A review by anneaustex
A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
3.0
I've enjoyed reading quite a few food related books by the likes of Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Julie Powell's Julie and Julia. It's with this last book that I think this book will most often be compared but it is so much more.
Cheryl Tan, born in Singapore but living in New York City has begun to miss the flavors of her childhood food but has absolutely no idea where to begin to replicate them. So she sets out on a mission to visit her family members and to learn how to prepare the favorite family foods and others she learns about along the way.
Cheryl tells us about her family, her extended family and the stories she learns while spending times in the kitchen with her grandmother, her aunties and even her own mother and father. And then she tells us about the recipes, the sometimes strange and stranger ingredients and the process of learning to feel the food--agak-agak--despite her need to measure every ingredient and every time interval with precision.
It's fun through the course of her story to watch Cheryl grow in her heritage and in her confidence in the kitchen. I think this book is a must read for anyone who loves food, enjoys time in the kitchen or reading about others who do.
Cheryl Tan, born in Singapore but living in New York City has begun to miss the flavors of her childhood food but has absolutely no idea where to begin to replicate them. So she sets out on a mission to visit her family members and to learn how to prepare the favorite family foods and others she learns about along the way.
Cheryl tells us about her family, her extended family and the stories she learns while spending times in the kitchen with her grandmother, her aunties and even her own mother and father. And then she tells us about the recipes, the sometimes strange and stranger ingredients and the process of learning to feel the food--agak-agak--despite her need to measure every ingredient and every time interval with precision.
It's fun through the course of her story to watch Cheryl grow in her heritage and in her confidence in the kitchen. I think this book is a must read for anyone who loves food, enjoys time in the kitchen or reading about others who do.