First up is a chapter on Chopsticks. Lin admits to using chopsticks incorrectly, that her parents from Taiwan, never really instructed as to how to hold them. She uses chopsticks to eat but holds them "wrong", as her older sister likes to remind her. In this chapter, several stories about how chopsticks came to be invented are told. In the introduction, Lin writes that chopsticks were probably used as cooking tools during the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1100 B.C.) or Western Zhou dynasty (1100 to 771 B.C.). They were made of bronze and were much longer so they could be used in deep pots and hot oil.
The great Chinese philosopher, Confucius encouraged the use of chopsticks over forks and knives, which he believed were reminiscent of weapons. A man of peace, he felt this was not good dining protocol. So forks and knives were replaced by polished chopsticks. Around 400 B.C., a population boom meant a need to save cooking oil. To do this, vegetables and meat were cut into smaller portions and chopsticks made eating these smaller pieces easier. Eventually chopsticks became rounded, shorter and commonplace.
Lin identifies some the superstitions around the use of chopsticks and recounts several of the stories surrounding chopsticks. For example, do not place chopsticks near the cups, uneven pairs mean possible bad luck and do not place them upright in food! There are many stories about chopsticks including how Yu the Great or possibly the beautiful but selfish Daji, companion of Emperor Zhou may have invented them. Do chopsticks detect poison?
In Chapter 2 Tea, Lin explores the central place tea has in Chinese culture and identity. Tea was first cultivated by China, where different varieties were grown. Tea ceremonies are important as they can serve to honour elders and be rituals of contemplation and respect. In this chapter the author highlights some of the stories that are often told about how Dragon Well Tea, Jasmine Tea, Oolong Tea (often served at Chinese restaurants) and White Hair Silver Needle Tea (a medicinal tea) came to be. Lin also shares one of the many legends about how the tea plant came to be cultivated, a story that is connected to the founding of Zen Buddhism in China.
Chapter 3 explores appetizers. A traditional meal in a Chinese home is usually comprised of soup, rice and three or four hot dishes. However, in Western society meals are organized differently with appetizers, side dishes and desserts. So Chinese immigrants designed their restaurant menu's in this way, but also mindful of the American palate. Instead of tofu, jellyfish and seaweed, they chose street food common in China such as meat kebabs and festival foods like dumplings and spring rolls.
In this chapter Lin tells the story of how the first dumplings came about. The name dumpling possibly originated from the word jiao er which means "tender ears". Chinese takeout almost always offers egg rolls and spring rolls. Egg rolls are dipped in egg before frying while spring rolls often have a rice-flour wrapper and can be eaten cold. Spring rolls have been a part of Chinese cuisine for a long time: the story of their invention goes back to the late 1500's and the Ming dynasty. Another interesting story in this chapter is how scallion pancakes became the inspiration for pizza.
Soup is a very common part of meals in China where it is "considered an essential part of a meal in Chinese cuisine." It is possible soup has been served in China for at least twenty-thousand years. It was often used to treat illness. In Chapter 4, Lin discusses soup in general, including how making soup in Chinese cuisine is an exact process, from how meats and vegetables are diced, to the temperature and amount of water used (no water is added during cooking!). The legends behind various soups are presented: from Wonton Soup, Crossing the Bridge Noodle soup originating in Yunnan Province, to Hot and Sour soup (likely adapted from a spicy soup receipe from Henan Province), Sizzling Rice soup to the famous Bird's Nest soup made from siftlet nests.
In Chapter 5 Side Dishes, Lin explains how the meal in China has changed through the years, from being a meal eaten at "low, individual tables throughout the Qin dynasty" to "shared-dish eating with gong-kai (literally translated as 'public chopsticks') as the shared serving utensil became the norm. The structure of the meal has also changed somewhat in North America from consisting of rice (fan) first followed by cai (vegetables and/or meat) to primarily meat and vegetables with rice on the side. This chapter focuses on several dishes including rice which is easy to store and cook is a staple of Chinese cuisine. It is respected in Chinese culture because it is difficult to grow as evidenced by the complex system of rice paddies, terraces and irrigation systems the Chinese have developed. It is also used in many religious rituals and is believed to symbolize the connection between Earth and the Heavens.
