FU PEI-MEI’S COOKBOOKS
The original editions of Fu’s best-selling bilingual cookbooks are out of print but can occasionally be found through used book sellers. Fu’s children have reissued her iconic three-volume series in Taiwan, but under different covers and with all new photos. If you are used to contemporary cookbooks, there is very little in the way of atmospheric discussion or rumination in Fu’s cookbooks and the directions are sparse. However, if you pair her cookbooks with some episodes of Fu’s iconic Taiwan Television cooking program, Fu Pei-mei Time (now uploaded on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtww_vcpAB8pf-6gUA3_L_H4t39zc0TZT, currently without English subtitles), you can begin to understand her skill and appeal.
Fu Pei-mei. Peimei shipu diyice /Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book Vol. I. Taipei: Self-published, 1969. This is the classic and most popular volume of the series, with recipes arranged regionally by cardinal direction, with eastern, southern, western, and northern dishes.
———. Peimei shipu dierce / Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book Vol. II. Taipei: Self-published, 1974. This volume contains recipes arranged by main ingredient or type.
———. Peimei shipu disance / Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book Vol. III. Taipei: Self-published, 1979. Featuring formal banquet dishes, this volume returns to a regional format, with the addition of Hunanese, Fujianese, Taiwanese, vegetarian, and self-serve buffet dishes.
———. Peimei shipu jiachangcai / Pei Mei’s Home Style Chinese Cooking. Taipei: Self-published, 1980. Another popular favorite filled with easy, classic dishes, coauthored by her daughter Cheng An-chi.
CHINESE COOKBOOKS
I love collecting Chinese cookbooks and keep an ever-growing number on my shelf for reference and inspiration. I usually mix and match recipes, techniques, ingredients when I cook, depending on what I happen to have on hand and what I have time for. Here are some of my favorites from Chinese American and Taiwanese American authors. I like these cookbooks because they combine recipes with personal stories.
Anusasananan, Linda Lau. The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from Around the World. University of California Press, 2012.
Blonder, Ellen and Annabel Low. Every Grain of Rice: A Taste of Our Chinese Childhood in America. Clarkson Potter, 1998.
Chao, Buwei Yang. How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, 3rd ed. Vintage, 1963 [orig. 1945].
Erway, Cathy. The Food of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island. Harvest, 2015.
Kho, Kian Lam. Phoenix Claws and Jade Tree: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking. Clarkson Potter, 2015.
Lin, Hsiang Ju and Tsuifeng Lin. Chinese Gastronomy. New York: Pyramid Publications, 1972 [orig. pub. 1969].
Lin Tsuifeng and Lin Hsiangju. Cooking with the Chinese Flavour. William Heinemann, 1957 [orig. pub. 1956].
Wei, Clarissa, with Ivy Chen. Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation. Simon Element, 2023.
Young, Grace. The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Chinese Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing. Simon and Schuster, 1999.
One of my favorite websites for Chinese recipes is The Woks of Life (https://thewoksoflife.com/) from Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung, which got its start in 2013. I love that the enterprise is a family affair, and the main reason for its inception was for the adult daughters to learn how to cook from their parents. Now also in hardback cookbook form.
Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family: A Cookbook. Clarkson Potter, 2022.
CHINESE, TAIWANESE, AND CHINESE AMERICAN FOOD
There have been a growing number of scholarly and popular books about Chinese, Taiwanese, and Chinese American food published recently. Despite the number of titles with “chop suey” in them, there is much more to Chinese American food history than chop suey!
Chen, Yong. Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America. Columbia University Press, 2014.
Coe, Andrew. Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Crook, Steven and Katy Hui-wen Hung. A Culinary History of Taipei: Beyond Pork and Ponlai. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
Dunlop, Fuchsia. Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food. W. W. Norton, 2023.
Huang, Eddie. Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir. One World, 2013.
Lee, Jennifer 8. Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. Twelve, 2009.
Liu, Haiming. From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express: A History of Chinese Food in the United States. Rutgers University Press, 2015.
Mendelson, Anne. Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey. Columbia University Press, 2016.
Phillips, Carolyn. At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes. W. W. Norton, 2022.
TAIWANESE AND ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY
For readers wishing to have a deeper contextual understanding of modern Chinese and Taiwanese relations and history, excellent studies abound. Most books on Taiwan’s postwar history focus on the fraught political tension between Taiwan and China, or Taiwan’s economic rise, but several of the books listed below focus more on its rich cultural and social history. There are also numerous excellent introductions to Asian American history.
Allen, Joseph R. Taipei: City of Displacements. University of Washington Press, 2011.
Hsu, Madeline. The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority. Princeton University Press, 2017.
Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian America: A History. Simon and Schuster, 2015.
Lee, Jessica. Two Trees Make a Forest: In Search of My Family’s Past Among Taiwan’s Mountains and Coasts. Catapult, 2020.
Lin, Hsiao-ting. Accidental State: Chiang Kai-shek, the United States, and the Making of Taiwan. Harvard University Press, 2016.
Rigger, Shelley. Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse. Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.