Jen Sookfong Lee is a local author and editor whose most recent book ventures into new territory for the writer: memoir. Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart (published by McClelland & Stewart in 2023) uses Sookfong Lee’s accumulated life-long ‘expertise’ on popular culture icons and narratives as a framework for some serious self-psychoanalysis, and social, political and cultural critique, narrating her personal and professional journey to date, while also processing her history of family trauma, depression, grief, and self-discovery.

Whip-smart, humorous, and impassioned all at once, Superfan covers a lot of subject matter over the course of its length, including casual and systemic racism, mother-daughter relationships, the isolation of the immigrant experience…and, briefly, food. That Sookfong Lee is a genuine food-and-drink-lover is a detail that further endeared us to the Vancouverite, and cinched our decision to feature her as a subject in Scout’s ongoing interview series. Fortunately, she obliged…

There is a passage in your 2023 memoir, Superfan, that jumped out at me, where you mention how much you love talking about food and your family’s food history (unfortunately, the context of the situation doesn’t allow you to indulge this passion of yours). Sooo…let’s talk food! I’d love to know more about your family’s restaurant, how food has been significant in your early life and upbringing, and what is your relationship with food these days. Please indulge me!

My parents owned a Chinese Canadian restaurant in English Bay on Denman Street, a few years before I was born. My mother did some of the cooking there and learned to make the best mishmash of Chinese and Western food. She used to make a killer Sunday roast! My parents were those hosts whose parties were filled with food they would prepare for days and days: deep fried wontons with sweet and sour sauce, red bean buns, every kind of fried noodle one can imagine, and then usually something nonsensical, like a baked ham with pineapple. My mother was never an effusively emotional person, so this is how she showed you were valued. She fed the people she loved and I do the exact same thing. I sit and watch people eat my food like my psychological well-being depends on it. Which it does.

Building a menu is a form of storytelling in of itself. With that in mind, please tell me your story, so far, in six courses: Entree (early childhood), First Course (adolescence), Second Course (20s), Third Course (30s), Fourth Course (40s), and Dessert (of course).

1. Chicken rice
2. Instant ramen
3. Spinach stuffed cannelloni in a mushroom cream sauce (very specific, sorry)
4. Red braised oxtail
5. Kimchi fried rice
6. Pavolova

If you could meet one celebrity at any restaurant in Vancouver (the bill’s on them!), who would you choose, why them, where are you going, and what are you ordering?

Obviously this would have to Rihanna, because she is famous for being photographed while leaving restaurants with a glass of wine in her hand. I think I would take her to Bao Bei, which is probably what everyone would say, but truly no one does modern Chinese better, and Bao Bei’s menu is genuinely like reading the story of my family and our lives. I would order the whole fish special, no matter what it is, all of the dumplings on the menu, the house special fried rice, and then I’d let Rihanna choose something because she is my one true queen.

What is your most nostalgic meal / favourite comfort food?

My mother’s sticky rice. She doesn’t make it often anymore, but it was always part of our celebration meals growing up. But honestly, I could choose almost anything my mom used to make: fish congee, chow mein, her big Chinese New Year dishes. It all makes me feel loved.

Chinatown and the DTES play prominent settings in Superfan. What is your favourite place in Chinatown/DTES, Vancouver (for a bite to eat, or just in general)? What about the place that no longer exists that you miss dearly?

Chinatown and DTES is constantly changing in many ways, meaning the storefronts change all the time. But the beautiful thing about it is that the buildings and the bones remain the same, which is something that I really treasure. The building that housed my grandfather’s barbershop is still there, for example. I love Fat Mao very much for noodles, and Maxim’s for buns, but also for their diner upstairs, where the servers probably hate you but who cares? Get the French toast.

Your drink of choice?

Dirty vodka martini, extra olives. Or a sidecar. Or a paloma. Or a French 75. Whatever, I am not choosy!

Your go-to meal you cook for yourself?

Sauteed bok choy, pan fried potstickers, extra chilli oil.

Your favourite meal to prepare for your son?

Farfalle with mushroom cream sauce and a butter basted steak.

Do you and your son cook together? If so, what is your favourite meal to make together and what are your individual roles in the kitchen?

Sometimes, if he’s motivated! We make a pretty good creme brulee together and he loves torching the sugar on top. I do everything else, of course.

What current pop culture icons/ celebrity stories are currently fascinating you, and why?

I have been following the lawsuit Blake Lively filed against Justin Baldoni because I am very interested in the online smear campaign she is alleging his team initiated to try and ruin and her reputation. Famous and not-so-famous men have used these tactics for years against female accusers, but this is one of the first times that a woman has tried to present evidence proving it. I believe this could be a really pivotal moment for sexual harassment and assault cases.

“I just think that sincere vulnerability really helps people see each other’s humanity and it builds community in a way that, say, hyper-independence cannot.”

Ok, now let’s talk “writing”: Since publishing Superfan have you noticed any changes in how you’re perceived/received by readers and/or the publishing industry? For instance, now that you’ve put your life story (or some of it) out into the world, do you find yourself being subjected to more personal scrutiny and judgement, because people think that they “know” you? And, if so, how do you cope with that?

I think people can be really familiar with me now, which I don’t dislike. I’m a friendly person and I like talking to people about pop culture and race and all the things. The funny thing is, I don’t think people are judging me. If anything, I think they feel a connection with me because of my honesty in Superfan, and they see commonalities in different experiences I write about. It does still boggle my mind that my most successful book to date has been a memoir and that what has been selling is the story of me. It’s messed up! None of us think that our stories are that important, and I still don’t. I just think that sincere vulnerability really helps people see each other’s humanity and it builds community in a way that, say, hyper-independence cannot.

How has your entry into memoir “territory” (re-)positioned you within the writing community? Is there a “memoir community”?

If there is a memoir community, they haven’t invited me in! Actually I think the community that has become a part of my life are people who write cultural criticism. I am often on Commotion on CBC Radio for example, and am sometimes asked for quotes on Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. The thing about memoir for me is that I don’t know if I could write another one, so maybe the memoirists know this and are excluding me! I’m joking!

I recently saw an IG “teaser” of your next project, The Hunger We Pass Down, a speculative fiction novel “about Asian lady demons and their intergenerational rage”. What else can you tell us about this project? When did it begin? What inspired you to take this direction for your next book?

The Hunger We Pass Down will be published in September 2025 and, yes, it’s a literary horror novel about a single mother named Alice, who wakes up one morning to find that her house is cleaned and all her work is done. Did she clean while drunk and she doesn’t remember? Or is something more sinister brewing in her house and her family? The novel then goes on a backward journey to excavate the stories of Alice’s mother and grandmothers, who have brought their past traumas from Hong Kong to Canada. And it falls on Alice to reconcile their lives and painful memories.

What will surprise readers of your previous works the most? And what will your own “superfans” be most delighted by?

I think that I have mostly been writing about motherhood my whole career. Anyone who has read Superfan knows this! My poor mother has had a lot of air time in my books. And The Hunger We Pass Down is no different, it’s just that I am taking all the issues I usually write about – intergenerational trauma, migration, gentrification – and imposing a layer of the supernatural. If I have superfans (do I? weird) then I think they will love to see the single mother stuff, which is both achingly familiar and also kind of comedic.