Mapping U.S. history and culture through cookbooks
Have you looked through your old cookbooks lately? Beyond favorite recipes, you may find a hidden trove of history that reveals broader societal patterns and progress in understanding others.
For example, my collection includes 鈥淭he Chinese Cook Book鈥� by M. Sing Au, published in 1936 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Its publication was seven years before the United States repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.聽
The author鈥檚 aim is to dispel 鈥渢he air of mystery鈥� around Chinese dining by introducing common cooking methods, such as steaming. It offers recipes like Oriental Cole Slaw or Bean Sprouts Au Gratin to make 鈥渆xotic鈥� dishes sound more familiar to the average American cook.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 always been an air of mystery and exoticism around ... Asian culture,鈥� says Katie Chin, a Los Angeles-based chef and author of 鈥淓veryday Chinese Cookbook.鈥� 鈥淢ainstream America loves Chinese food ... but there鈥檚 still such a huge amount of racism and misunderstanding鈥� around Asian people, she adds. 鈥淚 do think food is one of those things that can act as a gateway to educate people 鈥� open dialogue 鈥� if people are open-minded.鈥澛�
But even if an American home cook in the 1930s was intrigued enough to try Chinese cooking, it would be decades before typical Chinese ingredients like tofu, as well as fresh bamboo shoots and bok choy, would become readily available in the U.S.聽
鈥淢y mother couldn鈥檛 even get fresh ginger when she started cooking back in Minnesota鈥� in the 1970s, says Chef Chin. Her mother, Leeann Chin, who emigrated from China to Minnesota in 1956, first worked as a seamstress making 50 cents an hour. But she also introduced her clients to authentic Chinese cooking, and they loved it. One thing led to another, and her mother launched a catering business and restaurant that grew to a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
In cookbooks, cultural learning goes both ways. 鈥淭he Chinese Cook Book,鈥� for instance, offers the Chinese viewpoint on Western culinary practices in 1936. An essay explaining the etiquette of using chopsticks shares the 鈥渁mazement and disgust鈥� of a 鈥渉igh-class Chinese鈥� person considering the 鈥渂arbaric鈥� and 鈥渢errifying array of knives, forks, and other implements鈥� found on a Western table.聽
鈥淪itting down to a meal isn鈥檛 necessarily going to cure you of your stereotypes or bias,鈥� Chef Chin says. 鈥淏ut hopefully ... it will lead you to more curiosity, trying to understand that culture and the people that make it.鈥澛�
