ManagerEpisode 76: Totally Achievable Zero Waste Cooking with Irene and Mei LiSh*t no one tells you about writing article on Query Manager (scroll down)Kristin Donnelly's mini-course about finding an agent Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the showNotes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame OnwuachiPie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies by Cathy BarrowPerfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking by Margaret Li and Irene Li

Today's episode is another from our archives. Last year, we took a trip to Mei Mei Dumpling Factory and Cafe following the grand re-opening of its first brick-and-mortar location since the pandemic. We met up with Mei Mei co-founder and James Beard Leadership Award-winning chef Irene Li for a tour of the facility, a discussion on the changing restaurant landscape of Boston and of course, some delicious dumplings.  Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Irene Li is the co-owner of Mei Mei Dumplings in Boston, MA. Irene grew up in Boston in a Chinese-American family where food was always paramount. She realized her love for cooking while attending Cornell. She and her brother and sister opened Mei Mei Street Kitchen, a food truck, in 2012. In 2018, Irene bought out her co-owner siblings in order to take full control of the business and take it in a new direction, a direction dedicated to identifying and addressing food injustice. She soon realized that dumplings were the most popular item on the menu, and doubled down on that item. Today she sells dumplings wholesale and at farmer's markets, and holds cooking classes. She is also an advocate for policy change regarding restaurants and food injustice within Boston and the Commonwealth.  Favorite success quote/mantra: “Generosity and the abundance mindset. We can share things because it's not pie.” In this episode we will discuss: Food injustice Food trucks Creating educational cooking classes NUMBERS! Wholesale Selling your product at farmer's markets Open book management Today's sponsor: MarginEdge: Boost your efficiency and profitability without adding labor costs. MarginEdge is a complete restaurant management software that allows you to seamlessly manage all aspects of your business from one central location. Track food costs in real time, make inventory faster and less tedious, easily cost out your recipes, and get a daily P&L so you always know where you stand. See how it works at marginedge.com/unstopabble. Restaurant Technologies the company that helps restaurants, “Control the kitchen chaos.” With RT's total oil management, you get: Dependable fresh bulk cooking oil delivery; Filtration + oil usage monitoring and reporting; Used cooking oil pick-up, and recycling; And say goodbye to messy, dangerous restaurant rendering tanks-yuck. RT's end-to-end cooking oils solution helps you manage your used cooking oil storage, collection, and recycling- conveniently, safely, and cleanly- with no upfront costs. Head to www.RTI-inc.com, and let them know the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast sent you their way. Owner.com is the leading all-in-one platform for restaurant marketing. Owner.com powers everything from SEO-optimized websites, direct online ordering, automated email and text marketing, built-in loyalty programs, zero commission delivery, and branded mobile apps for your restaurant that integrate right into your POS. With Owner.com, there are no contracts, no hidden fees, and nothing to lose. Join thousands of restaurant owners using Owner.com to grow direct online sales, save thousands in third-party fees, and simplify their online presence all-in-one.Book a free demo today at owner.com/unstoppable and see why Owner.com is the #1-rated Restaurant Marketing Software. Restaurant Systems Pro - Join the 60-day Restaurant Systems Pro FREE TRAINING. This is something that has never been done before. This 60-day event is at no cost to you, but it is not for everyone. Fred Langley, CEO of Restaurant Systems Pro, will lead a group of restaurateurs through the Restaurant Systems Pro software and set up the systems for your restaurant. During the 60 days, Fred will walk you through the Restaurant Systems Pro Process and help you crush the following goals: Recipe Costing Cards; Guidance in your books for accounting; Cash controls; Sales Forecasting(With Accuracy); Checklists; Budgeting for the entire year; Scheduling for profit; More butts in seats and more… Click Here to learn more. Contact: Wensite: https://meimeidumplings.com PrepShift website: prepshift.co   Thanks for listening!

This week Shirley ventures outside the studio and visits local restaurant owner Irene Li to make dumplings together for Lunar New Year. Irene is co-founder of Mei Mei Dumplings in South Boston. Shirley and Irene share their memories of celebrating Lunar New Year as children and their relationship with Chinese-American culture. Irene talks about the state of the restaurant industry and how she wants to make it better. Email us as saymore@globe.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kate and Kristin speak with sisters Margaret and Irene Li about their new book, Perfectly Good Food, and the concepts of shopping your kitchen and foraging your fridge. They discuss the idea behind the book, how they approached its unique structure and landed on its fun, friendly tone and created its flexible recipes. They share how they divided the work of writing and what is next for them.Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea NguyenEditor: Abby Cerquitella Mentions Food Waste FeastFood Waste Feast on InstagramMei Mei Dumplings Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the showPerfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking by Margaret Li and Irene LiDouble Awesome Chinese Food by Irene Li, Andrew Li and Margaret LiHome Comforts by Cheryl MendelsonSeeing Science: An Illustrated Guide to the Wonders of the Universe by Iris Gottlieb

On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Irene Li, Co-Founder of Mei Mei Dumplings, Co-Founder of Prepshift, and Co-Author of Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach To Home Cooking. They discuss what it was like to write a cookbook that encourages experimentation, the biggest challenges that lead to food waste in the home, and the new restaurant models emerging that give her hope for the future of the hospitality industry. While you're listening, subscribe, rate, and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” wherever you consume your podcasts.

In High on the Hog's second season, producers Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger continue to explore how Black hands in the pot influence what America eats. Screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy tackle issues of class, consumerism, and privilege in The Menu. With nearly 40% of the food bought in the US getting tossed, Tamar Adler finds delicious destinies for leftovers. Sisters Margaret and Irene Li crack the code for using wilted, nearly expired, and only-needed-a-tablespoon ingredients. The pandemic and an impulse to curb food waste led Balo Orozco to create Sunset Cultures, an artisanal kombucha and preserves company.

For more, visit https://www.wypr.org/show/midday  (This conversation was originally broadcast on July 3, 2023.) Americans love to eat, without doubt, but we also have a terrible penchant for throwing away a lot of food. About 4% of all the world's climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions comes from the perfectly edible food we routinely toss into landfills — some $400 billion dollars worth every year. Tom's guests on this encore edition of Midday are Margaret and Irene Li. A few years ago, these Chinese-American sisters, along with their brother Andrew, wrote an award-winning cookbook called Double Awesome Chinese Food.  The sisters grew up in Boston, and with brother Andy, launched a successful restaurant group and dumpling business. Mei Mei Dumplings are sold at farmer's markets throughout New England, and later this year, they'll be available to order online nationwide. The Li sisters' new cookbook draws on their experience in the restaurant and food industry discovering and perfecting ways to avoid wasting large volumes of food. It's called Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable ZERO WASTE APPROACH to HOME COOKING. The authors joined Tom in studio when they were visiting Baltimore for a book event at The Ivy Bookshop. Because the conversation was previously recorded, we won't be taking calls or emails.Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Who owns Taco Tuesday? Gustavo Arellano weighs in on the legal skirmish around the phrase. Using slices, pieces, and crumbs, baker Rick Easton treats bread as an ingredient. Sisters Margaret and Irene Li crack the code for using wilted, nearly expired, and only-needed-a-tablespoon ingredients. Krista Burton makes a cross-country pilgrimage to visit the last lesbian bars in the US. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison sets his sights on a newish spot that brings Korean fine dining to Los Angeles. Meredith Pangrace delves into Midwest pies and their origins in a new cookbook.

The bike lane debate has reached a boiling point on Centre Street in West Roxbury. We opened the lines to hear what listeners had to say. Singer/songwriter Naomi Westwater performs for on Live Music Friday. They joined before the Beats By Girlz festival, which takes place July 8th at City Hall Plaza. The esteemed Callie Crossley makes a return! She discussed alternative pathways to higher education for refugees in the United States, Wu's innovative swimming and safety initiative, and exciting summertime food trends. Irene Li recently published an enticing book titled "Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking." She gave the audience samples of dishes from her book, including delectable dumplings. Julie Wormser, Fidel Maltez, and Alex Train discussed the Resilient Mystic Collaborative. This coalition brings together various towns and local communities to address the impacts of climate change within the Mystic River Watershed. Ashish Jha has concluded his role as President Biden's COVID-19 response coordinator and has returned to his position as the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. He joined to talk about his experience. Now that summer has truly kicked in with the sun scorching the streets, we asked listeners to share tips on how they're staying cool in the heat.

