Daniel Emberg wanted to know why green onion cakes (or 葱油饼） took hold in Edmonton when they did. He flew in from Winnipeg to join us for a live panel at the Mercury Room to find out the answer.

Our panelists for this event included:

• Local playwright and author Marty Chan
• Restauranteur Siu To, former owner of Happy Garden restaurant
• Royal Alberta Museum’s Curator of Cultural Communities Linda Tzang, who curated the Chop Suey on the Prairies exhibit.

Attendees at this live event were treated to a sample of two kinds of green onion cakes: the fluffy donut-shaped ones, and the flat pancake-shaped ones. By all accounts, the pancake-shaped kind was popularized in Edmonton by Siu To and his wife Yeenar, who started the Happy Garden restaurant in Parkallen.

At the end of the event, we took live questions from the audience. Thanks to Kevin Heppell, Megan Yu, Michelle M, Barbara Hilden, and Denise Chang-Yen for their questions.

Thanks to Finn Phillips for taking photos.

Further Reading:

• Salma Kaida’s petition to declare green onion cakes the official dish of Edmonton
• Brief rundowns from CBC and the BC Legislature on discriminatory legislation towards Chinese Canadians
• Paula Simons: Green onion cakes are my official taste of Edmonton’s summer (Edmonton Journal)