I’m William Choi

I’m William Choi. I grew up around food before I thought about it as something worth writing down. Some of my earliest memories are in my grandmother’s restaurant, Ms. Betty’s Magic Wok in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where I’ve worked during summertime and school breaks. I learned how meals are prepared under pressure, how regulars order the same dishes week after week, and how food becomes part of people’s daily routines. At the same time, I grew up in San Francisco, where diversity—in culture, language, and food—is everywhere.
I’m half Chinese and half Korean, and I attended a Chinese immersion school for ten years, so Mandarin has always been part of how I experience the world. Through travel across Asia, Europe, and the U.S., I’ve become interested in how food reflects culture, labor, access, and health. I’ve eaten street food, cooked family meals, taken cooking classes, gotten food poisoning, volunteered at food banks, and paid attention to what people eat when they’re busy, tired, or celebrating.
This blog is my own journal for noticing patterns and thinking through ideas about how food choices are shaped by time, place, and circumstance. It’s also for asking questions about how to improve health before people become patients. I’m especially curious about food, nutrition, and how public health can work across cultures.