Americans love to eat, without doubt, but we also have a terrible penchant for throwing away a lot of food. About 4% of all Green House Gas emissions comes from the food we toss into landfills, some $400 billion dollar's worth every year. Tom's guests are Margaret and Irene Li. A few years ago, these Chinese-American sisters wrote an award winning cookbook called Double Awesome Chinese Food.  The sisters grew up in Boston, and with their brother Andy, they started a successful restaurant group and dumpling business. Mei Mei Dumplings are available at farmer's markets throughout New England, and later this year, they'll be available to order online nationwide. Their new cookbook draws on their experience in the restaurant and food industry to move the needle away from wasting so much food. It's called Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable ZERO WASTE APPROACH to HOME COOKING.The authors joined Tom in studio when they were visiting Baltimore for a book event at the Ivy Bookshop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the last several months The Common has been talking about the lack of accountability for harmful behavior from local chefs and restaurateurs, such as the allegations against Barbara Lynch, as well as comments made by Ming Tsai on WBUR's CitySpace stage. Last month, CitySpace continued that conversation with a panel discussion called “A Reckoning in Restaurants: Combating Toxic Restaurant Culture.” During the event, audience members submitted questions for the panel, which included Hassel Aviles, Co-founder and executive director of Not 9 to 5 (a non-profit in mental health advocacy for the foodservice sector); Irene Li, Co-founder of Mei Mei Dumplings and James Beard Leadership Award winner; Janelle Nanos, Business Enterprise Reporter at the Boston Globe; and Hannah Selinger, James Beard Award-nominated writer. There were so many questions, that there just wasn't enough time to answer them all. So, we figured we'd continue the event here on the show with Irene and Hannah to answer some of the questions they couldn't get to that night. Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Do you have a hard time identifying with this kind of Chinese, or that kind of American, and wanting to create a third category of cultural identity? Do you feel so foreign while visiting China as a Chinese American?  Irene Li is a James Beard Award Winning Chef,  Co-founder/Co-owner at Mei Mei Dumplings in Boston,  Massachusetts. She is also a tech founder,  and  WBUR (Boston NPR) CitySpace Moderator/ Host. A Cornell University graduate, Irene Li was part of the college scholar program and majored in cultural studies.   Music used: Malachite by Andy G Cohen New Day by Alan Spiljak Even When We Fall by FPhilipp Weigl Above the Clouds by Bio Unit Bathed in Fine Dust by Andy G Cohen Highride by Blue Dot Sessions Flux by The Ghost in Your Piano Oxygen Mask by Andy G Cohen I Recall by Blue Dot Sessions One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy   Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is a one-on-one in-depth podcast interview show with Asian “Roots-Finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational podcast project is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions—as well as forgotten struggles and sacrifices—of our ancestors who paved the way for us today. We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story. To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org or go to our Facebook page or website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.” “One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time. Season 7 Find Your Roots Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3), with generous funding from PLUS Charitable Trust.

Earlier this week, local chef and James Beard Leadership Award winner Irene Li posted an Instagram Reel featuring a number of controversial comments made by celebrity chef Ming Tsai during a talk at WBUR CitySpace (moderated by Li). Today, Li joins The Common to move the conversation forward, with a broader discussion about culture and accountability in Boston's restaurant industry. Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

In late January, Mei Mei Dumpling Factory and Cafe opened its doors to sold-out crowds for the first time since the pandemic. The story of Mei Mei, which was co-founded by James Beard Leadership Award winning chef Irene Li and her siblings, has been defined by adaptivity and Irene's ambition to rethink the restaurant industry from the ground up. The Common pays a visit to Mei Mei and finds out what this latest evolution is all about. Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC political director Chuck Todd joined to discuss the latest national politics. Then we opened the lines to discuss new guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending immediate intervention as early as two years old to combat childhood obesity. Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discussed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's first state-of-the-city address, and the mayor's pledge to overhaul the Boston Planning and Development Agency. 93-year-old Holocaust survivor David Schaecter discussed the process to have his life story recorded for a holographic video display at the planned Boston Holocaust Museum, slated to open in 2025. Museum co-founder Jody Kipnis and Michael Berenbaum, holocaust scholar and museum designer, discussed the plans for the museum. Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert discussed the shows he's watching this winter, and Netflix's impending crackdown on account sharing. Chef Irene Li from Mei Mei joined to give Jim and Margery a dumpling-making lesson, in celebration of the Lunar New Year, and discussed Mei Mei's reopening as a dumpling factory and café in South Boston. We closed the show talking with listeners about sleepovers.

Irene Li, Boston-based chef and co-founder of Mei Mei, joins us to talk about leadership, adaptation, tradition and dumplings following the opening of her new dumpling factory.

When Li and her team started strategizing for the new 4,000-square-foot space, they ran with a novel question: "Wouldn't it be cool if people could see inside a dumpling factory?"

Today on Boston Public Radio: We began the show by asking our listeners how they feel about Elon Musk buying Twitter. Lyndia Downie, president of the Pine Street Inn, discussed the organization's plan to build more than 100 studio apartments at a former "Comfort Inn" in Dorchester despite the steep opposition from neighbors and local leaders. She also discussed the ongoing tension between the city of Boston and the state when it comes to Mass and Cass and ended by highlighting that Boston's homeless population has dipped by 25 percent over two years. Callie Crossley talked about the divorce between Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen. She also predicted the impact of Elon Musk buying Twitter, and weighed in on how the media covered John Fetterman's performance during his Pennsylvania senatorial debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz. Callie Crossley is the host of "Under the Radar with Callie Crossley.” Irene Li & Steven “Nookie” Postal brought food and talked about their respective journeys to reaching success in Boston's cuisine scene. Irene's "Mei Mei Dumplings" has a new cafe and dumpling factory opening in South Boston. "Nookie" provided updates about his restaurants, the "Revival Café" and "Commonwealth Cambridge." Deborah Z. Porter, the director of the Boston Book Festival, and author Gish Jen stopped by to give a rundown on what to expect at the festival this weekend. Gish also discussed her latest book. The musician "BLKBOK" performed during the latest segment of "Live-Music Fridays." He's a Detroit-based classical pianist who's worked with artists like Justin Timberlake and Rihanna. He had a show at City Winery on Thursday night. We ended the show by asking our listeners to call in and tell us about their favorite Halloween candy.

Plus, local comedians on Boston's evolving comedy scene.

Plus, how transparency can be a key component to building better relationships between restaurant owners and staff.

Coming clean. Opening up. Seeing right through. Today, we're talking all things transparent in the food world. From restaurateurs shaking things up with radical financial disclosure, to an enchanting clear dessert, our stories today explore the many meanings of transparency. What can we learn when we've got nothing to hide?Further Reading and Listening:You can learn more about Irene Li's latest venture, Prepshift, which aims to improve transparency around restaurant hiring, training, and regulatory compliance here! You can also find more information there about bringing open book management to restaurants. And there's always Mei Mei Dumplings.Listen to What Doesn't Kill You episode 194: What Is Really In That Packaging? Mike Schade Reviews the State of Food Packaging and How It Affects Our Health and the Environment.Find out how your favorite retailers rank on the toxic chemical Report Card on the Safer Chemicals Happy Families Website. To learn more about raindrop cakes and their history here  or here …or  here or here!Keep Meat and Three on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. Meat and Three is powered by Simplecast.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners how they find idle time to relax. Michael Curry weighs in on the U.S. response to monkeypox, and U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins' new hate-crime hotline. Curry is chair of the NAACP Advocacy and Policy Committee, and is president and CEO of the Mass. League of Community Health Centers. Kevin and Michael Bacon preview their latest music together, and discussed their tour across New England. Michael is an Emmy Award-winning film and television composer. Kevin is an actor – currently starring in Showtime's “City on a Hill” and the new thriller “They/Them.” Together they form the “Bacon Brothers” musical duo. Irene Li discuss BIPOC women in the farmer's market scene, and the state of the restaurant industry. Li is a James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Mei Mei Dumplings.  Shirley Leung updates listeners on the state of the MBTA, with the upcoming Orange Line shutdown and continued slew of dangerous incidents. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. Brad Vernatter, Omar Najmi and Mack Wolz perform a few songs, and discuss their upcoming performances of “Romeo and Juliet” on the Common with the Boston Lyric Opera. Vernatter is artistic and general director for the BLO. Najmi and Wolz are performers with the BLO. They were accompanied on piano by Douglas Sumi.  We end the show by discussing recent studies showing the harmful effects of unhealthy food.

