Jook (1932), juk (1939) and juk (1993)

[Benjamin Barrett]

In Lisa See's "Shanghai Girls: A Novel," she uses the word jook five times, defining it the first time as "rice porridge" and italicizing it each time (http://ow.ly/628eX). In my experience, the word is common enough in conversation with Cantonese speakers--hence See's choice rather than "congee" or "rice porridge"--but does not occur in the OED (though the word "jook" is listed).

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee) spells the Cantonese as "juk" which Wiktionary confirms as "juk1" for 粥 (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%B2%A5). The word in Korean is also "juk" 죽, which has the same hanja 粥 (http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A3%BD). That spelling is not in the OED, either.

As indicated in citation 2 below, the dish has a history of being served to Chinese clientele in the US. I'm sure there are earlier citations than these available on Chinese and Korean menus, though the earliest may not be written out in the alphabet.

JOOK

1. The earliest Google Books citation I find is 1932, which interestingly gives "chowder" instead of "porridge."

"Strange newes from China: a first Chinese cookery book," by Townley Searle, A. Ouseley, ltd., 1932 (http://ow.ly/628lf). 

A. Page 138: 

48. JI YUK JOOK
RICE CHOWDER WITH MINCED PORK

B. Page 146:
YU SARN JOOK
RICE CHOWDER WITH FRESH FISH, &c.

2. 1933

"Better food, Volume 38," by Boston Cooking School, Whitney Publications, Inc., 1933 (http://ow.ly/628oP)

Page 156:
..._"jer yook jook,"_ a rice broth in which toothsome meat balls are cooked. _"Jer yook jook"_ isn't found on the menu of any ordinary chop-suey restaurant. It is to be had only in a few places where the patronage is mostly Chinese, so the general public has...

_"Jer yook jook"_ is an ideal... 

JUK - CANTONESE

1. 1939

"The Red Cross courier, Volumes 19-20," by American National Red Cross (http://ow.ly/6293j)

Page 53:
Chinese authorities say cracked wheat makes better "juk," a favorite dish, than rice.

2. 1939

"The Health officer, Volume 4", United States. Public Health Service (http://ow.ly/629hk)

Page 126:

Acknowledgments indicate that "The cracked wheat is going like hotcakes and makes better 'juk' than rice; is more popular and more nourishing. One Chinese woman...

2. 1974

"East West: the Chinese-American news magazine, Volume 8 (http://ow.ly/6297z, but the citation does not occur there. It appears at http://ow.ly/6298u.)

Food is delicious still cheaper than in the US For breakfast, we had "juk" — much ier than even Sam Wo's and at US $.50

3. 1974

"Mrs. Lee's cookbook: Nonya recipes and other favourite recipes," by Chin Koon Lee (http://ow.ly/629bK)

No citation available

JUK - KOREAN

Around 1981, there are some hits according to Google Books, but nothing that can be verified there.

1993 

"Gourmet, Volume 53, Issues 7-12," by Pearl Violette Newfield Metzelthin, Condé Nast Publications (http://ow.ly/629rB, citation at http://ow.ly/629sZ)

Page 89:

The menu, in Korean and English, is reader-friendly if sometimes silly: "Tortellini" is the translation for the Korean dumplings called mandu; "risotto" for juk, a soupy rice-flour porridge.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA
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