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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through Chinaby Jen Lin Liu
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:As a freelance journalist and food writer living in Beijing, Jen Lin-Liu already had a ringside seat for Chinas exploding food scene. When she decided to enroll in a local cooking schoolheld in an unheated classroom with nary a measuring cup in sightshe jumped into the ring herself. In Serve the People, Lin-Liu gives a memorable and mouthwatering cooks tour of todays China as she progresses from cooking student to noodle-stall and dumpling-house apprentice to intern at a chic Shanghai restaurant. The characters she meets along the way include 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. Review:"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)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"The finest book on Chinese food - how it is cooked and eaten and why it matters - in decades." Review:"a delicately crafted steamed dumpling of a book. ... Serve the People is the sort of happy-go-lucky, multicultural, foodie type of writing that readers (and publishers) love. Its 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." Review:"Jen Lin-Liu gives a wonderfully vivid picture of Chinese society along with its cuisine." Review:"A mouthwatering tale of the thriving culinary scene in today's China ... top-rated by ZAGAT." Review:"A humorous and insightful look at China through its most famous export: its cuisine." Review:"A wonderfully funny and fascinating look at one of the world's great food cultures." About the AuthorJen 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.
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