On today's episode of All in the Industry®, Shari Bayer has a special “On the Road” show from the 2022 James Beard Awards in Chicago, which took place from June 11-13 in Chicago, IL. Shari's coverage includes her exclusive red carpet interviews with nominees and presenters at the Chef and Restaurant Awards at the Lyric Opera House, with a bit of our Speed Round game too! Plus, Shari has interviews with some of the winners during the awards ceremony and celebration (listed below). Congratulations to everyone! It was a wonderful awards weekend! Today's show also features Shari's PR tip to celebrate your journey; and Solo Dining experience at Chef Jason Vincent's Giant in Chicago. 2022 James Beard Awards -- Shari's red carpet and awards ceremony interviews in chronological order:Damian Sansonetti, Chaval, Portland, MENominee: Best Chef: Northwest and PacificRuben Ortega, Xochi, Houston, TX Nominee: Outstanding Pastry ChefZak Stern, Zak the Baker, Miami, FLNominee: Outstanding Baker Irene Li, Mei Mei Dumplings and Prepshift, Boston, MALeadership WinnerMavis Jay-Sanders, Drive Change, NYCLeadership WinnerChristian ClemensonActor playing James Beard, HBO Max series “Julia” JJ Johnson, FIELDTRIP, NYCNominee: Best Chef: New York StateLydia Chang, Pichet Ong, and *Peter Chang, Peter Chang, VA and MD*Nominee: Outstanding Chef(Lydia translates)Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar, Dhamaka, NYCWinner: Best Chef: New York StateNominee: Best New Restaurant, NYCCaroline Schiff, Gage & Tollner, NYCNominee: Outstanding Pastry ChefKatie Button and Felix Meana, Curate, Asheville, NCWinner: Outstanding HospitalityNominee: Best Chef: SoutheastTiffany Derry, Roots Southern Table, Farmers Branch, TXNominee: Best New RestaurantNominee: Best Chef: TexasCheetie Kumar, Garland, Raleigh, NCNominee: Best Chef: SoutheastChris Williams, Lucille's Hospitality Group, Houston, TXNominee: Outstanding RestaurateurAyesha Nurdjaja, Shukette, NYCNominee: Best Chef: New York StateYia Vang, Union Hmong Kitchen, Minneapolis, MNNominee: Best Chef: MidwestManeet Chauhan, Morph Hospitality Group, Nashville, TNPresenterClare Reichenbach, CEOJames Beard FoundationEllen Yin, High Street Hospitality Group, Philadelphia, PANominee: Outstanding RestaurateurSheldon Simeon, Tin Roof, Kahului, HINominee: Best Chef: Northwest and PacificClaudia Fleming, Union Square Hospitality Group, NYCPresenter**Justin Chearno, The Four Horseman, Brooklyn, NYCWinner: Outstanding Wine ProgramAlba Huerta, Julep, Houston, TXWinner: Outstanding Bar ProgramBrandon Jew, Mister Jiu's, San Francisco, CAWinner: Best Chef: CaliforniaWinner (Media Awards): Best Restaurant and Professional Book (with Tiehlon Ho)Grace YoungHumanitarian of the YearErick Williams, Virtue Restaurant & Bar, Chicago, ILWinner: Best Chef: Great LakesKatie Button and Felix Meana, Curate, Asheville, NCWinner: Outstanding HospitalityNominee: Best Chef: SoutheastMeherwan Irani, Chai Pani, Asheville, NCWinner: Outstanding RestaurantMartin Yan Lifetime Achievement Award**Photo Courtesy of Shari Bayer.Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. And check out Shari Bayer's YouTube Channel for two #JBFA videos with red carpet highlights and more! Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®. HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we're asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.All in the Industry is Powered by Simplecast.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners whether they're excited – or furious – over the return to the office. Shirley Leung talks about the life and legacy of former Fidelity Investments CEO Edward “Ned” Johnson III, and the North End restaurateurs fighting against $7,500 participation fees for outdoor dining. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. Callie Crossley discusses Ginni Thomas' texts connecting her to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, and shares her thoughts on the Senate's Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Crossley hosts GBH's Under the Radar and Basic Black. Tiffani Faison and Irene Li join us to talk about the James Beard Awards, and how their businesses have fared over the course of the pandemic. Faison is an award-winning chef and the woman behind Sweet Cheeks, Orfano, Fool's Errand, and the recently-opened Tenderoni's, Dive Bar, and Bubble Bath at High Street Place. She's also a judge on Food Network's “Chopped,” and a competitor on “Tournament of Champions.” Li is the woman behind Mei Mei Dumplings, and just won the James Beard Award for Leadership. Jennifer Nawada and Mark McCullough answer listeners' questions and calls on all things related to landscaping and masonry. Nawada and McCollough are the landscaping and masonry experts, respectively, for PBS' longstanding home repair show “This Old House” and its spinoff, “Ask this Old House.” Jennifer also owns Nawada Landscape Design, and Mark owns MJM Masonry, both based out of Boston.

Plus, we dig into what everyone should know about endometriosis, and revisit a conversation with Boston's newly-named James Beard award-winner, Irene Li.

In the last episode of Boston Public Radio in 2021, we're bringing you some of our favorite chefs from recent months. Joanne Chang talks about her latest book inspired by her baking journals, “Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes.” Chang is a James Beard Award–winning pastry chef. Bren Smith shares different ways to eat kelp in his book “Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change.” Smith is a former commercial fisherman and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, focused on regenerative farming in water ecosystems. Jacques Pépin and Shorey Wesen discuss cooking together as grandfather and granddaughter as part of their latest collaboration, the cookbook “A Grandfather's Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey.” Pépin is a chef, author and PBS contributor. Wesen is his granddaughter and cookbook collaborator. Dolores Huerta talks about why her work as a labor leader for farm workers' rights remains as relevant today as it was in the 1960s, and about coining the phrase “Sí, se puede.” Huerta is an activist and co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association alongside Cesar Chaves. Nathan Myhrvold dives into the world of bread baking with his latest cookbook, a 50 pound, six-volume series titled “Modernist Bread, The Art and Science.” Myhrvold is a Microsoft executive turned experimental chef and founder of The Cooking Lab. Marcus Samuelsson highlights Ethiopian, Swedish and other international cuisines in talking about his PBS show “No Passport Required.” Samuelsson is a global restaurateur, chef and TV host. Andrew Li and Irene Li share food and tips from their latest cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li: “Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from Our Chinese-American Kitchen.” Andrew Li and Irene Li are co-founders of the restaurant Mei Mei, along with their sister Margaret Li. Christopher Kimball previews his latest Milk Street cookbook, “Tuesday Nights Mediterranean: 125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine.” Kimball is the founder of Milk Street, a food media company which produces Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Magazine. He's also the host of Milk Street Radio and Milk Street TV.

Our guest today is Irene Li. And my god, is she a powerhouse. A six-time James Beard Nominee for Rising Star Chef, plus, Zagat's 30 under 30, Eater's Young Gun and so much more. She has now become one of the shining stars and entrepreneurs, a true community leader in the culinary space around Boston and beyond––especially noted for her huge heart and nimbleness in our post-covid food world. The youngest of three siblings who founded Mei Mei, a Dumpling FOOD truck (that's oversimplified by many leagues), like a contestant in an obstacle course, Irene Li is leaping over barriers as she grows.Photo Courtesy of Michael Piazza.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today on Boston Public Radio we're on tape, replaying some of our favorite conversations about food and cooking: Joanne Chang talks about her latest book inspired by her baking journals, “Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes.” Chang is a James Beard award winning pastry chef. Bren Smith shares different ways to eat kelp in his book “Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change.” Smith is a former commercial fisherman and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, focused on regenerative farming in water ecosystems. Dolores Huerta talks about why her work as a labor leader for farm workers' rights remains as relevant today as it was in the 1960s, and about coining the phrase “Sí, se puede.” Huerta is an activist and co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association alongside Cesar Chaves. Andrew Li and Irene Li share food and tips from their latest cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li: “Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from Our Chinese-American Kitchen.” Andrew Li and Irene Li are co-founders of the restaurant Mei Mei, along with their sister Margaret Li.