In this chapter, legends about how people first received rice, about niangao a special rice cake often a part of Lunar New Year celebrations are highlighted. As well, the history of noodles as part of Chinese cuisine, especially in Northern China where wheat is grown rather than rice, chow mein (stir-fried noodles) and tofu are complemented with wonderful stories.
In Chapter 6 Chef's Specials, Lin finally leads her readers to the main dishes of Chinese cuisine. Because most early Chinese immigrants were from Canton (now Guandzhou), food in Chinese restaurants was mainly Cantonese-style. Lin outlines the eight great regional cuisines of China in this chapter and why many Chinese dishes have elaborate names.
In this chapter readers will learn about Kung Pao Chicken or Gongbao Chicken as it is known in China, Sweet and Sour Pork, Buddha Jump Over The Wall (a type of rich stew that includes quail eggs, duck, chicken, ham and sea cucumbers!), Mu Shu Pork from the Shandong region, the famous Peking Duck, Beef and Broccoli, Emperor Chicken, and Mapo Tofu (a Sichuan dish that is popular in Asia and very spicy). There's an interesting discussion on Chop Suey a Chinese dish that once was made with animal entrails! and Beggars Chicken, a stuffed chicken baked in mud.
Finally, Chapter 7 Desserts touches on a few sweet offerings in Chinese cuisine. There is no dessert course and no traditional Chinese word for dessert, as sweets are usually eaten between meals. However, Lin explains some of the sweets Chinese love including oranges which symbolize luck, gold and success, Red Bean Soup, ice cream, and of course Fortune Cookies.
Discussion
Grace Lin's Chinese Menu is a long-overdue book that explains many different aspects of Chinese cuisine, as we know it in America (and Canada). Lin takes her readers on a smorgasbord of Chinese dishes from basic rice, to the famous Bird's Nest Soup and Peking Duck, to tofu, oranges and fortune cookies.
Most North Americans probably know that the food we eat in Chinese restaurants, is not really the food that is served or cooked at home in China. Lin acknowledges this in her Author's Note at the back. "Yes, every Chinese dish served in an American restaurant has been adapted and changed. Yes, many do not have the flavors of traditional Chinese cuisine and are unlike what you would find in China. But Chinese American cuisine is the flavor of resilience, the flavor or adaptability, the flavor of persistence and triumph. Above anything, this food is the flavor of America."
As she remarks in her Note, the Chinese immigrants who faced racism, violence and hardship, "...used their cuisine - their cuisine with its rich and wonderful histories and myths - to survive. They constantly adapted and changed their recipes to use the ingredients that were locally available..." The result was the creation of a new cuisine, that of the Chinese diaspora.
Lin wrote this book partially to dispel the notion that American Chinese cuisine is a "cheap" food offering compared with European cuisine, such as French or Greek food. Although Chinese food was often offered at bargain prices to attract diners, there was plenty of hard work by American Chinese to not only to adapt cuisine from their homeland dishes, but to establishing their restaurant clientele.
As she so aptly demonstrates in Chinese Menu, Chinese food has a rich history with each dish having stories, myths or legends about how they were created or how their sometimes very unique names came about. Organizing her book according to a menu one might encounter in a Chinese restaurant, allows Lin to provide an overview of each category and then focus on some of the more common offerings. And to give her Western readers some context, Lin provides not only a map of the provinces in China, but also a historic timeline of the various dynasties and the foods she writes about in the book.
Chinese Menu offers readers the opportunity to better appreciate not only Chinese cuisine but also the rich culture that underlies each dish they might encounter the next time they have Chinese take-out. Lin discusses the importance of dragons in Chinese culture and mythology, Chinese history and festivals. Accompanying each chapter is Lin's beautiful artwork, rendered "in pencil on tracing paper and then scanned, retouched and colored in Adobe Photoshop." The extensive Bibliography at the back is evidence that the author has done extensive research for each chapter to back up her own rich cultural experience.
Chinese Menu is an exquisite and informative book with a beautiful cover that invites young readers inside. Highly recommended!
Chinese Menu is an exquisite and informative book with a beautiful cover that invites young readers inside. Highly recommended!
Book Details:
Chinese Menu by Grace Lin
New York: Little, Brown and Company 2023
288 pp.
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