About
ABOUT THICKDUMPLINGSKIN.COM
“It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”
This site is a place for hungry Asian voices to be heard. Are you a Con Gái, Kakak, Mak, Aiyi, Otosan, Putra, Kuya, Halapoji, Hoahanau, etc. who feels like you’re alone when it comes to obsession with both food and body image? Trust us, you’re not.
We all have families. We all eat. We all have families who tell us what to eat, when to eat, and extended families who make plenty of unsolicited comments about our food. They tell us we’ve eaten too much, too little, and too much again. One day we’re too skinny. And within a matter of days, we’re too fat.
No matter what we’re told, we’re always offered seconds. And thirds. We are afraid to offend, so we oblige and take fourths. Sometimes we pretend we’ve already eaten. Merely saying “No thank you” – and being heard – isn’t a realistic option.
We see other Asians – in movies and in fashion spreads – and teeny tiny appears to be our norm. We witness entire populations walking around in clothes that most of us outgrew after puberty. We wonder why we weren’t born into a culture where ample booties are celebrated.
These thoughts turn into actions, and we awake one day to find that we need to justify everything that we put in our mouths. And this is when things start to get dangerous. We’ve been there, and perhaps you have been too.
We want to hear your thoughts and stories. We want to know what you’ve been taught, and what you’ve discovered. We want you to find comfort in each other’s stories, and together, we’ll grow some thicker skins, and learn to love them as well.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
In June of 2010, Lynn Chen started a food blog, The Actor’s Diet, after years of battling eating disorders. At the beginning of 2011, she stumbled upon an interview on NPR with Lisa Lee, in which Lisa discussed the story she wrote for Hyphen magazine about her past struggles with food and body image. Needless to say, Lisa found herself doing extreme dieting to cut weight and found herself losing control when the pounds started coming back.
What made Lynn perk up her ears was that Lisa talked about how being Asian specifically played into her obsession over being skinny. After listening to and reading Lee’s story, Lynn immediately knew they had to connect.
“I didn’t even know what I wanted from Lisa, but I felt compelled to start something,” Lynn says. “I’ve been looking for something concrete regarding Asians and body image for years. When I first began my therapy in my 20s, I had contacted various national eating disorder groups to see if there were any support groups for Asians. I was left at a dead end, and the messages I got over the next decade were that eating disorders and body image were not problems that affected people in my community. “
This myth was shattered when Lynn received numerous emails from her blog readers, both men and women all over the world, who admitted their past and current struggles with food, and felt the pressure to look thin. Like Lisa, Lynn realized that their problems were not just about will power – they’re social, cultural, and familial.
The two women connected over their experiences via emails, phone calls, and in-person at a tasty scones cafe (of course), and together, they decided to launch this site – “Thick Dumpling Skin” – to provide a space for everyone who may have felt alone in their struggle.
“We wanted to create a place for Asian American men and women to come together, to share, to discuss, and more importantly, to find support for something that has been acknowledged on the surface, yet largely ignored in our community,” says Lisa.
Hopefully by reading the stories shared on this site and contributing one of your own, our self-esteem and confidence will rejuvenate and we will learn to love ourselves for who we are.
MORE ABOUT US
Lisa is a tech junky by day and a good-doer by night. She loves blue cheese, goat cheese, and every other cheese you can think of.
Photo by JJ Casas
Lynn is a food-obsessed actress who is attached to her computer. She loves everything from raw avocado carob pudding to hamburgers sandwiched between donut buns.
Photo by JJ Casas
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Disclaimer: This website is an educational and support service that provides general information on the subject of eating disorder recovery. The information should not be relied on in diagnosing or treating anorexia, binge eating, bulimia, or any other medical condition. ThickDumplingSkin.Com does not give medical advice or treatment and we are not a health care provider. The content on our website cannot take the place of regular professional health care. Consult your health-care provider about individual concerns. This disclaimer applies to everything on our website, including comments written. ThickDumplingSkin.Com does not endorse nor have responsibility for the content of any other resources linked to or from this website.
