Accidental Activist: Grace Young Artwork

She What?

She What? invites you to join two friends and dig into the personal and often surprising stories of women who inspire them. And here, she tells the whole story. The failing. The thriving. The friends she made along the way. The pain she endured. The triumphs she celebrated. How she reinvented herself. Need a dose of inspiration? It’s here. Need a fresh perspective? We got that, too.

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She What?

Accidental Activist: Grace Young

February 25, 2026 • Jessica Downey & Maureen Petrosky

0:00 | 38:36

What if your favorite neighborhood could disappear tomorrow? In this powerful episode, cookbook author and activist Grace Young shares how she went from stir-fry guru to fierce defender of America’s Chinatowns - and why cooking is all about connection. Come hungry for stories of food, family, and fighting for cultural survival.

To learn more about Grace, you can check out her website and her Instagram.

For more, visit She What? on Instagram.

Brought to you by Capital Health

Credits:

Producer and Host: Jess Downey

Producer and Host: Maureen Petrosky

Producer and Editor: Leigh Iacobucci

Artwork: Peter Yates Design

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Grace Young (00:04):

I always say to people nowadays that going to Chinatown is a reminder of your humanity.

Jess (00:21):

I am Jess Downey. You might know me as Editor-in-Chief of Real Woman and Thriving Magazines for Capital Health. And

Maureen (00:27):

I'm Maureen Petrosky. You might have seen me on the Today Show or CBS mornings as an entertaining expert or know some of my books like Wine Club and Zero Proof Drinks,

Jess (00:35):

And we're two friends who created She What?

Maureen (00:39):

<laugh> a podcast that digs into the personal and often surprising stories of women who inspire us

Jess (00:45):

And they get real about the wins, the fails, and everything in between.

Maureen (00:50):

Here we invite her to tell the whole story, the pain she endured, the triumph she celebrated, the friends she made along the way, and maybe even how she reinvented herself.

Jess (01:01):

These are the kinds of stories that make us think. They make us laugh, they keep us going.

Maureen (01:06):

Need a dose of inspiration? It's here. Need a fresh perspective? We got that too.

New Speaker (01:19):

Hi Jess.

Jess (01:20):

Hi Maureen.

Maureen (01:21):

Jess, when you think of your family's cooking or food heritage, how would you describe it?

Jess (01:26):

Ooh, aha. It's not really a menu that's gonna make your mouth water <laugh>. My great-grandmother made a hell of a matzo ball soup, which my dad still makes when we're sick.

Maureen (01:36):

Oh, I love matzo ball soup.

Jess (01:38):

Oh, me too. Especially in these cold winter months. But beyond that, it's a lot of Jewish cooking that feels like home. But sounds so gross to my teenage boys. Gefilte fish, which for those of you who don't know, is poached ground up, white fishes served cold and slimy. Ew. Ew. <laugh>, what about you?

Maureen (01:59):

The one dish that makes me think of home is goulash, not Hungarian goulash. I'm talking elbow macaroni with regu and a fancy bell pepper. Mm, no shade. Mom. It's delicious. But we don't have a specific regional or religious food history, so I'm kind of jealous of you and your veta fish

Jess (02:17):

<laugh>. Well, that's one of the reasons you wanted to have today's guest. She embodies the magic of food heritage and why it matters, and she's a guru. <laugh>.

Maureen (02:28):

Yes. Grace Young, stir fry guru, cookbook author and activist is on a mission to save America's Chinatowns, which sadly are being gentrified and disappearing right before our eyes.

Jess (02:39):

That's why this show matters. She really paints a picture of the past and she makes our mouths water. So we'll get off our butts and eat some delicious food.

Maureen (02:48):

Yes, but slow down and really listen to this one to get all the good parts and we promise you'll be hungry for more at the end. So stick around. Grace Young, welcome to She What?

Grace Young (03:09):

I'm so excited to be here.

Jess (03:11):

We are so excited to have you. I'm so glad we can make this happen.

Maureen (03:14):

Grace, you are lovingly known as the Stir Fry Guru with such a rich background working in food and history, and now as an accidental activist. There's a lot to unpack here.

Grace Young (03:25):

I know when people ask me how I should be titled for a conference or something, I'm not quite sure which direction to go next, <laugh>.

Jess (03:32):

Well, what do you prefer?

