At the Chinese Table

May 3, 2021
In this multifaceted memoir, food writer Phillips (All Under Heaven) vividly recounts her love affair with Chinese cuisine. In 1976, she arrived in Taipei as a student and made her “greatest culinary discovery that first year”: pork ribs “soaked in a spicy marinade... over equally buttery chunks of sweet potato.” She remained in Taiwan for several years after falling in love with her now-husband, J.H., a local who broadened her palette and inspired her to recreate some of his favorite traditional dishes, including pig’s head with stir-fried scapes. Phillips’s reflections are peppered with humor (“My Mandarin... must have sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard”), and she provides ample historical and cultural context, especially when discussing J.H.’s family history. As she remembers cooking alongside her Hakka father-in-law, she explains that the word Hakka is “used to label a people, heritage, and cuisine, rather than a particular locale.” Phillips pairs every chapter with a few recipes­—among them black sesame candy wafers (her father-in-law’s favorite), garlic chile sauce, and Yunnan cold rice noodles—that ambitious home chefs will want to try. The blend of cooking, culture, and romance make this an irresistible treat for food lovers and travelers.

May 1, 2021
A food writer and cookbook author recounts her love story with Taipei and Chinese cooking and with her husband and his family. In a smooth mixture of memoir, family biography, cookbook, travelogue, and travel writing, Phillips ably conveys her knowledge of Chinese cuisine even though she is not Chinese. She is a White American from Hawaii who moved to Taiwan in 1976 to explore and learn Mandarin "by some sort of magical osmosis." Phillips ran into the obstacles one might expect--cultural differences, loneliness, language barriers--but she endeavored to overcome these challenges by accessing the complex culture through its delicious food. Along the way, she fell in love with a Taiwanese man, J.H., who is now her husband. The narrative is most enjoyable when the author narrates her memorable experiences with meals both decadent and delicate, painting vivid pictures of enticing aromas and flavors. Describing one deceptively simple dish, she writes, "the egg white melted on my tongue into a puddle of perfectly seasoned chicken stock, ginger, and wine. Intrigued, I pinched off a side of the egg, eager to find and taste the yolk. There was none. The whole thing was a fusion of albumen and savoriness, a ridiculous yet tasty poke in the eye." However, the author's detailed retelling of J.H.'s family history sometimes feels out of place, as do the often dry, lengthy historical tangents. Recipes appear throughout, often tied to engaging stories of the author's life with J.H. as a young couple in Taipei, falling in love and making food for friends and family. Helpfully, Phillips often includes substitutes for ingredients difficult to find in the U.S. and tips for achieving the most authentic results, recounting which shop owners, cooks, or friends passed the tips along to her. It may take an extra trip to the store, but the recipes are worth the effort. The line drawings are pleasant if unexceptional. A uniquely presented story of love and food that reaches across genres and generations.

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May 15, 2021
In 1976, Phillips (All under Heaven, 2016) set out to discover all she could about China, its languages, and its food. She landed in Taipai where she not only learned, sometimes painfully, the enormous regional variety of Chinese cuisine, but found a knowledgeable partner to lovingly guide her through the history and techniques of Chinese cooking. Her saga takes her into markets and restaurants just as Taipei's tech industry began enriching these refugees from the mainland's revolution. Such wealth led to celebration of the exiles' native provincial cuisines, so that Phillips could explore the vast diversity of the nation's regional dishes. Subsequent trips to the mainland with her love cemented her place in her new family and provided even broader experiences. A tidy collection of recipes punctuates this memoir, displaying variety without overwhelming home cooks keen to try out new tastes. Phillips grasps the nuances of Chinese flavors and appreciates the Chinese focus on food's mouthfeel. Her own line drawings add character and a sense of place. Includes glossary of terms and ingredient substitutions.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021

In her latest cookbook, Phillips (All Under Heaven; The Dim Sum Field Guide) serves up a range of traditional and modified Taiwanese and Chinese dishes alongside vignettes from her life and culinary adventures, principally in Taiwan and the U.S. She lived in Taipei in the 1970s and '80s, where she fell in love with her now-husband J. H. Wang and established lifelong ties to the gastronomy and people. Phillips outlines her quest, as a white American, to know the people and cultures of Taiwan and China, ingratiate herself with the family of her Taiwanese husband, and comprehend the complex dynamics of her in-laws' history. Her descriptions of food and preparations are vibrant; recipes at the end of chapters vary in complexity and are supplemented by an extensive glossary of ingredients and techniques. The writing is geared toward a Western audience that has little exposure to the cultures of Taiwan and China; some of the descriptive language has undertones of fetishism that may not land well with readers. VERDICT Overall, an engaging work for those interested in memoir, food writing, or Chinese and Taiwanese recipes that will be new to some cooks' repertoires.--Rebecca Brody, Westfield State Univ., MA

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