Chinese Menu | Book Review
Credit: Hachette Book Group
Chinese Menu by Grace Lin
About the Book: From fried dumplings to fortune cookies, here are the tales behind your favorite foods.
Do you know the stories behind delectable dishes—like the fun connection between scallion pancakes and pizza? Or how dumplings cured a village’s frostbitten ears? Or how wonton soup tells about the creation of the world?
Separated into courses like a Chinese menu, these tales—based in real history and folklore—are filled with squabbling dragons, magical fruits, and hungry monks. This book will bring you to far-off times and marvelous places, all while making your mouth water. And, along the way, you might just discover a deeper understanding of the resilience and triumph behind this food, and what makes it undeniably American.
Award-winning and bestselling author Grace Lin provides a visual and storytelling feast as she gives insight on the history, legends, and myths behind your favorite American Chinese dishes. Chinese Menu makes the perfect gift book for anyone who loves good food—and an even better story.
Review
With Grace Lin’s iconic and award-winning illustrations, we learn more about some of our favorite Chinese dishes through myths, legends, and history. I am continuing to learn and appreciate how important food and cuisine are to culture. We can learn so much about our ancestors, our neighbors, ourselves, by looking at the foods we eat and prepare. This blending of ancestry with modern dishes we know today shows how unique and important American Chinese food is to our identity. I highly recommend adding this book to your shelves as a staple, bending book genres between history, non-fiction, and legend.