Grace Young (03:34):

It really is cookbook author and activist.

Jess (03:39):

I love that. And you, we know you grew up in San Francisco and I loved living there so much in my twenties. It's such an amazing rich city. Yeah. I just wonder, was it a great place to grow up? How, how was your experience growing up in that city?

Grace Young (03:54):

San Francisco was so beautiful and charming and I spent a lot of time in Chinatown. We didn't live in Chinatown, but my father did business in Chinatown and that that Chinatown just holds so many wonderful memories for me because it was so intimate. Everybody knew each other. It had this really small town feeling to it. What's happened to San Francisco in the last few years is just heartbreaking. And their Chinatown is really suffering right now. But I often think about my memories of growing up in San Francisco and I'm very hopeful that there's gonna be this resurgence and Chinatown and San Francisco are gonna come back stronger than ever.

Maureen (04:37):

Well, that's what you're doing out here. Fighting the good fight. So we read that you said everywhere you went, there was a sense of home. You told the examiner that on a recent phone call. And when you think back on it, you see that Chinatown was small town America and I think a lot of people don't think of Chinatown as small town America. Can you explain that to us a little bit?

Grace Young (04:57):

Well, most Chinatowns, the majority of the businesses are mom and pop. Right. And that's something that doesn't exist in, well, I live in New York City right now. Most neighborhoods are no longer mom and pop. Right. They're dominated by big chain stores. And the character, the heart and soul, which makes every city so unique, are the low mom and pop businesses. And it was always a real privilege to walk through Chinatown with my father coming down Grant Avenue. Every few steps we would run into somebody that would recognize him, call out to him, or we would pass a store and he would say something to an owner or a clerk. And that's a very special feeling. And I, I think as I've seen like our ever-changing world, we're so isolated now. You know, people walk into Whole Foods and they self-check out or at Uniqlo so that you never even talk to a soul. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I think that feeling of connection of sitting down to a restaurant where the waiter would know before my father even said anything, he would know what my father's favorite dishes are. That's

Jess (06:12):

Incredible. I did tell Maureen that my family had a picture on the wall of Golden Lights Restaurant right here in Hat, bro <laugh> that. And they knew what we ordered and they knew what we want, you know, before we would even like look at our menus. That is such a throwback to what feels like an another era at this point. I mean, you can be out in the world, like you said, and go the whole day without really interacting with another person. It's, it's really,

Maureen (06:38):

Or even for our kids and what we see now in the younger generations, they don't even go out. They DoorDash, everything. It comes to their door and there's no personal connection. And not even just not recognizing someone's face or their order, it's just computers. So it really is yeah. Something sacred that you're trying to save. It's not just the food or it's the experience and it's, it's what makes life good is knowing each other and being together.

Grace Young (07:08):

I always say to people nowadays that going to Chinatown is a reminder of your humanity. That connection or walking into a store, like one of my favorite produce stores, at three or four in the afternoon, the owner's children arrive and they go into a back room and they have a snack and they're doing their homework. And then about five or six they come out and they start trimming vegetables and working the cash register. And when you see this, you, you think to yourself, oh my God, this is what it takes. It's really a family operation. And then by the time the store closes at eight or eight 30, then they're all going back to Brooklyn. And I always think to myself, I wanna support a store where you see that it's a family run business as opposed to supporting a Costco or a Trader Joe's. Right.

Maureen (08:06):

Yeah. Big corporate.

Grace Young (08:07):

Yeah.

Maureen (08:08):

Faceless beast.

Jess (08:10):

Well, you grew up eating your parents' amazing home cooked Cantonese food, and I loved reading that. At what, like age 11 you discovered Julia Child, is that right?

Grace Young (08:21):

I'm not sure exactly what age, but fairly young. And yes, I, I saw her on TV and the French Chef television show became my favorite show. All my other friends were watching like Beverly Hillbillies, <laugh>. I, I don't know what, but I, I was just so drawn to her.

Jess (08:44):

What was it about her?

Grace Young (08:46):

I'd never seen anyone like her before. This is a horrible stereotype. But my Chinese parents were very, very reserved and proper. And Julia just had this looseness about her and vitality. And when she made a mistake, it was okay. And I was fascinated by the food. Like everything that she cooked was completely exotic. 'cause I'd only grown up eating traditional Cantonese food, but occasionally like maybe spaghetti or my father was fond of prime rib once in a while. But other than that, like I didn't know what a qua salt was. She was cooking like roast lamb stuffed with garlic. Everything that she was making was completely foreign to me.

