(COOKBOOK). CHAO, Buwei Yang.How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.(New York: The John Day Company, 1945) xviii, 262 pp. (208 x 142 mm.) First Edition.Publisher's yellow cloth boards, black and red lettering in English and Chinese.Covers with a few scuffs and superficial scratches; contents very clean with just one or two small smudges and a couple faint creases to corners.
A landmark cookbook that introduced Chinese recipes, techniques, and customs to the English-speaking world, coining phrases such as "pot-stickers" and "stir fry."
The remarkable Buwei Yang Chao (1889-1981) was born in China and studied medicine in Tokyo before moving to the United States prior to World War II. With the help of her linguist husband and daughter, Chao (who did not speak much English) wrote the present work, "the first truly insightful English-language Chinese cookbook" (Mendelson), using ingredients that would be readily available to the average American family. The book includes a glowing preface by Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck, who calls it "a contribution to international understanding."(1173)
Further reading: Mendelson, "Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey."
