I loved this book. I loved the insight to living and experiencing the foods and culture of the country. The recipes are great as we get to try the food. The word of chiles annoyed me shouldn't it be chillies?

This book really proved to be a delightful surprise! As a non-native Chinese person, Carolyn Phillips falls in love with Chinese culture, traveling to Taiwan and immersing herself in the language, culture, and most importantly, cuisine from all over Taiwan and mainland China.

Akin to Fuchsia Dunlop's Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, she takes us on a delectable ride of mouth-watering dishes from all over China and Taiwan. Her knowledge of Chinese food is vast and her descriptions are surprisingly satisfying, leaving the reader with the most complete dining experience short of tasting the food yourself. She provides a complete picture of all the sensory experiences that take place, as well as the history and context of the dish and its origins. Her descriptions are vivid and evocative, almost poetic in nature.

Award winning author and expert on Chinese cooking, Carolyn Phillips, who is the author of the hands-down best cookbook of Chinese Cuisine (All Under Heaven), is the author of a fascinating memoir of her time in China, At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes. This multi-talented author is also the illustrator for this book, and her illustrations are excellent. This memoir includes a few recipes, which are well-worth making at home, but this book isn’t a cookbook.

Phillips is definitely the expert on Chinese Cooking, and this book gives some insight on how she became so good and knowledgeable on the subject. Her experiences are interesting, and her talent has made it possible for her to document it with an excellent writing style that will hold the interest of anyone who loves Chinese food and all things Chinese. This is a book that is suitable for curling up in a warm corner and reading cover to cover. While there are only a few recipes, readers will be fascinated and want pick up Phillips’ excellent cookbook All Under Heaven. Readers who have an interest in all things Chinese will want both.

It’s always fun to learn about other cultures, and with so much in the news about China, this book has timely significance. There is historical information and other facts that are worth knowing. As well as an interesting story.


Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Originally hesitant to read 'At the Chinese Table' since Carolyn Phillips was born in US and and I was concerned about her expertise. However, the book was a wonderful autobiography about Phillips' life as chef and resident of Taiwan. The book is about food, but not a typical cookbook, but describes a love affair with Chinese food. There are some choice recipes, such as Golden Cabbage Fritters, but the book is really about food and Chinese culture as a whole, rather than specific recipes. Terrific book and highly recommend.

I absolutely adore Phillips' writing style, and the incorporation of her line drawings into the book--a charming, beautiful addition that complemented the narrative and brought the stories to life in a fresh way.

I only took one East Asian history class in college, so between that and the cursory American educational curriculum in K-12 (which could be great or ... less so, lol), I really didn't know much coming in, and felt like I learned a ton both about the area's food and history. The recipes look great, and Phillips does a great job at directing the reader where to find ingredients or swap as desired.

For me personally, Phillips' and my worldviews vary widely on a few points, and that was sometimes challenging (particularly as a friend walks a certain road right now--it gave me even more pause than it might have at other times).

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

At the Chinese Table delivers exactly what it claims, an engaging memoir by Carolyn Phillips recounting her adventures learning another culture and language alongside some beautifully presented recipes. Released 15th June 2021 by W. W. Norton, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This entire book has such a comforting and wholesome honesty that I found myself enthralled and invested in the author's recollections from the first few pages. She writes well and clearly about her early days as a language student in Taiwan, her education and appreciation for the culture and the food, her intertwined stories with the man who would become her life partner and her interactions with his traditional family.

The format of the book meanders delightfully from story to anecdote; full of observations and a respectful humor on both sides, self-deprecating by turns, delighted and wondering soon after. The stories are interspersed with a handful of well curated personal recipes. The recipes are presented with an introduction, bullet list of ingredients with measures in both American standard and metric (yay!), followed by clearly written step-by-step directions.

There is no photography in the book. The stories and recipes are illustrated with whimsical line drawings which enhance the text well. Some ingredients will be difficult to source in North America outside large urban areas with well stocked Asian markets. The author includes tips for sourcing (or growing) some supplies.

I found this a charming read. I would recommend it to fans of memoir, gastronomy, Chinese cooking and culture. Beautifully done. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

--A Delicious Memoir of Life and Food in Taiwan and Mainland China--

I received an electronic ARC from W.W. Norton through NetGalley, and here are my thoughts.

Carolyn Phillips is as rare as that flower that only blooms once every 40 years in the Malaysian jungle. And this flower began her unfolding just a few islands away, in subtropical Taiwan.

Somehow she was born a consummate cook/explorer, AND an amazing writer. Her descriptions of preparing and eating food are as exquisite as the food itself.

In this coming of age tale, Carolyn, in her 20s, went to Taiwan to study Mandarin in the 1970s. This was a time when Mainland China was only just starting to open its doors to the outside...and there were not many westerners of any kind who were "into China”. Taiwan was, and is, the “easier” entry point to Chinese culture and language, in many ways.