Maureen (09:37):

She was definitely a wild one. And I think that a lot of people know the SNL skit of Julia Child with the, you know, the chicken and it's, it's out of control and she's out of control. But I think that she opened up the conversation and the education of French cooking to make it accessible. And I feel like when we were talking about this interview, I said to Jess, I am so excited to interview Grace. This feels like when I got to interview Julia Child. So for me,

Grace Young (10:06):

Oh my God, you

Maureen (10:07):

Are the Julia child of Chinese cooking and you are doing the same exact thing, opening up that level of education that people don't know. And most Americans, the most common food they know outside of American hamburgers and cheeseburgers is Italian cooking or Chinese cooking because that's what we had and had access to when I was a child. We were traveling, we went to China and that's when my mind was blown because my younger sister Daisy ordered something and it was shrimp, but it came with the heads on. And when it came to the table, she cried. I mean, she was crying and crying. She scared to see it. We hadn't seen Chinese food like that. We were used to pork loin, um, wonton soup, things that were very Cantonese. Right. And so I didn't realize there were so many different types of Chinese cooking. But if Americans think about it, think about how big America is and how many different kinds of cuisine we have.

Maureen (11:06):

China's the same way, right? Grace, like, there's so many different styles of Chinese cooking that people don't realize, but I feel like you are opening up that conversation about Chinese food and that it isn't just one way and getting people into these Chinatowns to really have an educational experience. You called Chinatown a walking encyclopedia, which for younger listeners encyclopedias were books that we used to take off the shelf and sit and flip through and learn everything. And they were so exciting to us. But having a walking encyclopedia of an experience in Chinatown is so amazing because you get to not only taste the food and smell the food and see the streets and the different types of fruits and vegetables even that the vendors have that it is a walking encyclopedia.

Grace Young (11:57):

Yes. And not only can you experience all the different regional cooking of China, but Chinatown's like Manhattan's Chinatown has wonderful Vietnamese restaurants, Thai, Malaysian, um, Japanese. So it's really an amazing center, not only for Chinese cuisine, but for Asian cuisine. And as you're saying, it's living history. It's culture, it's tradition. And I always say that it tells the American story. All these historic chinatowns were the gateway for immigrants to get a foothold in this country.

Jess (12:37):

Yeah. Can we go back quickly to you being a young girl though? Because before we leave that you didn't just watch and fall in love with Julia Child. Didn't you also then start an apprenticeship at a young age?

Grace Young (12:50):

Yeah. So, uh, it first started with, I was so fascinated with Julia's cooking that I would send, this is very like dated, uh, self-addressed envelope to WGBH. And they would mail me a recipe <laugh> from that week. And then I have no recollection of how I did this, but I got the French Chef paperback cookbook. So my mother allowed me to cook from the book, and the first thing I made was Julius Brioche. And it came out perfectly. Wow. So imagine a little girl working with yeast, right? How complicated that was. But Julia's recipe was so perfect that they were golden puffed and my mother was completely impressed. And then I read, I like to read the newspaper. So I read the San Francisco Chronicle every day, and I read that there was a woman named Josephine Geraldo who taught French cooking. And again, you know, in those days there was no like Googling how far away is this from my parents' home? But it turned out it was a five minute drive and I convinced my father to drive me there. And I had the chutzpah to ring the bell, introduce myself and to say that I wanted to learn French cooking. Was there any chance that I could assist Josephine in the lessons, do dishes in exchange for cooking lessons? So the fact that I had this concept of like, bartering isn't that wild?

Jess (14:27):

The whole thing is wild.

Maureen (14:28):

It's amazing. Jess loves that big swing, huh? Jess big swing. She loves a big swing.

Grace Young (14:33):

Josephine Aldo was trained by the founder of the Corder ble Ari Ppro. And she had been Isadore Duncan's personal chef. And when I met her, she was in her early seventies and she taught six days a week and she agreed to this little bartering, and I think it started once a week, but I had very good grades and eventually my father was driving me two or three nights a week. So the lesson would start at six 30 and go to like nine or nine 30. And then my father would come and pick me up. And, and so for the first time I got to see what a souffle was. I got to experience fresh herbs. All these things I had read about in Julia's books and I was doing some of them, but I wasn't quite sure if I was making the crepe correctly. So I got to, to taste the real thing.

