42 pages • 1 hour read
Measuring Up
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Symbols & Motifs
Julia Child
If A-má is Cici’s reminder of her Taiwanese heritage and the food that comes with it, Julia Child symbolizes Cici’s introduction to American cuisine. The librarian informs Cici that Child’s cooking shaped a generation of American housewives via her French cooking traditions. The time that Cici comes to spend with Child’s television show and her cookbook is very similar to the time that she spent with her grandmother in Taiwan, and she forms a relationship with the chef as her “American A-má.” Ultimately, she learns two important lessons from Child. The first is that she should have the “courage of conviction” in her attempts at cooking (187), an idea repeated by her friends on the day of the competition. This phrase reminds Cici to believe in herself and to have confidence in her abilities as a chef.
The second lesson that Cici learns is that it is alright to fail. Watching Julia Child fail to flip a potato pancake allows her to keep her eyes focused on the end goal, and she understands that she might make mistakes as she learns to cook different dishes for her family, friends, and the judges of the competition. Affirmation of failure contrasts with what Cici’s parents emphasize about her schoolwork, where nothing less than a perfect grade is considered a success.
Furthermore, cooking in the tradition of Child builds credibility for Cici with the judges. As one notes in the first solo round of the competition: “Do I detect a little Julia Child? You couldn’t do better than the doyenne of French cooking in America” (129). The judges are familiar with Child and her techniques; using recipes from Child’s cookbook allows them to recognize her talent. It is a distinct contrast to when Cici presents her final dish. The judges are much more skeptical, revealing that the bias that Cici detected early in the competition is in fact there. However, her skills triumph over their surprise and suspicion that Asian cuisine cannot be sophisticated.
Family Traditions and Customs
Traditions and customs both big and small appear in Measuring Up. To Cici, they are a reminder of her life in Taiwan, of her A-má, and of her family heritage. She sees Taiwanese traditions as separate from her American life, as symbols of what make her different from her friends. Yet, she also believes that they are important. For example, on the first day of the cooking competition, she wears red and green because they symbolize wealth and success. Slowly, the two halves of her life come to blend together both literally and figuratively.
Taiwanese traditions and customs recur throughout the novel, reminding Cici of her home in Thailand. She finds comfort in the regularity of going to the market with A-má or in the symbolism of lucky numbers and colors. These traditions and customs illustrate A-má’s impact on her life as well as Cici’s pride in her heritage. At no point does she wish to stop following these customs; rather, she believes that others will not accept them, and in doing so, reject a large part of her. To Cici, such traditions are markers of “how Taiwanese I am” (149).
A critical shift occurs when her friends come to her home for the first time, and they happily remove their shoes as Cici requests. Additionally, her friends inadvertently explain how they have their own traditions, as when Jenna says: “It’s like when we go to the cemetery every year and light candles for our grandparents. It’s an Irish thing” (152). Cici begins to recognize that her friends have customs just like her, even if practiced differently than her own. As much as she might be seen as different, she accepts that her friends do accept her, even if they each need to learn more about one another’s traditions. Her friends are, as Cici realizes, “more alike” than different (153). Ultimately, they come to try more and more Taiwanese food through Cici, and she is able to partake in American cultural practices like sleepovers.
Rice
Rice has significant meaning for Cici. A-má teaches her to wash it, telling her that she must do so until “the water runs clear” (7). At this moment, Cici worries that washing the rice symbolizes the loss of her home and her life with A-má in Taiwan. However, rice is a constant companion to her throughout the novel, a throughline and connective tissue between her past, present, and future.
She makes rice regularly for her parents, getting it started for her mother by the time that she arrives home for work, iterating again and again her interest in cooking. However, her confidence wavers when Miranda tells her not to wash the rice and to pull it off the stove before Cici thinks it’s done. Cici begins to fear that the judges will never view Taiwanese or even Asian food as sophisticated enough to win the competition. She reflects: “I thought I knew rice—but I’m wrong” (53).
As Cici grows more confident as a chef, she returns to fried rice, as it “doesn’t feel right” to make a dish of Julia Child’s (182). Cici washes the rice, just as she does in the beginning. With the water running clear, she has a moment of clarity: “I realize something even bigger. I belong here—cooking rice for dinner so when Mom and Dad get home, the rice is done. Cooking for my friends and showing them a taste of Taiwan” (186). This realization is critical, as Cici literally blends a traditional dish with her own special twist. She has crafted her own identity.
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