While reading this memoir, which is mainly about her love affair with Chinese food, (no disrespect to her husband!) I remembered I had downloaded a Kindle version of her monumental Chinese cookbook "All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China", which I also highly recommend, for the same reasons I will spell out here.

This woman was born to be an ambassador of Chinese food and Chinese culture. However, she was not born into a Chinese family. Therefore, with one foot in her western American heritage, and another foot in the Chinese culture she observes with a passion, she is able to describe the experience of preparing and eating authentic Chinese food in a way that brings you right "to the Chinese table", as the title implies.

I have to bow in deep reverence to all her food exploits, including preparing a whole pig head. While this may sound "scary", the way she described the whole process had me cheering for her attention to detail. I can tell you that in the 10-plus years I lived in Taiwan, I do not know a single person who has cooked with the dedication and breadth that Carolyn Phillips has...and certainly, none of them could write so eloquently in English to describe it for the benefit of the English-reading world. To be truthful, I doubt they could in Chinese either. Her gift with words is extraordinary.

In a nutshell, this is a book for lovers of Chinese food and culture, anyone who has ever studied Mandarin as a foreign language or lived in Taiwan or Asia, and anyone who loves reading memoirs that are extremely entertaining, funny, and well-written. This is the cross-cultural memoir at its finest.

Lastly, I almost cried when I saw one of the recipes in the book.

(How could I not mention that there are magnificent recipes and beautiful illustrations by the author throughout the book).

What she calls "Golden Cabbage Fritters" or Zha Gaolicai Wan, is a dish that my Taiwanese mother made for us when we were growing up in Alaska. This simple dish was one that we brought to many a potluck and every single time, people would ask..."How do you make this? This is delicious!" She told everyone they were "Vegetable Buns", and I've never seen them in a cookbook, nor ever ate them in Taiwan, because they are truly a "homey dish" that restaurants don't serve. Geez! Now, finally, decades later, I know the origin of those Vegetable Buns and why I've never seen them on any menu.

Thank you, Carolyn Phillips.

Memoirs revolving around food are always enticing. Phillips who married a Taiwanese man learned about Chinese food from her inlaws. Turning a pigs head into a meal isn’t the most enticing chapter but you learn a lot. Now only does gathering at the Chinese table mean a new appreciation of the Chinese palate but it also provides cultural context and history. The sprinkle of romance was nice as well. Foodies who travel will want to read this memoir.

A memoir told in food.

This is a unique mix of memoir lightly peppered with recipes.
The story itself is lush and a love story and adds in the discordant ingredients that make a family.
Recommend.

This book is more like a story book, not a recipe book. There are a few recipes sprinkled here and there, but definitely a book that I would not buy.

Immersive experience of the Chinese culture in Taiwan through the eyes of Carolyn Phillips.
Ms Phillips fell in love with Taiwan, the food, and a Chinese man and set about learning everything about the diverse food cultures of the country.

Extensive knowledge peppered with recipes and anecdotes and stories of her time there. This is a magnificent memoir.

This delightful memoir takes you inside Phillips’ life in Taiwan and in California. Through the history of her husbands family, and a descriptive journey of her enjoyment learning to eat, enjoy and love Chinese cooking . Her stories and descriptions are so vivid you can almost taste the recipes and will
feel inspired to go create them yourself.

This book had such a cool format! I loved the story element as it mixed in with recipes. I don't know if I'd be into this format all the time but the writing was well done and interesting so it held my attention well!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

This was a quick read for me. I read it more for the author’s story and personal history rather than the recipes and food. I do like Chinese food, but having traveled there ten years ago, I prefer American Chinese food. I’m a picky eater so most is that the author describes and the recipes she includes I wouldn’t eat. I’m sure it would satisfy culinary palates delightfully with all the recipes and tips from the author. She included her own drawings as illustrations as well.

The author was an exchange student to Taiwan, fell in love with the country's variety of Chinese cuisines, stayed in Taiwan and ended up marrying a Chinese man.
The book is chock full of her experiences eating everything Chinese she could find. Very good descriptions, I could almost taste the food myself. She then throws herself into preparing the foods herself, devouring old cookbooks to learn more.
Phillips does a good job of describing Taiwanese culture, her experiences with her boyfriend and future husband, her in-laws, and the local scene.
I'm looking forward to reading the author's previous two books.
If you are a foodie who's really into Chinese cuisine, this would be a great read for you.

At the Chinese Table was an interesting memoir and cookbook. I do wish that there were more recipes but overall a good read.

An in-depth food memoir into Carolyn Phillips experience as a foreigner who loves to eat in China. I loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

At the Chinese Table describes in vivid detail how, during the 1970s and ’80s, celebrated cookbook writer and illustrator Carolyn Phillips crosses China’s endless cultural and linguistic chasms and falls in love.

