EATING STORIES is getting close to selling out its first run. It's a wonderful anthology of recipes and stories about food.
Plus it features the secret recipe for deep-fried haggis won ton, from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinners.
It was a pleasure to take part in the writing workshops organized by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, and contribute to this anthology.
Check out the Vancouver Courier review by Lisa Smedman.
Plus it features the secret recipe for deep-fried haggis won ton, from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinners.
It was a pleasure to take part in the writing workshops organized by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, and contribute to this anthology.
Check out the Vancouver Courier review by Lisa Smedman.
Books
breathe life into B.C.'s past
Themes
include cooking, gold mining
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Lisa
Smedman |
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Vancouver
Courier |
Friday, March 21, 2008
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History
comes in different flavours, depending upon who's doing the reminiscing. One
of the tastiest reminders of this in recent months is the book Eating
Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck, a product of the Chinese
Canadian Historical Society of British
Columbia.
Edited
by Brandy Lien Worrall, the book is one part cook book and one part history
book, with a hefty dash of personal reminiscence thrown into the mix. It
came about as the result of a six-week workshop Worrell organized, in which
the 24 participants were encouraged to share family stories, with an
emphasis on the theme of food and community.
The
foods the participants write about--in prose and poetry--include everything
from campfire-roasted dog salmon to hot and sour soup, from potstickers to
"fusion" dishes like deep fried gung haggis won ton, the creation of the
kilt-clad Todd Wong, whose dinner celebrations blend Robbie Burns Day with
Chinese New Year. There are stories on learning to use chopsticks, favourite
restaurants, cleaning salmon, and Chinese New Year celebrations (minus the
kilts).
The
book is peppered with family photos and pictures of restaurants from bygone
eras. Worrall has also included illustrations taken from the vintage
cookbooks in her personal collection. Published between the 1930s and the
1960s, they were intended for Caucasian cooks who wanted to "surprise your
friends" with a supposedly authentic Chinese
meal.
Eating
Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck is available through the
Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C., at www.
cchsbc.ca.