Maureen (15:28):

That sounds so much better than piano lessons <laugh>. I mean, I used to have to go home for piano lessons and I would skip out. I would just go to my friend's house and not even go to the piano lesson. But if I was getting to learn how to make crepes or a souffle, that would be game changer for me. I mean, you're so lucky I didn't get to learn about any of those culinary things until my twenties when I went to culinary school at the CIA and it was magical. And I'm sure you felt that as a child. Just

Grace Young (15:53):

Yeah, I was just completely fascinated. Yeah.

Jess (15:56):

Well she made her own look incredible.

Maureen (15:58):

Yeah, she did. And now she's the stir fi guru and walk therapist. So there is this funny video that you created. So now you're getting into filmmaking and directing the walk therapist. Can you tell us what that is? You're not, are you really a therapist?

Grace Young (16:14):

<laugh>? Ever since I've been writing Chinese cookbooks, I've received emails from people. Sometimes it's a message on Instagram, Facebook, that when people start getting into stir frying and wok cooking, everyone is really insecure about buying the wok and seasoning it. And it's actually super simple. If you have, uh, an American cast iron pan, the seasoning process is identical, but people get really intimidated. So readers would always send me these messages, I think I've done something wrong. They would send me a photo, should I throw it out and buy a new pan? What should I do? And so for years now I've been answering these messages and at first I just gave the straight reply about what to do. And then eventually I started writing things like, don't be so judgmental. You know, like, don't look at the walk just for its color. Right. Just get past that and don't be so judgmental about what the walk looks like. Just give it time. And with time it will eventually darken. Everybody wants their walk to look like a well seasoned walk immediately and overnight.

Maureen (17:31):

Isn't that what you want, Jess? Your walk to look like that? Well,

Jess (17:33):

You know, you don't get to be the stir fry guru overnight as the president of their microwave over here. <laugh>. Yes. I just, you know, I, I'm a very baseline level cook, so I'm so curious if you can take us into some of the more interesting techniques or just some of the things that you share in your cookbooks. Like what do the people who reach out to you, what do they wanna know other than how to season the pan?

Grace Young (17:58):

Well, everybody wants to stir fry and everybody wants to stir fry because they know it's healthy, it's simple and it's a very quick way of cooking.

Maureen (18:07):

Yeah. It's fast. You know, in this culture everybody wants something quick and healthy. Um, grace, I remember in culinary school, GGS, when we were in Asian cooking, they always told us GGSI don't know if that's something you stand by, but ginger garlic scallion was in every Asian dish. We were making ginger, garlic scallion Jess. So when you're getting your walk and you're going to the grocery store, you can start with some ginger garlic scallion, but okay. What are some of like the most popular things that you're seeing in that stir fry?

Grace Young (18:34):

Uh, GS is actually called the Holy Trinity. Oh, by some people. But when you're stir frying, I mean the sky's the limit. It's just so versatile. And actually at one point Weight Watchers hired me to do a, a stir fry guru series because stir frying is so healthy. And I was taking classic American recipes that are often super rich and making them into a stir fry. So I did a stir fry of Cajun shrimp.

Maureen (19:05):

So why is it so healthy though?

Grace Young (19:07):

Because when you're stir frying, you're using a minimal amount of oil

Jess (19:12):

Oil. Hmm.

Grace Young (19:13):

So for a basic recipe that serves four, most of the time you're using two tablespoons of oil, which means that each person is getting one and a half teaspoons of oil. And when you're stir frying in the American diet, it's so common for everybody to have their a whole chicken breast or a whole steak or eight ounces of meat. Whereas in a stir fry, generally it's never more than a pound of meat protein. Right. And the emphasis is on the vegetables. Right. So it's exactly the way you should be eating a variety of vegetables, minimal protein, and a very small amount of fat. Hmm. And of course it's paired with rice and so it's a perfect meal

Jess (20:01):

<laugh>, if you do say so.

Grace Young (20:02):

I think so <laugh>, the question I think was, what else can you do with the wok? So often people call the wok a stir fry pan, but you can also pan fry oil, poach steam, deep fat fry braise smoke. It's fantastic for popcorn. So I mean, it's just such an extraordinary pan. My mentor, Florence Lynn used to say, with one walk, you can make everything.