Boston Public Radio is on tape today, bringing you BPR's cookbook – conversations with some of our favorite chefs from over the years. Joanne Chang talks about her latest book inspired by her baking journals, “Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes.” Chang is a James Beard award winning pastry chef. Bren Smith shares different ways to eat kelp in his book “Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change.” Smith is a former commercial fisherman and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, focused on regenerative farming in water ecosystems. Jacques Pépin and Shorey Wesen discuss cooking together as grandfather and granddaughter as part of their latest collaboration, the cookbook “A Grandfather's Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey.” Pépin is a chef, author and PBS contributor. Wesen is his granddaughter and cookbook collaborator. Dolores Huerta talks about why her work as a labor leader for farm workers' rights remains as relevant today as it was in the 1960s, and about coining the phrase “Sí, se puede.” Huerta is an activist and co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association alongside Cesar Chaves. Nathan Myhrvold dives into the world of bread baking with his latest cookbook, a 50 pound, six-volume series titled “Modernist Bread, The Art and Science.” Myhrvold is a Microsoft executive turned experimental chef and founder of The Cooking Lab. Marcus Samuelsson highlights Ethiopian, Swedish and other international cuisines in talking about his PBS show “No Passport Required.” Samuelsson is a global restaurateur, chef and TV host. Andrew Li and Irene Li share food and tips from their latest cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li: “Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from Our Chinese-American Kitchen.” Andrew Li and Irene Li are co-founders of the restaurant Mei Mei, along with their sister Margaret Li. Christopher Kimball previews his latest Milk Street cookbook, “Tuesday Nights Mediterranean: 125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine.” Kimball is the founder of Milk Street, a food media company which produces Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Magazine. He's also the host of Milk Street Radio and Milk Street TV.

We take some time to celebrate the art of the sandwich, and take listener calls with Irene Li, head chef and owner of Mei Mei Restaurant Group in Boston, and Joe Gatto, local chef, culinary instructor, and host of "From Scratch," on Pluto TV.

Irene Li, chef and co-founder of Mei Mei restaurant in Boston, wrote about 8 Totally Achievable Ways to Show Up for Racial Justice… When You're White and Own an Asian Restaurant! Li breaks downs each item on her list, the difference between appreciation and appropriation, and how white chefs can use their power to work toward racial equity. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Lijia and Diana spill tea with Irene Li. Irene is the chef and owner of Mei Mei Restaurant and co-author with her siblings of Double Awesome Chinese Foods (2018). She is a five-time James Beard Rising Star Chef nominee and is involved with a number of community organizations. Today we will be discussing Irene about her recent article on Medium (linked in the show notes) as well as what it is like to be a 2nd generation Asian-American chef and owner of a Chinese restaurant. We also discussed what it takes to be successful as a minority and the cost of it.  Just a quick note: Irene has done several interviews regarding her business practices responding to Covid, therefore this episode we will not be too focused on the topic surrounding Covid. If interested, please see links below of her other interviews. We also posted Irene's article we discuss in the interview in the show notes as well. Edible boston interview: https://www.edibleboston.com/blog/2020/5/5/irene-li-mei-mei-restaurant-bostonWbur interview: https://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2020/05/13/reopening-with-coronavirus-restrictionsIrene article in mediumhttps://ireneshiangli.medium.com/8-totally-achievable-ways-to-show-up-for-racial-justice-when-youre-white-and-own-an-asian-2dcc72768e55Mei mei boston:https://www.meimeiboston.com/

