Eddie Huang

The story follows the story of Eddie Huang's Taiwanese family as they make their way from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida to open up a steak restaurant during the mid-to-late 1990s (with the first season being set between 1995 and 1997). The mother struggles with culture clash of having to move from D.C. to Orlando, the father embraces the "American Dream", and Eddie and his brothers struggle with assimilating into the school.

The memoir relates Huang's childhood, spent first in Washington, D.C., and later in Orlando, Florida. Huang, one of three sons of Taiwanese immigrants, struggled with his identity growing up. Hip hop and African American culture provided a sympathetic counterpoint to the racism and exclusion he experienced at school. Huang was exposed to cooking through his parents; his mother prepared traditional Taiwanese dishes at home, and he learned American regional cuisines through cooking at his father's Orlando restaurants. Huang writes about his college days, his short careers as a lawyer and as a stand-up comic, and various forays into illicit commerce, such as pornography and marijuana dealing. Success came with the opening of BaoHaus, but there were failures, also - his restaurant Xiao Ye was closed after being panned by critics. In the book, Huang discusses Taiwanese cuisine and his relationship with Asian cooking in general.