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.
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.
Jen Lin-Liu was raised in southern California, graduated from Columbia University, and came to China in 2000 on a Fulbright fellowship. A food critic for Time Out Beijing and the coauthor of Frommer's Beijing, she has also written for Newsweek, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Saveur, and Food & Wine. She is the founder of Black Sesame Cooking School in Beijing.
"Lin-Liu is a charming guide to modern China and its kaleidoscopic
cuisine."--People
"Serve the People is light fare, a delicately crafted steamed
dumpling of a book. It's peppered with delicious descriptions,
authentic recipes, humorous anecdotes and all the goodness of a
young woman who finds her way in life, and even falls in
love."--International Herald Tribune
"A mouthwatering tale of the thriving culinary scene in today's
China--top rated by Zagat."--Nina and Tim Zagat, co-Founders and
co-Chairs of Zagat Survey --
Chinese-American journalist Lin-Liu's delightful mixture of memoir and cookbook records her years living and working in Shanghai and Beijing, when she attended a vocational cooking school and discovered a passion for Chinese cooking and culture. Growing up in the U.S. to Taiwan-born parents, the author admits feeling "alienated" from her heritage when she first moved to China in 2000; a graduate of an American journalism school, she eventually became the food editor at TimeOut Beijing. Moving between Shanghai and Beijing, she begins her account with her frustrating yet ultimately rewarding study at the Hualian Cooking School in Beijing, where she apprenticed to one of the school's instructors, Chairman Wang, an old-style cook raised during the Cultural Revolution, who taught the author the rudiments of chopping, shopping and how to pass the cooking exam. Despite the flimsy certificate, bias against women working in professional kitchens and the reluctance to hire foreigners, Lin-Liu found work at Chef Zhang's noodle stall serving migrant workers and at the popular dumpling house Xian'r Lao Man; she later snagged a plum internship at Jereme Leung's upscale Shanghai restaurant, Whampoa Club. Incorporating stories of many of the Chinese she worked alongside (and their recipes), as well as trips to the MSG factory in Henan or to the rice-growing Guangxi province, Lin-Liu offers a thoroughgoing, spirited celebration of overcoming cultural barriers. (July) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
"Lin-Liu is a charming guide to modern China and its
kaleidoscopic cuisine."--People
"Serve the People is light fare, a delicately crafted
steamed dumpling of a book. It's peppered with delicious
descriptions, authentic recipes, humorous anecdotes and all the
goodness of a young woman who finds her way in life, and even falls
in love."--International Herald Tribune
"A mouthwatering tale of the thriving culinary scene in today's
China--top rated by Zagat."--Nina and Tim Zagat, co-Founders and
co-Chairs of Zagat Survey --
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