Details

ISBN-10: 132400245X
ISBN-13: 9781324002451
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publish Date: 06/15/2021
Dimensions: 8.30" L, 6.20" W, 1.20" H

At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes

Hardcover

Price: $27.95

Overview

At the Chinese Table describes in vivid detail how, during the 1970s and ’80s, celebrated cookbook writer and illustrator Carolyn Phillips crosses China’s endless cultural and linguistic chasms and falls in love. During her second year in Taipei, she meets scholar and epicurean J. H. Huang, who nourishes her intellectually over luscious meals from every part of China. And then, before she knows it, Carolyn finds herself the unwelcome candidate for eldest daughter-in-law in a traditional Chinese family.

This warm, refreshingly candid memoir is a coming-of-age story set against a background of the Chinese diaspora and a family whose ancestry is intricately intertwined with that of their native land. Carolyn’s reticent father-in-law–a World War II fighter pilot and hero–eventually embraces her presence by showing her how to re-create centuries-old Hakka dishes from family recipes. In the meantime, she brushes up on the classic cuisines of the North in an attempt to win over J. H.’s imperious mother, whose father had been a warlord’s lieutenant. Fortunately for J. H. and Carolyn, the tense early days of their relationship blossom into another kind of cultural and historical education as Carolyn masters both the language and many of China’s extraordinary cuisines.

With illustrations and twenty-two recipes, At the Chinese Table is a culinary adventure like no other that captures the diversity of China’s cuisines, from the pen of a world-class scholar and gourmet.

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Reviews
What a seductive read!...Caroline Phillips takes us into another world, with lively details, humorous self-deprecation, and enticing line drawings. It's a world of family stories, cultural traditions, and delicious food of great depth and variety. Her curiosity and appetite for understanding and her engaging storytelling transported me effortlessly.–Naomi Duguid, author of Taste of Persia and Burma: Rivers of Flavor
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Details

ISBN-10: 132400245X
ISBN-13: 9781324002451
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publish Date: 06/15/2021
Dimensions: 8.30" L, 6.20" W, 1.20" H
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