Irene Li is a hilarious writer on serious issues, which I discovered when she sent me her piece, “8 Totally Achievable Ways to Show Up for Racial Justice… When You’re White and Own an Asian Restaurant!” She’s also the chef of the former restaurant Mei Mei in Boston, which has become a packaged dumpling company, as well as a project manager at Commonwealth Kitchen, where she’s helping Black and Latinx restaurant owners make their businesses work better for them. We discussed how her social justice work influences her cooking, and vice versa, as well as her new job. Listen above, or read below.Alicia: Hi, Irene. Thank you so much for coming on to chat today.Irene: Thanks so much for having me.Alicia: Can you tell me about where you grew up and what you ate?Irene: Yeah.So I grew up here in the city of Boston. And my family is Chinese American. And so, we ate lots of Chinese food at home and also all the other things that a kid can find to eat in Boston. So tons of grilled cheese and pizza and mozzarella sticks. Cheese was a big theme. And we ate kind of more classic Chinese homestyle food for dinner every night, like white rice and stir fry. And it was a while before I figured out that not everybody ate that at home every night. So I definitely remember some sort of consciousness around that developing at some point for me.Alicia: Well, what did that consciousness kind of mean for you?Irene: Well, I think there were the points where I started going over to friends’ houses and realizing that there was not always a rice cooker on the counter but always a microwave. But having a lot of fun with trying different foods, and bringing friends over to try food at my house, I feel like I was really lucky in that the friends who I had were always really interested in eating what was going on in the Lee house. Rice porridge, like shee fun or zhou, is a big feature of my childhood. So if you need to make a big pot of something and you only have a little bit of rice, that's how you do it. And one of my favorite memories is taking the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving, and making a big pot of rice porridge out of that. And I have some great memories of my friends and I just lying on the floor of my house on this really plush rug, because we had just eaten so much rice porridge and we couldn't bear to move. So there was a lot of that. [Laughter.]Alicia: Well, you are now a chef. And you work at your family's restaurant. But you did a lot of other things before you decided to do that. Can you tell us kind of what you did before that and what made you want to get into the family business? Irene: Yeah, so it's actually kind of funny. The family business for my grandparents was owning and operating restaurants. So my paternal grandparents had one restaurant in New York City, and then one in White Plains, New York. But as is the sort of tale of so many immigrant families, they ran a restaurant so that their kids could pursue higher education. And so both my parents are actually doctors. We kind of joke that it skips a generation. But I'm fortunate in that my—where I fall in the sort of generational path is that I had pretty much all the things that I needed when I was growing up, and so I could sort of choose based on my sense of self-actualization to go into restaurants. And so my brother initially had been working in fine dining, and he had this idea to open a food truck. He was watching way too much Food Network, and he's definitely an ideas guy. And so it was his idea for us to open the food truck in 2012, and then we opened the restaurant in 2013. So in a way, it's kind of a full circle around the kind of immigrant restaurant owner story. And prior to opening the food truck, I was really interested in different social justice and food justice issues. I was going to school in upstate New York and getting really interested in farming and the kind of economics of farming, and just going to the market every weekend and buying a vegetable that I had never seen or heard of and then take it home and try to figure out what to do with it. And so all of those things kind of collided when I got the call from my brother.Alicia: And so, how does that prior experience that you had influence how you work in a restaurant? Irene: Well, I think that for a while I thought of food as kind of an escape from the very sort of complicated political and social issues that I was interested in. When I was at Cornell, I worked in a men's maximum security prison facility as a college level course instructor. I was really interested in a lot of issues around the living wage and the One Fair Wage, and cooking on the weekends was kind of how I got away from that. But of course, things came full circle. And the more I got interested in food and the restaurant industry, the more I saw that a lot of these issues that are deeply rooted in our history of slavery in the U.S., in so many of the struggles of different immigrant groups—those are very much present in the restaurant industry to this day. And so I kind of feel I came all the way around this corner. And now that's what's most interesting and exciting to me about the restaurant industry, is addressing those issues.Alicia: And how do you do that? Is it something that manifests only in your writing? Or is it something that really manifests in the day-to-day work in the kitchen and in the restaurant?Irene: So I would say prior to COVID, we were trying to build Mei Mei Restaurant as a model for a fairer form of employment, as a business that really invested in its team. And there were a few different ways that we did that. We had a very, I would say, sort of positive culture overall. No yelling, no throwing things, which is—in a way, it's kind of wild that you have to say that. But of course, we're talking about restaurant kitchens. So we had a staff that was typically majority women-identifying, majority person of color-identifying, and with a very big LGBTQI group as well. And so in a lot of ways, we were able to kind of cultivate this space that for the most part, I hope and believe was safe for many people who may not have felt safe in other parts of the restaurant industry. We also did a lot of work to try to educate our staff and also our guests on how the industry really works, what's sort of going on under the hood. And so in early March of 2020, we hosted this public event where we showed everyone our profit and loss statement for 2019. And we really wanted to just kind of start a conversation about when you buy a $20 plate of pasta, where does that money go? And I think consumers are very narrowly focused on what's on the plate, because it's the most immediate thing. And so that's why you read so many Yelp reviews, where people say, ‘I could have gone to the grocery store and paid $4 and made this myself.’ And yeah, that's the secret of restaurants, is they’re scamming you and food costs are only 20 percent of the menu. And so, that financial transparency is something that we had been practicing internally with the staff for several years. And so, we really wanted to take that conversation kind of on the road and see what people would think about what the kind of realities are in the industry, where the average, independent mom and pop restaurant only clears about 4 to 6 percent profit in an—in a pretty good year. And then of course, days later the pandemic hit, and we were all in even sort of deeper water than we were before.Alicia: And what was the response like to that event from the public?Irene: The event was awesome. We also broadcasted on this thing called Zoom that I had never heard of before. It was wild.We got such a great response, especially from the people who were able to attend in person. They asked tons of questions. And as a speaker, I tend to be a little bit more honest than maybe my partners or team would want me to be. But people asked about my salary. They asked about the ways that I still felt we had to improve. We did a feature with Eater, and that generated a lot of conversation on Facebook. And some of it was not entirely positive, but even that felt great. Yeah, if you think I'm a moron because of what my books say, let's talk about it. You can show me your books, or we can just have a conversation. And all of that felt really generative.Alicia: And so, how did the pandemic kind of change the way you ran the restaurant and the business model? I know that a lot of restaurants that didn't have a tipping model, that had a kind of hospitality-included model and were more transparent around the business side of the restaurant and those tiny profit margins kind of weathered this switch a little bit better simply by the nature of their-how they ran their businesses and by how they—how much money was in the bank, because they knew they had a big payroll anyway.But how did the pandemic kind of come hit your restaurant, and how has it been in the over a year since?Irene: So initially, I will say going back to having two parents who are doctors, we were very conservative about closing down and not asking anyone to come into work. We really did our best to keep people employed as long as we could. So there were some restaurants that laid everyone off in March, and we kept almost all of the team employed through June. And then, we laid off about two thirds of the team at that time. And that is probably one of the worst things I've ever had to do in my life. And at that point, we were kind of looking around and saying, ‘Oh, ok. The pandemic’s not getting better. It's been a couple months. And it's actually getting worse,’ because we're seeing what's happening in other parts of the country that maybe we thought no one would be as hard hit as New York City, for instance. But things looked really bad. And so at that point, we made the decision—I guess I made the decision with the help of my partners and my team—that we weren't going to reopen Mei Mei as a restaurant. And that had to do with a lot of different things, including the timing of our lease, which we felt didn't really allow us the time that we would need to rebuild. And so that, in addition to the fact that there was just so much uncertainty, we decided we were going to take things in a different direction. And so now, we are evolving Mei Mei into a packaged dumpling company. It is a really exciting project. And I have partners now who are going to sort of carry that forward, which has been amazing for me because it's opened up the opportunity for me to work more on supporting other restaurants. So I joined CommonWealth Kitchen, which is a food business incubator here in Boston, as a program manager for an initiative called the Restaurant Resiliency Program. And I work with eight Black and Latinx business owners to strengthen and improve their restaurant businesses. Honestly, it's just my dream job. So much of it is about not teaching them basics or mechanics, but really being there with them and making sure they have the confidence to do what they need to get done. So I just ordered eight kitchen scales. And I'm so excited to visit the restaurant and do some costing and really kind of get up to my elbows with them. And so for me, that really feels like trying to take what I learned from Mei Mei and the mistakes that I made, the mistakes that I could afford to make as someone from a privileged background coming into the restaurant industry, and really trying to pay that forward to support an industry that I hope will be made up of really diverse restaurants run by really interesting people with a lot of different stories. It's funny. At the event last March, I said, ‘If Mei Mei doesn't exist in ten years, that's too bad for me. But if there aren’t any cool independent restaurants to eat at in tneen years, then I'm going to be really pissed.’ And so for me, it's always been more about the industry at large and the restaurants that I want to be able to eat at than my business specifically.Alicia: I mean, we've talked a lot about the government inaction during the pandemic in order to help independent restaurants. What do you think in the future, either from what you've learned, running Mei Mei or now in your new position, to-what could be useful to small business owners in the food industry, from a governmental-from a policy standpoint, really?Irene: Man, where to start? [Laughter.] There's so many different things that could be done. I guess, for me, having access to federal aid and even state aid. Getting assistance to fill out the Payroll Protection Program application. I am college educated, and I could barely get myself through that. So I can't imagine not speaking English as a first language, for example, and trying to wade through all of that. So I think offering the technical support is really key. I think the government, the federal government, learned a big lesson with the Payroll Protection Program in that there are going to be large companies that take advantage of opportunities because they are qualified on paper. So, if you're really looking to help small businesses, then you have to be targeting companies that are posting revenue below a million annually, for example. I have been so moved to be involved in different mutual aid efforts, whether it is a community fridge or a grocery program or just neighbors helping each other navigate government paperwork. And so honestly, it's hard for me to imagine what better government support looks like because this funnel of people just saying, ‘F**k it. We have to figure this out ourselves.’ That has been really exciting to me. I will say, I am really optimistic about the American Rescue Plan. I like the opportunities that are built in there for restaurants. I am very hopeful, cautiously optimistic, that that money will go to the restaurants who really need it. And I think what is exciting about the way that bill is formed is that if you didn't get any PPP money, you can get more money from this plan. So hopefully, that will address some of the barriers that especially immigrant restaurant owners and Black and Latinx restaurant owners are facing.Alicia: And as you're kind of getting into this mode of helping other small business owners not make mistakes, do you have—what are the top three mistakes that people make when they're getting into the restaurant business and making all these decisions?Irene: I think all of it ultimately comes down to how often they're looking at the numbers, and how the numbers are organized. So I mean, I've observed over the years that a lot of small businesses early on, they're not paying attention to the bills necessarily, or they're paying the bills but they're not organizing them. And maybe, every invoice just goes into a shoe box and then at the end of the year you give the shoe box to your accountant and say, ‘Here you go!’But having a profit and loss statement that is organized in a way that actually helps you make decisions, that is a luxury that not all businesses have invested in or have the resources for. Because there's a version of your financials that's just for taxes, and everybody has to have those every year. But there's also a version that provides a readout on how your business is doing that is so valuable. I think restaurant owners are incredibly smart. And their instincts are usually pretty dead-on. But there are a lot of little kind of details and finer points like, ‘Should we close an hour earlier? Should we open on Mondays? Should I take this dish off the menu?’ Those are questions that they can rely on their gut to some extent, but it's not going to get them necessarily to the point where they're really thinking about growing the business if they don't have the data to rely on. And so, I'm so lucky that I had a team that was really invested in getting the financials to the point where they would be useful. We also had a grant from the state of Massachusetts to work with a consulting firm that helped us implement open book management. And I am now at the point where I am so excited to see the profit and loss statement every month, because it's like, ‘Yeah, I want to know how I did.’ I hope that every restaurant owner can experience that excitement, and not just sort of the stress around putting financials together and then trying to read them.Alicia: Yeah, I think that that's probably a problem for a lot of independent workers, speaking for myself as well, is that you don't like to look at the money because you're afraid of looking at it. I've learned so much better to just be aware and kind of go full-on and try and really understand what you're doing. But it's easier said than done. [Laughter.]Irene: One of the other challenges in there that I'm sure applies to a lot of people in different lines of work is that as a business owner, for a long time, I didn't really know what accountants and bookkeepers did. Right? Alicia: Right. Irene: So I didn't really have a way of telling like, ‘Are you doing a good job or not?’ It's kind of when I take my car to the mechanic, right? And I don't know anything about cars, and so I kind of just shrug my shoulders and say like, ‘Ok, yeah, sounds good.’And so, I think some of what we're doing through this program is kind of teaching the restaurant owners how to speak accountant or how to speak bookkeeper and to give them confidence in those relationships. And I think for some of these folks, they do not have the confidence working with professional services to really say like, ‘Hey, this is what I need. This is how I want you to do it.’ And so, they're going with the flow but it's maybe not as useful as it could be.Alicia: Before I ask specifically about a couple of the pieces you've recently published, I wanted to ask what inspired you to start writing about certain issues in the restaurant industry? Do you like writing, or is it more about something that you just feel there are things that need to be said? Irene: Yeah.I will say, I love writing. I am so in awe of anyone who can do it on a schedule, ‘cause I really have to be in the right place with the right idea to produce anything. I did write for the local public radio station WBUR for a few months, and that was great experience just in terms of working with an editor and on deadline and all of that. And I think I figured out that it wasn't for me. But in this case, I usually write when I feel moved to. And usually that is when I feel there's a story that's not being told or a perspective that's not getting shared. So often, it comes from a place of wanting to tip the scales of a conversation, or make sure that things don't get left unsaid. Alicia: And one of those pieces that you wrote is the-a bit of satire called ‘8 Totally Achievable Ways to Show Up for Racial Justice… When You’re White and Own an Asian Restaurant!’ And I wanted to know, how did you arrive and feel inspired to tackle that subject from a satirical angle? I mean, this is a subject that's been written on. This is a subject that is just shockingly persistent in the white dudes owning Asian restaurants. That's very persistent. And so, I mean, I guess the reason you maybe wanted to approach it that way is because it is at this point such a joke and a trope, a cliché.But yeah, what inspired you to go about it that way?Irene: Yeah.Well, one of the things I've said as I've talked a little bit more about the piece is, I've been writing this piece in my head for years. So it didn't come out of nowhere. But I guess it came out of my desire to engage on this topic that typically is not really engaged on. It's more an unstoppable force hits an immovable object, and where he says, ‘Hey, you can't cook that!’ And then that person says, ‘Yes, I can! I can cook whatever I want.’ And then the conversation goes nowhere. And actually, everyone leaves that discussion feeling angry or resentful. And then, I don't think we get anywhere productive out of that. And so, especially in getting involved in the restaurant industry myself, I felt these chefs are—they're not bad people. It's not about whether they're good or bad. And there's actually maybe some really important conversation and exploration that we can do here. And so my goal in writing the piece was, in part, to share my views without alienating anyone. And I don't think that's always necessarily the purpose of writing, but it felt like something that I could do pretty effectively. I went to prep school. And so, I feel I have been educated all my life in how to talk to well-meaning white people about how to be better. [Laughs.] And so I think that, I wanted to write a piece where by the end of it you couldn't really disagree with me. I mean, of course, a lot of people did, which is fine. But I wanted to sort of take the reader by the hand and be like, ‘Ok, let's go look at this thing together.’ And so, I didn't use the phrase cultural appropriation, which I didn’t notice until after I had written it. But I think that I wanted to accept that there is both something very complicated and uncomfortable about this topic. And at the same time, there's a lot of stuff that most of us just agree on, like, ‘Racism is bad, and taking credit for other people's stuff is bad.’ And so, how do you kind of weave those very simple truths in with this very complicated, scary territory? And so my hope was to kind of lead the reader through that space, so that they could come out on the other side feeling not like, ‘Oh, I am now bereft of my purpose. And everything I've created is for not.’ But to make them feel like, ‘Oh, there are some next steps I can take. And I can keep showing up to this conversation and be part of it.’All of that being said, I did get a lot of calls from people who were like, ‘I read your article. It made me think so much. And I'm just wondering, what do you think I should do?’ And, well, I did write a list. So let's start there. And I think that that kind of response is about what I expected, and I think it's totally appropriate for someone who has never really engaged with these ideas to come right to me and say, ‘Help.’ And so, I welcome that. And I am glad that they wanted to call me and talk to me. But it's just so new to some people that even after reading a list of eight things that you can do, the question is like, ‘Wait, what? Sorry, now?’ How? Where do I—’ It's fascinating to watch.Alicia: And as you mentioned, you did not mention, use the phrase cultural appropriation, which I think actually did serve the piece to make it a bit more powerful because you didn't-It was so straightforward. And cultural appropriation, as a phrase and as a concept, I think, has been—it's screwed over as an idea because of the right and the way that the right has taken it and suggested that its meaning is something that it's not. Irene: For sure.Alicia: And that's just ruined it, because no one can say it anymore without being called—I don't know how the right talks. I just know that they like to take phrases and just be like, ‘Look at what they're saying. They're saying you can't cook a—if you're white, you can't make a burrito in your house.’ And it's like, ‘Dude, how dare you? That's not it.’And so, how does that phrase play into your life right now or thinking at all about food?Irene: I guess to me, the phrase invites a lot of argument because it is—it invites opinion and asks for nuance. And sometimes, those two things don't go hand in hand. And so, while part of me wanted to write ‘8 ways for cultural appropriators,’ I felt like, ‘Ok, if I really want to get the attention of the people I'm talking to, let me use phrases and facts that they can't argue with. Are you white, yes or no? Do you own an Asian restaurant, yes or no?’And so yeah, my hope was to kind of get my foot in the door with that, and to not, to try not to make kind of value or moral judgments about them. And to just say, like, ‘Hey, you meet these qualifications so maybe we should talk about this thing.’ And I've had some really great conversations with white folks who own Asian restaurants. And I am hopeful that this conversation goes somewhere. My incredible friend, Tracy Chang, who is a restaurant owner in Cambridge, she said to me, ‘Just make sure they know it's not Monopoly, where you land on Community Chest and the card says like, ‘Ooh, mass shooting! Pay an Asian American organization $500, and then go on your way.’ And so, I think the longer term accountability is another really interesting piece of this that I'm hoping to be able to sort of keep up with.Alicia: You also wrote about Raise The Wage. What is your involvement in that, and why did you decide to get into that?Irene: Yeah.Well, I've been working with the Restaurant Opportunity Center and high-road restaurants, which is their sort of employer-side organization, on the campaign around One Fair Wage. So in both wanting to raise the minimum wage, and abolish the sub-minimum wage, which is what servers are paid if they receive tips. So federally, the sub-minimum wage is $2.13 an hour. And locally in Massachusetts, I believe it's $5.55 an hour. And the piece that we wrote on Medium was from a group of Asian American women, talking about how these laws disproportionately affect women and people of color. And so in a way, there's kind of a similar message, which is like, ‘Do you like racial equity? And do you think that the way people are paid should support racial equity?’ And then, ‘If you do, which I'm sure you do, the only logical conclusion is that we have to change tipping policy in this country.’Of course, it's not that simple. But I think that to me, the motivation for changing the way we do things is so clear. And so, I'm hoping to get more involved in that conversation. Even though I'm not a restaurant employer anymore, I actually feel like maybe I can play a different role in that community and in highlighting this issue.Alicia: Right. And for you, is cooking a political act?Irene: Oh, yeah. I mean, I think cooking is partially political. What really feels political is when I feed other people. So to kind of wrap that in, then I would say definitely. I think that we so undervalue food and everything that goes into it. I think that is deeply tied to the history of slavery in this country, and you know, the way that, that capitalism works now. But I think that, for me, cooking is a way to imbue food with the value of my time of my love and energy. And that you can literally bring people to the table and make them, or ask them to listen, or to experience your perspective. I think that, that's what the magic of food is for me. And working with a lot of immigrant restaurant owners in particular, I think that the storytelling that happens through food is 100 percent political.Alicia: Well, thank you so much.Irene: Thank you. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at www.aliciakennedy.news/subscribe

