Summer Reading: Mini-Review

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones.

Even though this is a pretty predictable, light read, and even though it's heavy-handed at times, it is an idea book for contemplating some of the differences between Eastern and Western approaches to food and eating.

The story is about a widow who needs to travel to China to settle an issue involving her late husband's estate--he's some sort of international lawyer who traveled to a law firm in China from time to time. She's a food writer, and she agrees to take on an assignment while she's there. Her job is to interview a young, up-and-coming Chinese-American chef who has returned to China to open a restaurant that will cook dishes in the old ways.

Along the way, the novel quotes from an imaginary books entitled The Last Chinese Chef, authored by the narrator's grandfather (or great-grandfather--I've lost track of that detail); in that work, the proper (Eastern) approach to food and cooking is articulated.


At one point, the reviewer is doubting that there's that much difference between East and West in terms of the way they eat. The chef says something like, "Are you kidding? You plate! We never plate!" In addition to this trilling use of plate as a verb, he's right. Amanda and I had a good conversation about the communal nature of eating in Eastern nations v. the private, "this is mine; that is yours" mentality of many meals in the West.

We wondered if that was entirely a cultural thing . . . what if a person has an aversion to sharing food (as many do)? Does that person just adapt? Or can he or she somehow avoid communal eating?

All in all, a fun novel. Give it a try--but don't expect too much from it.

ds