Inheriting Presents: "Specially Processed" by Self Evident

This week, we bring you a special bonus episode from our friends at the podcast Self Evident: Asian America's Stories.

For so many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Spam is a beloved classic food, showing up in everything from musubi to fried rice. But behind that nostalgia is a history of war and colonization, and the inheritance of both favorite foods and hidden traumas.

Korean American playwright Jaime Sunwoo's play, Specially Processed American Me, takes a close look at Spam's legacies, and the lost stories of her own family — who've migrated twice over two generations, from North Korean to South Korea, then from South Korea to the United States.

While sharing behind-the-scenes previews of the play, Jaime and Self Evident host Cathy Vo talk about the challenges and rewards of interviewing older generations, and how those conversations have helped Jamie process her own identity as an Asian American. Learn more about the play at speciallyprocessed.com and hear more from Self Evident at selfevidentshow.com.

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