Maureen (20:32):

And isn't your parents walk in the Smithsonian Museum?

Grace Young (20:36):

Yes, it is. Wow.

Maureen (20:38):

Can you tell us how that came to be?

Grace Young (20:40):

The Museum of Food and Drink in Brooklyn had an exhibition called Chow, and they asked to borrow some of my menus and cookbooks and then I suggested that they could also borrow my family's walk. And they love that because a dates from 1949 and while was on exhibition at the chow exhibition, a curator from the Smithsonian came up to see the show. And I was there and I said, this walk should be at the Smithsonian. And the reason it should be at the Smithsonian is because my family's walk has such an amazing story. They used this walk for many years and then when, when I was about 10 years old, we moved to a new house and it had electric stove. And so from the time I remember watching my parents cook, they were always using a farberware skillet. And then fast forward when my father dies, a few years later, I go back to San Francisco and my brother hands me this Safeway shopping bag and said, I think you might want this.

Grace Young (21:49):

And in it is the family wok. Our story is like many stories in America, many Chinese Americans lost touch with wok cooking. And there are so many Chinese Americans who have no idea how to cook with a wok anymore. And many of them I interviewed home cooks in Mississippi, Chinese Americans who grew up in the Mississippi Delta, and they were like, we all stir fried in pots on skillets because we didn't have walks. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. The Chinese diaspora may do with what they had. The fact that the Smithsonian now has the wok is really a beautiful thing because it's an important part of our culinary history.

Maureen (22:33):

It's amazing. So this culinary history that you have been a part of, I mean through and through it's in your blood, has now turned you into an accidental activist because now the work that you're doing, Jess and I came to know it, living outside of Philadelphia and seeing that our Chinatown was in danger. Jess, can you tell a little bit about the sports stadium? Well,

Jess (22:56):

People in Philadelphia are probably pretty familiar with the fight that went on in the city here. The Sixers wanted a new arena and they wanted to put it downtown and basically plop it right on top of Chinatown. And it was a very controversial situation that went on for a while. It passed at one point and then eventually the outcry became so loud that that they walked it back and now they're building a new stadium, but where it is now. So I think it gave people an opportunity to, to talk about what you've been so passionate about, which was, this is our town, this is our history. We don't want you to plop a new arena on top of it, but um, maybe you can sort of share, you know, what you went through during and, and immediately after COVID, you know, you were walking in Chinatown with a videographer really documenting the community's distress and how that, if you wanna call it, becoming an accidental activist. But that's how this really kind of started for you, is that right?

Grace Young (23:56):

Yes. I have no experience as an activist or an advocate, but at the start of the pandemic, I am accustomed to going into Chinatown a few times a week to shop, to eat. And I walked into Chinatown in January of 2020 and it was a ghost town. It was completely empty. And at that point there were no cases of COVID in America, no cases in New York, and certainly not in Chinatown, but it's because of xenophobia and misinformation that people thought mistakenly that if they went into Chinatown, that they could catch COVID. I continued going into Chinatown and thinking that it was just a fluke that one day, but the people never returned. And I saw the outdoor fruit vendors and produce vendors. I saw my favorite restaurants and it just shuttered. Like I came by one day and it had been in business for over 40 years and there was a sign saying, dear customers, we've closed.

Grace Young (25:03):

It never occurred to me that we could lose Chinatown. I thought Chinatown could withstand anything. But then friends in San Francisco, Boston told me their chinatowns were empty. A friend of mine who lives in Honolulu told me that Honolulu's Chinatown was also emptied out. So I just realized that all the Chinatowns were vulnerable. It was just absolutely shocking and heartbreaking. And because of my work as a cookbook author, I had contacts in the media. So I reached out to do radio interviews. I ended up writing pieces. I brought the media into Chinatown and Manhattan's Chinatown to try and raise awareness of what was happening. I had this idea that I wanted to go into Chinatown and interview restaurant and shop owners. And I thought that if New Yorkers heard how much had they been suffering since the start of the pandemic, that they would rally support, there were lots of businesses in Chinatown that lost 40 to 80% of their business starting in January.