Today on Boston Public Radio: Dr. Ryan DeLapp explains how many people of color are experiencing trauma from videos of police brutality, and reactive coping methods adopted by people of color. Dr. DeLapp is a psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center and Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Saida Grundy weigh in on hate crime legislation, arguing that hate crime laws are too narrow and largely symbolic. Grundy is an assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at Boston University, and the author of the forthcoming book “Manhood Within the Margins: Promise, Peril and Paradox at the Historically Black College for Men.” Next, we ask listeners whether they think vaccination incentives could lower vaccine hesitancy. Irene Li and Margaret Pimentel talk about CommonWealth Kitchen’s Restaurant Resiliency Initiative, which supports independent restaurants impacted by the pandemic. Li is the chef and owner of Mei Mei, which is now evolving into a dumpling company, and she’s the program manager for CommonWealth Kitchen’s Restaurant Resiliency Initiative. Pimentel is the owner of Achilito’s Taqueria, which has locations in Brighton, Jamaica Plain, and Patriot Place. Attorney General Maura Healey discusses an increase in COVID-related scams, and laid out her plans to make it easier for people to report hate crimes. As always, she answers listeners’ questions during Ask the AG.

On our sixth episode from the Clubhouse app, we talk to a panel of F&B industry professionals about the employee life cycle, from hiring and onboarding to training and retention. We speak to Jordan Boesch of 7shifts, Irene Li of Mei Mei, Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ, Jeanie Chunn of High Roads Restaurants, Jesus Gutierrez of Chamba App, and Samantha Strom of Quarterlife Crisis. The conversation focused on the ways that businesses could be doing more to help their employees and attract new employees through the same methods. Speakers: Jordan Boesch - CEO of 7shifts @7shiftsinc Irene Li - Chef Owner of Mei Mei @meimeiboston Shawn Walchef - Owner of Cali BBQ @calibbq Jeanie Chunn - Director of Engagement at High Road Restaurants Samantha Strom - Career & Leadership Coach at Quarterlife Crisis Jesus Gutierrez - Hospitality Director of Chamba App @chambalatina

This week on NEXT, in the aftermath of the killings of six Asian women in Atlanta, we hear about the inextricable link between racism and sexism. Plus, we talk with Boston chef and restaurateur Irene Li about how the pandemic has altered our relationship with food and cooking. And the entanglement of a North Atlantic right whale named Snow Cone has caused an outcry from fishermen, who say they’re being unfairly blamed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We discuss the impact felt across the restaurant industry with Irene Li, owner and head chef of the Mei Mei restaurant group. 

Vulnerability is the superpower that can change the world and, in the moment, is changing the face of the hospitality industry. When Chef Irene Li opened her books revealing that her busy, award-winning restaurant Mei Mei was breaking even, the news went viral. Diners were shocked and restaurateurs were forced to take a hard look in the mirror. The jig was up. Today Irene opens her books again, giving us insight into what Mei Mei is today and what it will become in the future. For more info on Mei Mei’s virtual classes and CPG offering go to http://www.meimeiboston.com Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news Book time on my personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z Download our restaurant recovery guide: https://bit.ly/2ZAcmo0 Sign up for the free town hall featuring JET TILA: https://bit.ly/33Pa06P

Note: We’re on tape today, replaying some of our favorite conversations.  On Today’s Boston Public Radio Actor Ed Asner discussed his new play, called "God Help Us!” Restauranteurs Andrew Li and Irene Li talked about their new cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li, called "Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from our Chinese-American Kitchen." Bren Smith, a former commercial fisherman, discussed his new memoir, “Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer." Writer Christopher Castellani discussed his latest novel, "Leading Men." US Women’s National Team Soccer player Sam Mewis stopped by the GBH studio days after winning the Women’s World Cup Championship.

節目名稱：2020/06/25 番茄種植專題（上） - 許亞明；Irene Li - 國泰銀行VP 節目預告：週一〜週五10：00─11：00 主持人：王欣 專題嘉賓：許亞明 人物訪談嘉賓：Irene Li _____________________________________  洛杉磯 AM690 URadio 你的電臺 優悅你的生活  線上收聽 Tunein：goo.gl/3gsPX6 Simple Radio: goo.gl/szsDkW  節目訂閱 Apple iTune : goo.gl/G2HG5T Google Play：goo.gl/mxVCag

Irene Li, the celebrated chef of Boston's Mei Mei, discusses her commitment to helping mom-and-pop restaurants and immigrant families survive during the pandemic. Plus, how a longtime customer helped a Los Angeles restaurant owner keep his business afloat as his sales plummet due to coronavirus.

On March 9th, Chef Irene Li, owner of Mei Mei Restaurant in Boston, opened their finances to the public at an event called Open Book Open House. The purpose? To get people having more open and honest conversations around restaurants and money. But just a week after the Open Book Open House, restaurant dining rooms closed due to COVID and all of a sudden restaurant finances were on everybody’s mind.   Thank you all so much for listening to our second season! We really appreciate each one of you. If you have any thoughts about season 3, send them our way.  We’re also very grateful for Pared, our season 2 sponsor. Sign up to be a member now and join the community of other foodservice workers.  Help the restaurants and organizations featured in our second season:  Kin Restaurant in Boise, Idaho - support them by ordering delivery Otoño in Highland Park, Los Angeles - support them by visiting their location they’ve converted into a Spanish market. They also have gift cards and an employee relief fund. Homeroom in Oakland, California - They are still open for take-out and delivery and they also have an employee fund. Opening Soon Podcast and Tilit in New York City - Opening Soon has done a great job covering talking to restaurant folks about how they’re affected by COVID. Tilit is also selling masks with a buy-one-give one policy. If you buy one through them, they’ll donate one to a food service employee volunteering or a medical professional. Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement in Emeryville, California - Fernay and team are doing Saturday and Sunday orders right now and they also have a relief fund.  Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon - Le Pigeon is currently doing a cellar sale for bottles of wine. Plus they have other merch and gift cards for sale.  One Fair Wage - One Fair Wage has set up a relief fund for foodservice workers in need. You can donate to the fund or volunteer to help call applicants.  Giving Kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia - They are still helping foodservice workers in financial crisis so you can donate to that. They also have a COVID-19 resource page.   Mei Mei in Boston, Massachusetts - They are still doing bulk orders, virtual dumpling classes, and selling gift cards. 

5/7/20--On today's episode we're joined by special guest Irene Li, co-founder and owner of Mei Mei in Boston. She talks about the response to the coronavirus pandemic in the restaurant industry at large, and how things look for her eatery in particular. “We know that we are going to weather this thing, even though we don't know what the other side will look like.” Mei Mei is one of many Boston restaurants now selling groceries after the city made it legal two weeks ago. Consumers can pick up a variety of items that might be out of stock at grocery stores. Li says, “Sometimes somebody will come in just for dumplings and 4 rolls of toilet paper. Other times they'll buy a $45 grocery box that has eggs and butter and different veggies, flour and yeast.” The social distancing orders have put a strain on restaurants' bottoms lines and have forced Li and other owners to get creative. “It's all about thinking about new ways to connect with our guests.” Like making Mei Mei's in-person dumpling-making classes into virtual ones, about which she says, “We are selling those tickets out faster than we can put them up on our website." In case you missed it, Wednesday, May 6 marked the first day that mask-wearing became mandatory in the state of Massachusetts. Governor Baker's order applies to anyone "who is in a place open to the public in the Commonwealth, whether indoor or outdoor, and is unable or does not maintain a distance of approximately six feet from every other person." We're looking at an extremely crowded field vying for the Massachusetts 4th District congressional seat. A ruling put forth last month by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court cut in half the number of signatures required to get on the primary ballot. As a result, a whopping 10 Democrats and 1 Republican have qualified for the primary.

Mei Mei in Boston has been an open book restaurant since 2017. They train their entire staff on the finances so that everyone can have a voice in making the restaurant run more efficiently. But on March 9th, Chef Irene Li, owner of Mei Mei decided she wanted to take the education a step further and open their books to the public. What do the finances of a small independent restaurant really look like? Turns out, it’s even rougher than everybody would like to admit.

On this special show I speak with Irene Lei of Mei Mei Restaurant in Boston about what running her business has been like since the coronavirus crisis started and the Unsung Restaurant Fund, a fund that she and a friend started to highlight the immigrant owned and run restaurants in Boston.Photo courtesy of Irene Li.A Hungry Society is powered by Simplecast.  

