My Grandfather was born in Chungking in 1943, during World War 2, and had an interesting life because he lived in different places. First, he lived in Chungking, then he went to Chengdu, and then went to Shanghai. He lived close to where fried rice was first created. He married my American Grandmother, and he gave her a cookbook so that my Grandmother could cook recipes for him from his childhood. My mom now has that cookbook, and it is special to her because whenever they went to her Step-Grandmother’s house, they would have some delicious Chinese meals. The fried rice was used for leftovers and is a very well-known type of Chinese food. It was very economical because the book was called, One Thousand Chinese Recipes Book, so it has a lot of choices to pick from. You can make very economical meals and just use vegetables, or it can be expensive by putting some meats in it depending on what is available. For example, if you’re from the seaside you would use shrimp. If you live on a farm, you could use beef or chicken, so there is a lot of flexibility in all the recipes. Since fried rice is used for leftovers and is easy to make and is very economical. My Grandfather’s Mother passed away when he was a child, but he had a Stepmother who was an awesome cook and made really good food and my Grandfather grew up eating Chinese food. My family has a long and interesting history in China, and it is a connection that my mom has passed on to my siblings and me. For example, my mom and I had a memorable trip to China in 2015, where I got to see a lot of the places where my Great-Grandmother lived near the Yangtze River.