“The Secret Menu is an exquisitely crafted meditation on longing and belonging. It explores the transformations that occur as people and ingredients migrate around the world. In food and its evanescence Shiamin Kwa finds a valuable model for thinking about time. Her sensuous descriptions of longed-for flavors and newfound aversions contribute to a moving exploration of identity, an intimate reflection on what can be carried across cultures, and what is lost in translation.” —Darra Goldstein, James Beard Award-winning author of Beyond the North Wind

"Reading The Secret Menu is an experience of sustenance itself, so rich and evocative are the flavors and feelings Kwa describes. It's one of the best memoirs I've read that deploys food—as metaphor and medium—to articulate the malleable nature of history and identity, and the unique pangs of the immigrant experience.” —Lukas Volger, author of Bowl

"I couldn’t put this book down. The Secret Menu is like a novel, a food memoir, and a work of philosophy all in one. There’s an enticing immediacy, writing so direct and heartfelt that you feel you’re hearing the author’s voice saying her words out loud. She gives us an intimate sense of what it feels like to be a young immigrant navigating a new culture. I was propelled by her sensual descriptions of food and anxiety, and by her original and powerful story." —Naomi Duguid, James Beard Award-winning author of The Miracle of Salt

“In The Secret Menu, Shiamin Kwa beautifully interrogates how we use flavor to map ourselves onto the world and seek our sense of home.” —Alicia Kennedy, author of On Eating and No Meat Required

“Shiamin Kwa understands food like no other writer I can think of. She evokes taste and texture with a realist painter’s eye for shading and nuance, and brings a novelist’s sensitivity to the emotional power of the dishes and culinary traditions that come to define us, sometimes against our will. This book will make you believe in recipes as formulas for reclaiming the deepest part of our humanity.” —John Birdsall, author of The Man Who Ate Too Much and What Is Queer Food?

“Shiamin Kwa captures the malaise of migrant unbelonging so exquisitely that, in reading these pages, I felt I belonged to her. This book filled my cup, my plate, and left me longing for leftovers.” —Siang Lu, Miles Franklin Award-winning author of Ghost Cities