Yiyun Li on Tang
My favorite writer of the year in a small gem discovered in a book of small gems.
In addition to the delightful essay from which this is excerpted, there is a superb piece by George Saunders-- "The Absolutely No-Anything Diet"--and writing from Billy Collins, Tom Perrotta, Chang-rae Lee, James Salter, and Ann Patchett, among others.
from "Orange Crush"
Yiyun Li
in Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table (ed. Amanda Hesser)
Even though Tang was the most expensive fruit drink available, its sales soared. A simple bottle cost seventeen yuan, a month's worth of lunch money. A boxed set of two became a status hostess gift. Even the sturdy glass containers that the powder came in were coveted. People used them as tea mugs, the orange label still on, a sign that you could afford the modern American drink. Even my mother had an empty Tang bottle with a snug orange nylon net over it, a present from one of her fellow schoolteachers. She carried it from the office to the classroom and back again as if our family had also consumed a full bottle.
In addition to the delightful essay from which this is excerpted, there is a superb piece by George Saunders-- "The Absolutely No-Anything Diet"--and writing from Billy Collins, Tom Perrotta, Chang-rae Lee, James Salter, and Ann Patchett, among others.
You have convinced me to purchase The Vagrants. This book also sounds very curious. I am attracted to culinary-lit.
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager I spent quite a bit of time in the jungles of Borneo. The Dayak tribespeople hold Tang in very high regard.