I love to challenge myself to cook good food so I was delighted to get to read At The Chinese Table. Food for many cultures is at the centre of family life, there are so many traditions and love shown through every day cooking. A truly delightful memoir peppered with recipes. A love story, with a country, a people and the richness of the culinary delights to be experienced.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I was thrilled to see this upcoming memoir from Carolyn Phillips, the author and illustrator behind the incredible All Under Heaven (2016) cookbook.

At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes is above all a food memoir. Through this, Phillips weaves in historical information, brief stories about her time in 1970/80s Taiwan and California and her partner’s family history. It is a sensual book, both in the descriptions of food and romance.

Phillips is incredibly humble and self-deprecating about her youth moving back and forth between the United States and Taiwan. This is endearing because she’s a highly accomplished woman. In this coming of age story, she describes how her partner, Taiwan and the Chinese people shaped her life and career as a professional Mandarin interpreter before taking the inspiring shift into food writer and artist later in life. Early on, she shares her issues with language-learning and the culture shock of being the only Western woman around. For a time, this makes her ‘thin-skinned’ and anxious that her appearance and presence is always being observed and commented on. This very well may be true, as she describes an incredibly awkward and humorous situation where she is constantly being watched by a nosy neighbourhood auntie who eventually forces herself into her flat to have a little snoop around. As part of language learning, she must also grasp the Chinese sense of humour and the related word-play, double meanings and cultural references. Readers will be moved by her descriptions of meeting her mother again in Asia after some time apart and how living abroad changed her temperament. As she grows from a university student to a professional adult, she describes Taiwan as it was then, including its underdevelopment, poverty and signs of previous polio outbreaks. It was interesting to have this rare view into a Taiwan I had not heard about.

Although the recipes included at the end of each chapter are written with a novice (who may or may not have access to a full Chinese grocery) in mind, the section alone on how she prepared a pig’s head for a meal shows her mastery in the kitchen. I especially liked reading rare descriptions of regional cuisine that differ greatly from the restaurant and street foods we’re used to. For example, she writes about the subtle flavours and the key importance of textures in the banquet foods of Chengdu and Changsha. This level of dining, it seems, utilizes far less chilli peppers than we would expect. Through these sections she also describes historical recipes and her passion for ancient cookbooks written in classical Chinese. Although this book is more serious in its content, the sections on Chinese cuisine and ingredients remind me The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World’s Most Glorious – and Perplexing – City (2009) by David Lebovitz. Lebovitz and Carolyn Phillips were able to rely on considerable culinary skills to smooth the formation of new relationships through the sharing of food. Unlike Lebovitz, Phillips cooks the food of her in-laws’ childhoods to win them over, while Lobovitz was keen to share his American chocolate classics. Additionally, debating how many officials ‘cuisines’ China has was another way for Phillips to share her passion for regional foods with new acquaintances.

Perhaps here is a good point to share one observation about this book and other recent memoirs from Western Women with an Asian partner. After the previously mentioned visit with her mother as a young woman, I don’t recall there being any mention of her family again. This is especially noticeable in the sections which detailed how her partner was for quite some time married to another woman and had a child. I wouldn’t expect her to ‘tell all’ but we learn so much about her partner, his family and their relationship with Chinese history, that it seems odd to have absolutely no mention about her own hometown, family, cultural background or how an intercultural relationship works both ways. Did her parents disapprove or only his? Were there any issues living in two countries with a partner who is legally married to someone else? How did she feel about moving around so much and why did they move? Why did she start studying Asian languages? Did she experience any financial or visa issues? How did they decide where to live? In some ways, this memoir ends at the start, where the reader finally hears briefly about how the author went from studying Japanese to Chinese, studied abroad during university and ended up meeting the partner and his family she has been describing throughout the book. Perhaps it is due to her modesty that the author dedicates the vast majority of her memoir’s pages to the history of others in her life. I understand the subject matter of this book is roughly China and Chinese cuisine, but I am beginning to notice a publishing trend here. To be clear, this book is sensitively and respectfully written, but I wish the narrators didn’t have a habit of disappearing as the story progresses.

Phillips is a scholar, artist and expert chef, which lends a certain weight to her observations about Chinese history, language learning and food. The extensive glossary, recipes and useful cooking tips add another rich layer to this book. The recipes include memories of her first encounters with the dish, regional influences and their history. Overall, this memoir shines with her love and gratitude for the life she’s led and the opportunities she’s had to “enjoy so many of this ancient country’s delectable cuisines at precisely the right place and at exactly the right time.” It’s an uplifting read which easily balances multiple themes.

This book was provided by W. W. Norton & Company for review.

At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes by Carolyn Phillips was an interesting memoir. I really liked the recipes dispersed throughout the book. The story is told with humor and love. The vivid details transported me to the places and events described.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****