From My Bookshelf....By Lynn Willoughby - Chinese Cooking

(Page 21)

Last week I reviewed a variety of cookbooks which would make great Christmas gifts. Today, we look at two very different novels built around food - it's preparation, the various cooking methods, the joy of setting a beautiful table and serving great food to loved ones.
Kitchen Chinese - Ann Mah
Isabelle Lee, born in America of Chinese descent, calls herself a 'banana" - yellow on the outside, white on the inside.  She moves to Beijing, starts a new job at a magazine for the expat community and finds a new circle of friends. But her knowledge of the culture and the language is limited to "kitchen Chinese" - what she learned at home around the kitchen table.
As she makes her way in her new world, the novel vibrates with descriptions of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Your can almost taste the many sumptuous Chinese meals, which left me with a longing for Dim Sum and spicy noodles. Each chapter begins with a brief description of food from a particular geographic area in China. Often recipes are included.
The characterization I found a little weak.  Almost everyone is flawed and not everyone was likeable - least of all Isabelle's sister. But the self discovery through food and friends in unexpected ways and places is the story.
It is a first novel full of "the quirks, pleasures and surprises of life as a young Chinese-American woman finding her way in an alien motherland."
 Serve the People: a Stir Fried Journey Through China (a stir fry cookbook)

The School of Essential Ingredients - Erica Bauermeister
This is a beautifully written and illustrated novel which follows the lives of eight students who gather once a week for a cooking class. Chef Lillian, who's first cooking lessons were a necessity to feed herself and her damaged mother, is able to pull secrets from her students via the food prepared in class. One by one the aromas, flavours and textures of Lillian's food reveals to each person what they need and what they can give.
Food is used as a touchstone for memory, pleasure, joy, need, healing, nurturing - the story of life.  This novel is reminiscent of "Chocolat" and "Like Water for Chocolate" in it's characterization, it's whimsy, the process and the love put into good food, properly prepared. As Charlie says, “We're all just ingredients...what matters is the grace with which we cook the meal." I enjoyed this book very much.  Bon appetit!!

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