‘Why I’m photographing every London Chinese takeaway’

3 days ago

By Tim Stokes, BBC News

Harriet Armstrong A Uber Eats delivery driver with a backpack walks past the front of a Chinese takeaway — Harriet Armstrong’s project has taken her across London, including to this takeaway in Wood Green

Gazing out of a bus window as she travelled through east London one rainswept evening, Harriet Armstrong was struck by a flash of inspiration.

“There’s a Chinese takeaway in Leyton called Good Friend and I peered in through the window and there were just people sitting there waiting for their food.

“And I just had this pang of nostalgia,” she says.

Chinese takeaways played a central role in Armstrong’s upbringing in Portsmouth, then later in London, with both her family and many of her relatives owning such establishments.

The British-born Chinese artist says that while she faced “a lot of struggles in a naval city”, with her family having “fireworks being thrown through our letterbox and things like that”, seeing the inviting glow of the Good Friend in the rain swelled deeper memories within her that night.

Armstrong works as a medical photographer with the NHS by trade

Harriet Armstrong Harriet Armstrong wearing a leather jacket with a camera around her neck outside the window of a Chinese restaurant — Armstrong works as a medical photographer with the NHS by trade

“I just had that intense feeling of being taken right back to when I was seven years old, just hearing the woks going.

“In a Chinese takeaway kids aren’t trusted with anything else other than putting the lids on the boxes and the food’s burning hot, and just all those memories came flooding back in that moment,” she says.

The following night the 49-year-old returned to Leyton but this time with her camera, and she started taking pictures of the outside of the takeaway, along with other Chinese eateries in the area.

These evening journeys have since spread further around London from her base in Walthamstow, each night plotted in advance to take in as many establishments as possible in a certain area.

The images are then documented on Instagram under the pseudonym Jing Soeng, meaning “to take a photograph” in Cantonese.

“It’s got really addictive actually,” she laughs. “My step-count’s got pretty high.”

London’s first Chinatown developed where Chinese communities settled in Limehouse

Getty Images Black and white photo of a man in a black coat leaving a Chinese restaurant in Limehouse in 1946 — London’s first Chinatown developed where Chinese communities settled in Limehouse

Noodle shops were initially developed by Chinese communities around some UK ports around the early 1900s, but over the decades the number of Chinese eateries increased, before booming in the years after World War Two to become ever-present on streets across the country.

As the number of establishments rose so did the dishes they served develop, with chips and curry sauce mingling with chow mein and crispy duck to appeal to British palates – much to the disgust of TikTok in recent years.

But it is this melting point of tastes which drew Armstrong, who by day works as a medical photographer for the NHS, to her project.

“My dual identity has always been quite complex,” the artist explains.

“I’ve always felt that I’m a bit stuck somewhere between my Britishness and Chineseness, but also feeling a bit like I’m on the outside of both.”

Armstrong says she photographs the eateries from outside “because I’ve always felt slightly on the outside of that part of my culture”

Harriet Armstrong Man wearing hood inside Chinese takeaway in Shepherd's Bush — Armstrong says she photographs the eateries from outside “because I’ve always felt slightly on the outside of that part of my culture”

She believes this complexity developed as she grew up.

“I was probably the only Chinese person in my class at the time, and there was a lot of prejudice and a bit of ignorance from my peers. And then when I was learning to speak English, my family actually didn’t like it because they thought it was becoming too English.

“So it’s that kind of really weird space,” she says.

Armstrong therefore sees the project as a way to “re-establish my connection between my British and Chinese parts”, but in light-hearted way.

“I’ve actually become to really embrace that and I think the Chinese takeaway to me represents where East meets West,” she says.

All the photos of Chinese takeaways are posted on Instagram

Harriet Armstrong Woman behind counter in Chinese takeaway in Camden — All the photos of Chinese takeaways are posted on Instagram

Armstrong also sees her artwork as a way to “document a slice of history from my culture” as she worries that changes in society are threatening those familiar takeaway sights of a fading yellow menu in the window and noodles being piled into foil trays.

“My generation of British born Chinese are not wanting to do the ridiculous hours or want to work in a Chinese takeaway like the generation before us,” she says.

The increasing use of delivery couriers also means that some takeaways do not present themselves in ways to appeal to people passing by on the street any more, the photographer adds.

“They’re almost like factories and I’ve been getting a bit worried thinking ‘oh no that’s a whole part my heritage starting to disappear’, so I feel a slight urgency as well to get around as many as I can.”

The British born Chinese artist says her go-to dish of choice is a king prawn chow mein

Harriet Armstrong Ruby House Chhinese takeaway with plants on chairs in the window beside a door covered in graffiti — The British born Chinese artist says her go-to dish of choice is a king prawn chow mein

As such Armstrong is encouraging people to recommend their favourite Chinese takeaway in London to her on Instagram to include in her artwork, with potential plans to further expand the project to other parts of the UK in time.

“I just see them as these brightly lit beacons – they’re very inviting and there’s a whole life going on behind there.”

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