Serve the People

[Big Bunny]

Over the weekend I read Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China by Jen Lin-Liu. The author is a free-lance journalist. Raised in Southern California, she now lives in Beijing.

On the way to starting her own cooking school, she goes to a cooking school then apprentices at various shops and restaurants, learning about "the industry" and meeting cooks and other food-service people along the way.

What makes this book a joy to read is that a few of these people become important parts of the author's life, and she weaves there stories very successfully into her own adventures. Her writing helps you understand the food scene at the same time that you develop sympathy for the people who are part of it.

Of course, there are recipes.

Because I collect books about Chinese cooking, I look forward to the seeing what books will result from the interest generated by the Olympics. This one will be hard to top.

BB