Chinese Menu by Grace Lin

Chinese Menu traces the origin of everybody’s favorite Chinese dishes, from wonton soup to rice fortune cookies.

Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends behind Your Favorite Foods by Grace Lin. Little, Brow, 2023, 262 pages plus notes.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-up

America’s most popular ethnic cuisine is probably Mexican, but Chinese may be a close second. Most of us have headed to the buffet to load up on egg rolls, sweet and sour pork, or General Tso’s chicken. Are these dishes really Chinese, though? As Grace Lin tells it, they all have roots in China, even if invented in the U.S., like fortune cookies and the much-disparaged “Chop Suey.” Though raised in New York state, her own roots are in China, and she loves all of it enough to dive into its many origins.

The table of contents is displayed like a menu, starting with tea, then appetizers, soup, side dishes (that’s where rice comes in), and legendary specialties like Peking Duck. Unless you’re a real aficionado, you may never have heard of White Hair Silver Needle Tea, Crossing the Bridge Soup, or Buddha Jumps over a Wall. But as you might guess, there’s a story behind all those, whether myth, legend, or historical fact. Lin tracks the often-obscure origins and retells them in an engaging style.

With all these dishes described, I was wanting some recipes! There is one, for the scallion pancakes Lin’s mother used to make. For the rest, a good authentic Chinese cookbook will suffice, and readers may want to find one after enjoying Chinese Menu. It’s not necessarily a book to read straight through, but a delicious dip-and-dive, enhanced by the author’s own illustrations.

Consideration:

• One of the stories involves a suicide. Another features a eunuch, with a one-sentence explanation of what that means (define “castrate”).

Overall Rating: 4.25

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Grace Lin is the author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, a Newbery honor title. Also When the Sea Turned to Silver (starred review), Starry River of the Sky, Mulan: Before the Sword, and the Ling and Ting chapter-book series.
• Resource: For more about China, see our What to Read after Mulan book list!

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