Every country town in Australia has a Chinese restaurant.
It’s an intrinsic part of Australian identity: a place for celebration, relationships, and community. But who are the people who run these restaurants? Where are they from? Why do they choose to work behind the wok, and what’s their favourite dish on the menu?
Part-travel, part-human-interest story and part-food show, Chopsticks or Fork? is a series that delves into an aspect of Australiana that everyone’s experienced and has fond memories of.
Hosted by comedian and food enthusiast Jennifer Wong, each of the six episodes looks at one unique Chinese restaurant in regional Australia. Jen chats with the owners, their family, and members of the community, and explores the inner workings of the restaurant and its role in the town.
Each episode explores a delicious dish that’s significant to the restaurant, offers up recipes for Australian-Chinese staples such as sweet and sour pork and that magical thermodynamic-defying fried ice cream, and asks that important question: chopsticks or fork?
PRODUCTION CREDITS An internal ABC production, financed with support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Director: Lin Jie Kong. Producers: Lin Jie Kong & Jennifer Wong. ABC Executive Producer: Rachel Robinson. ABC Manager, Screen: Jo Chichester