The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook
Posted on July 28, 2010 - by JamieYuenger
“Women Nourish Us” is FRESH’s femme-focused blog series. Every week, we turn to a leading woman in the good food movement for ideas and inspiration. Be sure to check us out every Wednesday for a new write-in. Then pass the post!
Food and travel writer Pat Tanumihardja’s debut cookbook, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook—Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens (Sasquatch Books) is a treasury of family recipes and stories spanning over a dozen Asian cultures. A former farmers’ market manager, Pat loves to shop at farmers’ markets and always incorporates fresh market picks into her cooking no matter the season. In addition, she comes from a line of excellent homecooks and picked up her culinary know-how from her mother Julia who co-owns Julia’s Indonesian Kitchen in Seattle. She enjoys sharing her culinary knowledge and believes that anyone can learn how to cook. “If I can teach my husband to stir-fry, you can learn too!” she says.
And there I was, a camera slung around my neck, notebook and pen in front of me, the timer going off to my left and measuring cups and spoons strewn about the kitchen counter to my right.
On this particular day, grandma Nellie was bustling about the kitchen making yu gun (egg crepes stuffed with fish and pork). As Nellie started pouring soy sauce into a bowl, I deftly intercepted the flow with my measuring cup. Eek, she just threw the ground pork packaging
into the trash can before I could take note of the weight. Who’d have thought fishing trash out of the bin would be part of my job description? Wait, how many inches did she just chop off the gingerroot?
Such was a typical day “on the set” so to speak while working on “The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook,” a culmination of two years of hard work researching, compiling, cooking and recipe testing. “What do grandmothers have to do with sustainability?” one might ask. True, sustainability is most often associated with food that is grown organically, without pesticides or artificial fertilizers. To me, sustainability is also about going back to our roots, about learning to cook the way that grandma used to cook. In effect, it’s also about keeping our culture and traditions alive through the food we eat and the way we eat.
Food and culture are very much intertwined. Food shapes us as a society and in my case, food together with the values my parents instilled in me, shaped who I am. Indirectly through food, I learned customs and traditions; I learned the importance of having dinner together as a family; and I learned how to cook which has become an indispensable skill now that I have my own family! Food was one of the vital links between me and the cultural network I didn’t grow up in. In the same way, all grandmothers are the keepers of culture and the culinary flame. Not only do grandmothers provide the closest link their grandchildren have to their culture, they are also beacons of comfort and warmth, nourishing their grandchildren physically and spiritually. Who doesn’t have fond memories of Nonna’s rich tomato-basil sauce or Lola’s sticky, chewy cassava cake? Yes, the taste memory lingers on.
This book is so important in so many ways. It has captured recipes that might have disappeared forever. Plus, it gives us the know-how to cook using fresh, simple ingredients and to utilize traditional methods that do without a Wolf range or a Cuisinart food processor. And then there are the stories. These women are not celebrities, but grandmothers, mothers, wives, regular members of the community just like you and me. However, each and every one of them had a fascinating story to tell: tales of bitter sacrifice so that their children and grandchildren could lead better lives, stories of cooking and baking for hours on end to celebrate birthdays and holidays … the list goes on. At the heart of every story is a desire to keep their culture alive and to shower their offspring with love in the way they knew best—through cooking and food.
My culinary journey in producing “The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook” was unparalleled and I owe the book’s success to all the generous people who opened up their kitchens and their hearts to me. These women are the real stars of my cookbook. I just had the honor and privilege to shine the spotlight on them.
Please visit The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook website to learn more about Pat’s work or buy the book.
*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about our Women Nourish Us blog series via email, Facebook & Twitter (http://fdl.me/d1nqNe). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!
