Meet Feng-Feng Yeh | Brainchild of Chinese Chorizo Project, Chef, Activist, & Multi-disciplinary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Feng-Feng Yeh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Feng-Feng, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
In October 2022, I collaborated with 20+ local restaurants and food producers on the first annual Tucson Chinese Chorizo Festival. Chinese chorizo isn’t like any other chorizo you have heard of. It is not lap cheong, it is not cured like Spanish chorizo, and it does have Mexican influences, but this Chinese chorizo is different. Chinese chorizo is a lost historic food that originates from some 100+ Chinese grocery stores that once existed by 1950 in South Tucson. These stores were made possible by the symbiotic relationship between Mexican and Chinese immigrants and naturally became centers for community. Established at a time when both groups were targeted against their very existence, these grocery stores supported Tucsonans during times of hardship, offering food and daily necessities on credit. Chinese chorizo models the immigrant story of its origin. It was often made from whatever meat was on hand: end cuts and scraps of meat that were destined for the trash. However, once it was revived with a mixture of Mexican spices, chilis, and red wine, this meat became transformed into a highly sought after product. The Chinese chorizo is a reminder that through true care and solidarity, we can build thriving communities, together.
Through the Tucson Chinese Chorizo Festival, we were able to uplift the unrecognized history of Chinese immigrants that were responsible for helping to shape the growth of early America. Additionally, we actively demonstrated the impact of community collaboration as a tribute to the past. The festival sparks culinary curiosity and creativity. It ties an important link to the connection of history and food. It even goes as far as to challenge the notion of what “American” food is, however, the Tucson Chinese Chorizo Festival is just one part of a larger project: the Chinese Chorizo Project.
The Chinese Chorizo Project is a multidimensional project that subverts an old saying: “don’t ask how the sausage gets made” by encouraging its audience to instead “ask how the sausage gets made.” By exposing ourselves to unsavory and obscured pieces of history that were erased from our learnings, we can reclaim our lost identities, stories, and relationships. Most importantly, by uncovering the histories of oppression we can understand how it was used to strategically divide our collective power. In turn, we can move towards building structures and systems that can better serve our communities.
The next stage of the Chinese Chorizo Project is a 15 foot large-scale public mosaic sculpture of two connected chorizo links that symbolize the unity of the Chinese and Mexican immigrant communities in the original story. The sculpture will be built with community collaboration, as the mosaic portion will be done in partnership with Carlos Valenzuela. Carlos is a community led artist who is responsible for many of the mosaic murals that depict Native and Mexican heritage in South Tucson. Carlos and I are planning to do a community activation where we will teach how to fire ceramic and glass tiles that will be put on the final sculpture.
The space in which the sculpture lives will also be activated in service to the community. With seating, lighting, and native plant landscaping, the space it will be incorporated in will be a reflective resting and gathering spot. It will be a place to learn about the history surrounding the Chinese chorizo. It will be a place to come together to envision and plan for what the future should look like.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
This specific project came into my life in a very unplanned way. I was in the middle of a mid-life crisis in the middle of the pandemic. I lost some steam on creating my sex-positive wellness cooking platform Ciao Downtown. I quit my successful career in fashion in NYC, and left an unheard of direct appointment to executive chef at a restaurant in downtown Manhattan. I was doom scrolling one night while back at my parents house in AZ and applied for a grant from the MOCA Tucson and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts. With the proposal for the sculpture and the festival, I was awarded the grant.

I never thought I’d be advocating to build a huge public sculpture in my hometown. I have never built a large-scale public sculpture nor have I studied under someone who has experience with it. What I learned is that all my work experience and projects that I worked on before are sufficient to keep me successful in this moment.

The hardest part of being an artist is finding the break that will make a significant change in the course of your journey. For most artists, gaining significant recognition and money to make a living from art is a milestone. I don’t think this is something that can be rushed, forced, or planned unless you have money, connections, and a team already backing you. Sometimes things have a way of finding you and in a way it is something that you are already working towards. Let it happen.

In the meantime, don’t let the goal of however you define “success” strip you from connecting with your artwork or your community. For me, the power of community has taken my artwork to new heights that I never could imagine. Reclaiming these intimate connections with ourselves, the community, and world through collaboration is what my art is about.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Nature: Mission Garden- learning about 4000 years of agricultural history in Tucson
Sabino Canyon
Tanque Verde Falls
Tumamoc Hill
Mt Lemmon- preferably mushroom foraging w local mushroom experts my friends at Spencer’s Shroomery

Art, Performance, Music:
Splinter Collective- Queer art community that does exciting multidimensional events
Galeria Mitotera- The Mels are artists, activists, curators of culture. They build community and proudly represent the voices of South Tucson
Black Lotus Gallery- most exciting curation of black contemporary art
Creative Center for Photography- Linda McCartney exhibition until August 5!
Snakebite Gallery
The Loft Cinema
The Century Room
Soulfood Wednesdays- a market celebrating black businesses in Tucson

Bars, Restaurants, Food Trucks, Markets and Pop-ups:
5 Points Market & Cafe / Natural Wine Shop
Anello
The Coronet Restaurant and Cafe
The Night Jar
Bar Crisol
La Chaiteria
El Torero
Del Cielo Tamal
Saint Charles Tavern
Penelope
Owls Club
Revel
El Antojo Poblano
Houlden’s Rise Above
Fat Boy Sandos
Trans Fat
Espressoul
Phatboii BBQ
Serene Kitchen
Nopalinda
La Indita
Heirloom Farmer’s Market
O’odham Farmer’s Market

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people who have made this project possible. This Chinese Chorizo Project lives and breathes on the support of the entire Tucson community. Of course I owe so much to the vast group of Tucson chefs, restaurants, businesses, and patrons who have embraced the Tucson Chinese Chorizo Festival with so much openness, support, and love to help me carry this project forward.

If I am to name one person to thank, I would fail, because in true form to the Chinese chorizo, I have found we are intimately linked to many. Marissa, my best friend of 30 years is coincidentally connected to the Chinese chorizo through her family. Her cousin Jim Shee, a Chinese Mexican Tucsonan, who is a product of the grocery stores in South Tucson, used to make Chinese chorizo at his family’s market. He also happens to be one of the founders of the Asian chamber of commerce in AZ. He and his wife Marian Tadano Shee a survivor of the Japanese internment camps have been advocates for Asian communities in AZ for decades. Through the story of the Chinese chorizo I have been able to connect with all three of them in a very special way. To be mentored by elders who made significant advancement in this work to build equity and solidarity is such an honor. I am moved by the support of these friends who are like family to me.

Website: chinesechorizoproject.com ciaodowntown.com

Instagram: @chinesechorizoproject @ciaodowntown

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ciaodowntown8211

Other: Tiktok: @chinesechorizoproject @ciaodowntown

Image Credits
Rusty Ramirez, Chinese Chorizo Project, Hannah Hernandez, Taylor Noel