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Usually ships in 1 business days | | Only 1 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | A memorable and mouthwatering cook’s tour of today’s China As a freelance journalist and food writer living in Beijing, Jen Lin-Liu already had a ringside seat for China’s exploding food scene. When she decided to enroll in a local cooking school—held in an unheated classroom with nary a measuring cup in sight—she jumped into the ring herself. Progressing from cooking student to noodle-stall and dumpling-house apprentice to intern at a chic Shanghai restaurant, she finds poor young men and women streaming in from the provinces in search of a “rice bowl” (living wage); a burgeoning urban middle class hungry for luxury after decades of turmoil and privation; and the mentors who take her in hand in the kitchen and beyond. Together they present an unforgettable slice of contemporary China in the full swing of social and economic transformation. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Jen Lin-Liu | | Hardcover: | 352 pages | | Publisher: | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | | Publication Date: | July 14, 2008 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0151012911 | | Product Length: | 8.24 inches | | Product Width: | 7.08 inches | | Product Height: | 1.17 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.07 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.19 inches | | Package Width: | 5.51 inches | | Package Height: | 1.26 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.28 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 26 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 26 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 A Chinese-American learns China through its Food Aug 12, 2008
By Lynn Harnett
A Chinese American whose family fled to Taiwan (and later the US) after the revolution, journalist, food-writer and now cooking school owner, Lin-Liu knew little about cooking when she came to China in 2000. She soon realized that food was such an integral part of Chinese life, she would better understand the culture if she understood the food.
Enrolling in a Beijing vocational cooking school teaches her just how alien and American she is. The other students are male, they question nothing in class and do the minimum to get by. She, in contrast, seems loud, pushy and rich.
Humorous and energetic, her account of getting through school (with much help and great difficulty) and then apprenticing first at a noodle stall and later, in Shanghai, at a fancy restaurant, illuminates much about everyday life in China's cities. Staffed by migrants from China's rural provinces, restaurants offer diverse cuisines and backbreaking labor, perfectionalism and cut corners.
Lin-Liu learns stories about the Cultural Revolution while cooking, finds a long history of hardship in "exotic" ingredients like eyeballs and jellyfish, discovers China's cultural diversity in its many cuisines, and Chinese provincialism in tourists' unwillingness to eat anything but their own foods.
Her enthusiastic culinary tour of the culture is peppered with recipes for dumpling fillings, noodles and traditional favorites like Drunken Chicken and Fish Fragrant Pork Shreds as well as the (mostly difficult) stories of the individuals she meets.
Entertaining and eye-opening, Lin-Liu's portrait of modern China reflects its changing trends and attitudes and its timeless cuisine.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Loved this book and the recipes Aug 14, 2008
By Mark Satlof
Between this wonderful book and another I'd also highly recommend, Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories, I have become immersed in Chinese food culture recently, to the point that my kids tease me about becoming Chinese. Luckily I live in NYC and have a few Chinatowns to choose from, so it's been congee on the way to work for a couple of months now.
Jen's personal search to learn Chinese cooking (and to practice it) is inspiring...telling about her travels and travails through a China in a tug of war between its culinary past and its current rush towards modernization.
I could tell just by looking at them that the dozen or 20 recipes, relating to each chapter of Jen's journey, would be delicious and the few I've tried so far more than live up to their promise.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Good, but seems to fizzle towards the end Oct 02, 2009
By G. K. Sauer
I really liked the beginning of this book. In the beginning I felt I was learning more complete stories about the people of China and the culture. I loved the recipes throughout, though I have not tried any - I can tell that they are possible and would taste pretty good. Towards the end, it almost felt like she just wanted to get the book done with. I didn't feel the engagement towards the characters as I did at the beginning and it hopped around a bit more. I didn't feel complete at the end, it just kind of ended. Overall, it was a good read with great recipes.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Fascinating Look at China Through Cuisine Jun 11, 2009
By Lindsay Johnson
My mother returned from China with tales of duck tongue and fried chicken feet being offered up as authentic dishes for diners. Personally, I found this both fascinating and a little disgusting - it was this mix of wonder and dread that led me to pick up this book penned by Jen Lin-Liu, a Chinese-American journalist trying to find her culinary way in the cities and towns of China. Beginning in a Beijing cooking school where she struggles to be taken seriously, to a tiny noodle shop, to the kitchen of a famous fine dining establishment in Shanghai, Jen Lin-Liu provides a well-written account of her search to understand multifaceted, often obfuscated China. Our stomachs become the vehicle to uncover how China has changed politically, socially, economically, and gastronomically since its "liberation." The people introduced in this book have remarkable stories and the short esposés scattered throughout the text (on MSG among other things)demonstrate Lin-Liu's strength as a journalist. Her aptitude as a chef is evident through the inclusion of numerous recipes discussed in the body of her writing.
There are a number of things to admire in this text as well and as a few things that might turn the average American reader's stomach; Lin-Liu is induced to try a number if unappetizing things including dog meat and animal genitalia. If you can get beyond the "ick" factor of these brief encounters, this book has a great deal to offer in terms of its unique insight. The only time if fell short for me was near the very end when Lin-Liu falls in love and her writing moves from descriptive to mushy (a different type of "ick" factor). In my mind it took away from an otherwise polished story of self discovery set against the backdrop of cultural exploration. Still, her appreciation and reverence for the land, people, and food that appear on the pages of her book make this an enjoyable read. Her writing is honest and though I might not like or agree with the totality of what I found, this book opened my eyes and for that I am always grateful.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
An absolute must Sep 06, 2008
By Gary D. Howell
This book will be enjoyed by anyone who likes to eat. It's a must for anyone who likes to cook, and an absolute must for anyone who wants to enhance the insight gained by reading travel guides before (or after) traveling to China.
The author's writing style places her sitting in your living room, telling you about her adventures!
Gotta run, I've got more Chinese food cooking to try!
See all 26 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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