Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America for $18.84

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A lot of pride and love went into Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America. The Hmong are known to be private and it's so difficult to find literature written by a Hmong person. This book seems to be a great collaboration among good old friends. Most English books about Hmong are written by non-Hmong that don't speak the language, or have assumptions and stereotypes. It's a blessing that a little bit of the Hmong culture is being recorded and shared through recipes.

Most of these recipes are variations that I already use but some personal recipes looked good too. There are recipes that I grew up with that are not on the list. Maybe those recipes are too strange for Westerners or maybe the authors will make a second edition to include more later on. I like how the book integrates history, background, and stories for those not familiar with the Hmong. I also like how the recipes include alternative ingredients if the grocery stores are limited. It's nice to be able to make these Hmong dishes that mom and grandma made, especially since I live and travel so far from the Hmong communities.

There are some recipes that may not suit the American appetite, but there are some recipes that Americans are familiar with which were adapted from the Hmong living among the Vietnamese, Laotians, Chinese, Thai and American cultures. My favorite parts about the recipes are that they are home made from scratch, healthy, and some only need a few simple ingredients. There are some recipes that require more effort and practice, but that just means more tasty! This book is a long awaited fresh addition to the kitchen, and provides a better option than the American fast food, microwaved excuses for sustenance, and over-processed boxes of unknown chemicals labeled food.

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"Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America" Feature

ISBN13: 9780816653263
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

"Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America" Overview

Simple, earthy, fiery, and fresh, Hmong food is an exciting but still little-known South Asian cuisine. In traditional Hmong culture, dishes are created and replicated not by exact measurements but by taste and experimentation—for every Hmong recipe, there are as many variations as there are Hmong cooks—and often served to large, communal groups. Sami Scripter and Sheng Yang have gathered more than 100 recipes from Hmong-American kitchens, illustrated them with color photos of completed dishes, and provided descriptions of unusual ingredients and cooking techniques.

Cooking from the Heart is the first cookbook to clearly set out the culinary traditions of the Hmong people as well as the cultural significance such traditions hold. The recipes are accompanied by anecdotes, aphorisms, and poems that demonstrate the importance of food and cooking in Hmong culture and offer a dramatic perspective on the immigrant experience. Scripter and Yang outline diet restrictions and taboos as well as how herbs and foods are traditionally used for healing purposes. The dishes featured in Cooking from the Heart range from well-known items such as egg rolls and green papaya salad to more unfamiliar dishes such as Nqaij Qaib Hau Xyaw Tshuaj (Chicken Soup for New Mothers) and Dib Iab Ntim Nqaij Hau Ua Kua (Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup).

The oral tradition by which these recipes have been passed down has meant that Hmong cooking has not yet reached a wide audience in the United States. While designed for an American kitchen, Cooking from the Heart encourages readers to seek out Hmong herbs and vegetables only recently introduced in the United States. After all, the authors say, the essence of Hmong cuisine is cooking with an adventurous and creative spirit—from the heart.

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Cooking, Food & Wine