Grace Young (26:12):

So this volunteer videographer Dan on and I went in and we did not know that hours after we did these interviews, mayor de Blassio would put New York City into lockdown. So these interviews that we conducted are actually a historic document of one of Chinatown's saddest moments. And I think it was a turning point in my life because seeing how bad the situation was made me realize that I had to do everything in my power to try and stop more losses. And so even though I had no experience as an activist from that point on, I was just motivated to keep on reaching out to the media and to do everything that I could in my power.

Maureen (26:58):

We were talking about how it's already been six years now since COVID-19 and you're still seeing the echo of it, and especially in Chinatowns. And I was lucky enough to join Grace. She did some work for the Jack Pepin Foundation. They partnered up and we did a tour of Chinatown. And not only did I get to eat some really cool stuff, <laugh>, but I got to learn a little more about just how devastating it was to New York City's Chinatown. And I can imagine the other China towns. So can you tell us what it's like today and why you're continuing this work? Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Grace Young (27:33):

The historic Chinatowns really have not recovered by historic, I mean San Francisco, Manhattan, Philly, Boston, Oakland, Honolulu, uh, these are the oldest trying towns in this country. And if you think about it, 20 20, 21, 22, there were no tourists. 23, 24, the tourists started coming back, but it wasn't to the same level of what it had been pre COVID. And now in Chinatowns across the country, everyone in this country is dealing with inflation, right? Rising food costs. And now there have been tariffs, these horrible tariffs on Chinese goods. It, it's really pushed many Brit businesses to the brink and some have had to close. Chinatowns are always dealing with the threat of gentrification and there's been an increase in crime. So the challenges that are these little mom and pop businesses are dealing with is just overwhelming. And as I mentioned before, nowadays people are so accustomed to buying online, but in Chinatown you can find everything. There are floor shops, hardware stores, bookstore, it's a complete community from butchers to doctors to acupuncturists, you name it, you can find everything in Chinatown. And I think these little mom and pop businesses, which used to be the backbone of this country, are being forgotten in these times when everyone is just so accustomed to ordering online.

Jess (29:11):

So what have you been doing over these last six years? You know, you mentioned reaching out to the media, you know, but what, what kind of actual advocacy work have you done? Like what has that meant for you on a day in, day out basis?

Grace Young (29:24):

I give a lot of speeches, which is really wild. And I do Zoom corporate events where I will do a little stir fry class and then end with talking about what's happening with America's Chinatowns. So I try to take every, and any opportunity that I can to raise awareness because most people are just not aware that Chinatowns are hurting. And I think most people love Chinatowns. They think of Chinatowns for like when out of towners come in, oh, we have to bring 'em to Chinatown. And they think of Chinatown as a great place for eating. But as I said, you can get everything there. And in these days when people are trying to stretch their dollars and the price of food is so expensive, the quality and price of food in Chinatown is unbeatable.

Maureen (30:17):

Definitely. Justin and I both live in the suburbs and when I think about going into a city without a Chinatown, it feels like the suburbs, it's like it's losing all of the things that make the fabric of a city so much fun and so much more different is having these little pocket neighborhoods. But in particular, you mentioned, you know, quality and good prices. Chinatown's one of the places still that you can take your whole family out to dinner and it's not gonna break the bank. I mean, it's a great place, not just for foodies and people that are interested in cooking. You mentioned traveling, but just for entertaining and trying new things and seeing different things. The experience of traveling to Asia as a child stayed with me. So indelibly in my brain, but you can take your own kids now and families into these Chinatowns and still experience some of that.

Maureen (31:12):

Like you mentioned the fruit vendors, there's different kinds of fruit than are in your regular grocery stores. There's different spices that you can pick up and bring home. It's like going on a little mini vacation and it's completely affordable. I think that a lot of American families are missing out on this amazing, incredible experience that's so unique. And it might not stick around if we don't all just get on the train, head into the city, order something different, be a little adventurous. I think now is the time to go visit these places. You taught me that more than anything Grace and just how unique and enriching these experiences can be for us and our, the younger generations. And it's affordable. I mean, the top food trends came out for 2026 and one of the top trends is budget food. And it doesn't mean budget meaning cheap. It means people want a great experience, but they wanna know where they can get that on their budget. And Chinatown is it, that's the place that they should be going.

