"Fish Cheeks" is a 1987 one page short story by Chinese-American author Amy Tan and her first published essay. The work was first published in Seventeen and covers a Christmas Eve dinner when Tan was 14 years old. It was subsequently published as a part of The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings.
The work has been used in Common Core classes and features themes of acceptance of differences, growing up, family, heritage, and cultural differences. It typically is used for seventh grade and eighth grade classes.The work has been compared to a similar work by American chef and author Gabrielle Hamilton, "Killing Dinner".
Summary
The story is set on Christmas Eve when Tan was 14 years old. Her family had invited their minister's family for a traditional Chinese dinner, however Amy is disgusted and embarrassed by her family. She is horrified at the food they are serving to the other family, especially as the family includes the boy Tan likes and her father offers her the fish cheek. She is also embarrassed by her father belching after dinner and stating that it is a Chinese tradition. After their guests leave Tan and her mother talk, where Tan learns that the only shame is to have shame at all and that she should have pride in her own heritage.