Irene Li isn't afraid to talk about privilege (especially her own), share her profit and loss statements with every employee, or disclose how difficult it can be to run a successful restaurant. Li is a chef and restaurateur who walks the talk. Hearing how she and her team are working to make careers at Mei Mei as sustainable as the food, is downright inspiring. We've always loved Mei Mei for their addictively delicious take on Chinese-American food; now we can't get enough of Li's unique perspective on the business of hospitality. 

Irene Li, the founder of Mei Mei in Boston, MA, incorporates constant training into the jobs at Mei Mei: staff learn the finances behind the restaurant thanks to open-book management, they run peer trainings on everything from herbs to pronouns, and they also get external trainings, like one on service for those with alzheimers and dementia. She invests in her staff by teaching them everything she knows, and encouraging them to teach each other, and it pays off — average employee tenure at Mei Mei is 2-3 years.  Thanks for listening to The Garnish! Sign up for our listener newsletter at bit.ly/thegarnish Our theme song is Leopard, from Filmstro.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Actor Ed Asner joined Jim and Margery to talk about his new play God Help Us! Andrew Li and Irene Li joined Jim and Margery to talk about their new cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li called** "**Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from our Chinese-American Kitchen." Bren Smith, a former commercial fisherman discussed his new memoir "Eat Like A Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer." Writer Christopher Castellani discussed his latest novel, "Leading Men." US Women’s National Team Soccer player Sam Mewis joined BPR days after winning the women’s World Cup Championship.

The following is an excerpt of an ArtScience talk on New England Foodways held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leah Mennies, Senior Food Editor at Boston Magazine organized and hosted the event which consisted of a Panel discussion. Panelist included Babson Food Historian Fred Opie, Irene Li, chef/owner of Mei Mei, and Marc Sheehan, chef/owner of Loyal Nine. Both are Cambridge based restaurants. The theme of the talk is the future of New England Foodways--How do we define them now? How should that change? What are the challenges? What does a regional sense of place through cuisine look like? How does the past inform this? How can the storytelling surrounding New England cuisine be stronger/better/more informed? What does that look like here in Boston/Cambridge vs. in the region as a whole? Let's keep the conversation going with panels of experts from different fields and occupations in as many spaces as possible around the region--colleges, public and private libraries and schools, churches, historical societies and museums. And let's record these panel and publish them as a series as the first step in documenting the region's foodways. Please share your ideas and suggestions for advancing the project. Take the time to review the show on You Tube, iTunes, Stitcher, and Soundcloud. If you like what you hear and learn, tell others about it and share and post the link to the show Leah Mennies' Food Writing: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/author/lmennies/ About Fred Opie: http://www.fredopie.com Mei Mei's: https://www.meimeiboston.com/menu Loyal Nine: https://www.loyalninecambridge.com/ Subscribe to the Podcasts: http://www.fredopie.com/podcasts/

It’s been a wild few months for us at Copper & Heat! Back in April we won a James Beard Broadcast Media Award and we’re still reeling. In this episode, Katy talks to Geraldine DeRuiter, another James Beard Media winner, about some of the complicated feelings that come along with winning an award, being in the spotlight, and how we keep creating.   There’s a couple of Geraldine’s blog posts that we talk about in the episode, here they are!  “I Made The Cinnamon Rolls From Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter” “I Won A James Beard Award and I Think You Are So Great”   For more info on this year’s James Beard Media Awards: View the full list of winners here View the full Media Awards Ceremony here   Geraldine and I talk about some of the issues with representation and recognition in awards, but there’s so much more to the topic. Here are a couple other articles about what’s happening (or not happening) to improve representation in food media:    Five Major Takeaways From the 2019 James Beard Awards by Hillary Dixler Canavan A Critic for All Seasons by Korsha Wilson For Our Food Culture To Diversify, Our Restaurant Criticism Needs To, Too by Irene Li

Today's guests are Margaret, Irene, and Andrew Li, the sibling co-owners of the The Mei Mei Group, a Boston-based restaurant, food truck, and catering company with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and great service. Led by Chef Irene, Mei Mei's creative Chinese-American cuisine combines Chinese techniques and influences with local New England ingredients. Their food truck, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, opened in 2012 and was soon awarded Boston's Best Meals on Wheels by Boston Magazine. Their brick-and-mortar restaurant opened in late 2013 and was named Eater Boston's Restaurant of the Year. I've been a big fan of the restaurant and this family because of their dedication to sustainable operations, employee education, and ethical sourcing, they are truly leaders in New England local food scene. We'll discuss their new cookbook, "Double Awesome Chinese Food" on the show. Image courtesy of Michael Piazza. A Hungry Society is powered by Simplecast.

The full broadcast of Boston Public Radio from Tuesday, February 5th, 2019. The Patriots celebrated their Super Bowl win with a duck boat parade through Boston today. We covered the festivities from our Library studio and took your calls on all things Patriots. Trump will be delivering his State of the Union address tonight. We opened the lines to hear if you will be watching. Senior Editor at The Atlantic, award winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy Corby Kummer, joined us to talk about how Brexit is impacting the international food supply. Andrew Li and Irene Li, two of the three siblings behind the food trucks and restaurants that make up the Mei Mei Group, joined us to talk about their new cookbook, Double Awesome Chinese Food. CNN’s chief National Correspondent and host of * Inside Politics*, John King, discussed what to expect from tonight’s State of the Union. ALEX BEAM, Boston Globe Columnist, his latest book is “The Feud: Vladimir Nabakov, Edmund Wilson and the End of a Beautiful Friendship,” gave us his famous explainer.

Mei Mei Street Kitchen is a sibling-founded restaurant and food truck catering business serving up creative Chinese-American cuisine made from locally sourced and sustainable ingredients.  They pride themselves on serving humanely raised meat, produce from small farms, and some of the most creatively delicious street food out there. Their food truck opened in April 2012 and was awarded Boston's Best Meal on Wheels soon after. Their restaurant, named Eater Boston's Restaurant of the Year, opened in November 2013 and serves up casual counter style lunch and dinner. They started Mei Mei Street Kitchen in order to share their passion for food and bring together the power of their diverse experiences like Voltron to create something new and exciting. They've taken food they have eaten and loved as children in the past, added modern elements and experiences of the present, and also incorporated practices that fit with their vision of how to do business for a sustainable future. This interview is with one of Mei Mei's founders Irene Li who left school early (only to return a few years later to graduate) to get Mei Mei's Street Kitchen food truck off the ground.  Irene is a member of the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Food & Drink). Listen to Irene's story,  which was originally shared with Lou Diamond on another podcast he hosts called Fresh from the Hill: Inside Stories of Noteworthy Cornellians.  You'll understand why she is truly inspiring and epitomizes what Thrive LOUD is all about. *** Connect to Lou Diamond: www.loudiamond.net Subscribe to Thrive LOUD: www.thriveloud.com/podcast

Irene Li '12 operates Mei Mei Street Kitchen & Mei Mei Restaurant in Boston, where her work centers around ethical sourcing and fair employment practices. Irene’s background of living on an organic farm, organizing for economic and social justice, and working the restaurant line inform the direction of her creative, farm-driven, Chinese-American menus. She is an Eater Young Gun winner, Zagat and Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, and a four-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef semi-finalist. Host Lou Diamond '92 chats with Irene about her pathway at Cornell, how she ended up opening up a food truck with her brother and sister and eventually a traditional brick and mortar restaurant in Boston. Learn about Irene's background, food, and inspirations as well as what makes her tick and how if you're in the restaurant business you should never skip leg day! Learn more about Mei Mei Restaurant and Street Kitchen. Podcast created and produced by Amanda Massa. Music by Kia Albertson-Rogers '13, koa3@cornell.edu. Artwork by Chris Kelly. *The views expressed by Fresh from the Hill hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Cornell University.

Rani joins Irene Li at her Boston restaurant, Mei Mei. Irene and her siblings launched Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck in 2013 and turned the concept into a restaurant a few years later with the help of a successful kickstarter campaign. With no formal restaurant training, Irene was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Food & Beverage Category and recognized by the James Beard Foundation. In this episode, they discuss her Chinese-American roots, the challenges and benefits of a family business, and redefining success in the restaurant industry.

An interview with Boston Chef/Owner of Mei Mei Restaurant, Irene Li.