Jennifer 8. Lee reports on culture and city life.

Why you should listen

Jennifer 8. Lee is a reporter for the New York Times, starting with the paper as a tech writer for the Circuits section. She's now a metropolitan reporter for the paper, turning in sparkling and intricately reported stories of city life. NPR called her a "conceptual scoop" artist -- finding and getting details on new lifestyle trends that we all want to talk about.

Her fascination with American Chinese food led her to research and write The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, in which she solves some of the enduring mysteries around this indigenous cuisine, including such questions as: "Who is General Tso and why are we eating his chicken?" and "Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?

 

Jennifer 8. Lee’s TED talks

More news and ideas from Jennifer 8. Lee

Culture

TEDWeekends traces the origin of the All-American Chinese takeout

April 13, 2013

Turns out the fortune cookie that came with your chop suey isn’t actually Chinese … and neither is the chop suey. So where did they come from? In this TED Talk, journalist Jennifer 8. Lee shares the origins of some of America’s favorite “Chinese” food, and takes us on a culinary tour of Chinese restaurants […]

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Toasting the xkcd book

September 19, 2009

Jennifer 8. Lee (watch her TEDTalk) and our friends from Reddit hosted a reading in New York tonight for one of the geekiest comics on the web: Randall Munroe’s xkcd. It’s a comic that once, we’re proud to say, namechecked TED; now the strip has been compiled into a printed volume. Aside from all the […]

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4 great talks for International Women's Day

March 8, 2009

To celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers — artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women. Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers: The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi […]

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