Grace Young (32:14):

Thank you so much Maureen. And it's absolutely true. If we don't support Chinatowns today, they won't be here tomorrow. You know, there are galleries popping up in Chinatown, you know, espresso shops. It, it's like there's so many bubble tea stores and I fear that in the future Chinatown will be called Bubble Tea Town. You know,

Maureen (32:36):

Even for me, someone who's a food writer also and who's traveled to some of the most amazing places and eaten at some of the most expensive restaurants, getting to go into these Chinatown restaurants and order different things was outrageously delicious. And that's like the bottom line. It was so good. And it doesn't, like I said, you don't have to be a chef or be into food to know that you want a great meal. Like that's, it's there, it's there for us to have and we're missing out.

Grace Young (33:06):

Absolutely. Yeah. Um, they will serve you half a Peking duck and I think it's under $30, you know, so there are like six of the little buns and the skin, you know, the crisp skin that is so precious and wonderful. And then all the duck meat again. And then there are, there's enough for leftovers to take home. It's crazy.

Jess (33:29):

<laugh>, I'm starving. I'm ready to go to Chinatown. Also, uh, we, we kind of wanna know what you have up your sleeve, obviously doing more of this work, getting the awareness out. But what's next for you? What, what do you have cooking?

Grace Young (33:43):

Well, my exciting news for 2026 is I'm going to be speaking at so by Southwest.

Jess (33:51):

Ooh,

Maureen (33:52):

That's so awesome.

Grace Young (33:54):

And I'm doing a number of speeches around the country this year. I wanna do more colleges because I think it's really important to raise awareness with young people. And I just finished a talk for high school students here in Manhattan, which was really wonderful.

Jess (34:12):

How did they respond?

Grace Young (34:14):

They all said they had no awareness that Chinatown was under threat right now and that they want to support Chinatown and they really gravitated to the fact that these are all little mom and pop businesses and what the challenges are for a mom and pop business in this, in this day and age. So I think that's what really motivated me to see that I really need to reach out to more young people.

Maureen (34:44):

Well hopefully they're listening to, she Was <laugh> and they're gonna get to know a little bit more about you grace and about the important work that you're doing. And I think everybody should go out to eat in Chinatown tonight or soon whenever you can. It's a lot less expensive than buying a plane ticket to China and you're gonna get a truly authentic <laugh>. It's delicious experience. I can't say enough. Can you tell? It's almost it's time for me to eat. I'm hungry. Grace, this has been amazing. We always ask our guests if there's any piece of advice that they've been given along the way or maybe, you know, a daily motto that sticks with them that they can share with our listeners. Has there been anything along the way as you're getting into new territories and, you know, new experiences with this line of work that you can share?

Grace Young (35:27):

My Chinatown activism is sort of a continuation of my work for preservation of Chinese cuisine, preserving the traditions of wok cooking and stir frying. So that sort of natural that I went to preserving Chinese cultural centers of America, but I was not expecting how meaningful this work would be for me. And Desmond Tutu said, do your little bit of good where you are. It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. And that is a model that is so important for everybody to remember, especially in these challenging times. The world is just such a topsy-turvy place right now that if you just focus on what good that you can do, and you don't have to pick anything big, right? Your neighbor next door who's elderly, who needs groceries or whatever, just focus your energies on doing good and that will do so much good for the world and for yourself.

Jess (36:35):

I've gotten so much just good feelings, good vibe, inspiration, wanting to just not worry about the barriers and the boundaries and, and just go out and do a thing. So I'm just so glad you you came and joined us today. Thank

Grace Young (36:50):

You Jess.

Maureen (36:51):

Thank you Grace. And we cannot wait to see what you do next.

Grace Young (36:54):

Thank you so much. It's really been so fun to just have this conversation today and thank you for inviting me.

Jess (37:04):

Number one, I'm starving <laugh>

Maureen (37:07):

Vito <laugh>.

Jess (37:08):

And number two, I'm inspired.

Maureen (37:10):

Oh, isn't she just so good? I just think that there's not a lot of people with the heart and soul that Grace Young has. And I think that her takeaway, when we ask for advice, we don't always get something that really sticks with me. But for right now, that do a little bit of good where you are, I think is just so powerful. And I'm gonna think about that today and do a little bit of good

Jess (37:34):

Me too. And I'm never gonna get the image of her knocking on the door of that chef and just having the chutzpah, as she said. Yeah. Which is a word close to my heart, <laugh> to just ask, Hey, can I, can I shadow you? Can I apprentice with you? And we need so much more of that. Just the chutzpah.

Maureen (37:55):