How do we tell our stories when we don’t have the words?
Navigating an eating disorder in her early teens in Hong Kong, Steph Ng knows all too well what it feels like to be voiceless in a cultural environment that frowns upon open discussions about mental illness.
In Big Bites Break Boundaries, Steph brings together pieces of personal and professional experiences to recount her journey of breaking free from deeply-entrenched cultural narratives - stories that have shaped her perceptions of what it means to be a “pretty’ (靚)”, “good (乖)” and “accomplished (叻)” woman. A collection of sporadic story fragments, this book is a statement of resistance against cultural norms that often silence and dismiss stories that are ‘unfinished’ or ‘unpolished.’
Big Bites Break Boundaries is not a story of triumph from challenge. Instead, it is a story that celebrates the inherent messiness of being human.
This book announces that to be wholly human is not to be embraced and beloved despite our mess. It is to be embraced and beloved for it.