#ChineseFoodiesofIG: Monica Lo of Sous Weed

Monica Lo of Sous Weed

This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I’m doing with my favourite Chinese foodies that I follow on Instagram. Come and follow the #ChineseFoodiesofIG hashtag on Instagram and leave a comment showing your support for these talented folk!

Where are you from? Where are you really from?

I’m from Texas! But I am a proud daughter of immigrants. My parents are from Taiwan so I’m a second-generation Asian American.

What does home taste like?

Home tastes like dad’s Taiwanese beef noodle soup (牛肉麵), mom’s various cold side dishes and fan tuan (飯糰), and a good ol’ Southern crawfish boil.

Most underrated Chinese ingredient:

MSG! Honestly, people need to chill about it. MSG is naturally occurring in many common foods, like Parmesan cheese and corn, for example. Basically, it’s a flavor enhancer that adds umami (AKA “deliciousness”) to your dish.

How did you learn to cook?

I grew up in a frugal, food-loving household. My parents would buy ingredients in bulk and we’d spend the weekend meal-prepping. Saturdays were for making dumplings to be frozen for the week, cutting fruits and veggies, and helping mom prepare various cold side dishes for us to snack on.

Who's your Chinese food legend?

Mama, of course! She came to the U.S. with a loose grasp of the English language and figured out how to create the flavors of home with whatever ingredients she could find in American grocery stores. Immigrants are resilient as fuck and she’s the best cook I know.

What’s a Chinese recipe everyone should learn?

I love a good XO sauce and mom’s version is my fave. One of the most special moments in my life was teaching her how to combine her XO recipe with my cannabis-infused lard, then finally consuming our mother-daughter collab together. This Sous Weed XO recipe is on my blog and I highly recommend it!

Know any good Chinese restaurants?

I dream of the soup dumplings at Joe’s Shanghai, in Queens, NYC. During freshman year of college at Pratt Institute, I rallied together a group of brand new friends and took them for their first soup dumpling experience. Over a decade later, many of us are still in touch and we always look back fondly on that meal together.

Dream dinner party guests:

I would love to prepare a cannabis-infused dinner and invite Maya Erskine, Awkwafina, and Margaret Cho over. What laughs we would have together!

What does Chinese food mean to you?

It's a connection to my history and my ancestors. As a Taiwanese American who grew up in the American South, I didn’t have particularly strong ties to my heritage. These days, I’m trying to make those cultural connections through cuisine—I want to know what my grandparents ate and to try indigenous ingredients. I’m constantly buying up cookbooks written by Asian voices and watching Asian food vloggers on YouTube.