Synopses & Reviews
“Starting with charred fried rice and ending with flaky pineapple tarts, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan takes us along on a personal journey that most can only fantasize about—an exploration of family history and culture through a mastery of home-cooked dishes. Tan’s delectable education through the landscape of Singaporean cuisine teaches us that food is the tie that binds.”
—Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America—proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.
A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.
Reading Group Guide available online and included in the eBook.
“Cheryl Tan, a Tiger in the Kitchen, keeps coming back to Singapore in pursuit of the haunting flavors of childhood meals and finds a part of herself she didn’t know existed in the kitchens of her loving aunties.” —Gael Greene, InsatiableCritic.com
“How does a NYC fashion journalist find herself in Singapore tackling 3000 pineapple tarts, rice dumplings, and other Teochew dishes? Along with the author, we discover the secrets of a culture through the language of the kitchen in this ultimate cure for culinary homesickness.”
—Kim SunÉe, author of Trail of Crumbs
Review
"Written in the tradition of two classic but different memoirs, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1976) and Julie Powell's Julie & Julia (2005), the book is a recipe in itself — a dash of conjuring the ancient stories of one's past, a sprinkling of culinary narrative. The result is a literary treat....A delightful take on the relationship between food, family and tradition." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Her prose is breezy, and her descriptions of duck soup and pineapple tarts entice. But the meat in this memoir is what Tan learns about her resilient family, whose members come together both to cook and to heal." People magazine
Review
"This memoir is less controversial, more inspirational than Amy Chua's fiery book on Chinese parenting....Tan's tiger qualities reveal themselves in her fierce determination to draw her past into her present, to slow down, to learn how to make the food of her childhood." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Tan's A Tiger in the Kitchen is reminiscent of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, yet the author's determination to master her grandmothers' and aunts’ recipes also echoes the triumphs and struggles in Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia. Above all, A Tiger in the Kitchen is a tale of reconnecting with family and tradition — with the fried rice and flaky pineapple tarts that define Singaporean culture — and of food's sensorial power to connect us to our pasts." The Daily Beast
Synopsis
After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America — proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirty-something fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.
A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.
Synopsis
"Starting with charred fried rice and ending with flaky pineapple tarts, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan takes us along on a personal journey that most can only fantasize about--an exploration of family history and culture through a mastery of home-cooked dishes. Tan's delectable education through the landscape of Singaporean cuisine teaches us that food is the tie that binds."
--Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America--proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers' and aunties' kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.
A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.
Reading Group Guide available online and included in the eBook.
About the Author
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is a New York-based writer who has written a memoir about discovering her Singaporean family by learning to cook with them. She was a staff writer at the Wall Street Journal, In Style magazine and the Baltimore Sun. Her stories have also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Marie Claire, Every Day With Rachael Ray, Family Circle, Bloomberg Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, The (Portland) Oregonian, The (Topeka) Capital-Journal, The (Singapore) Straits Times and Elle.com. She is also a regular contributor to The Atlantic Food Channel.